You are preparing to discharge Mrs. Z. She is an 86 yo retired nurse who underwent R hemiparthroplasty after a fall. Her post-operative course was complicated by mild delirium, anemia and a stage I sacral pressure injury. She is on Tylenol for pain, labs are stable and she is participating with PT/OT. The discharge planner […]
“Where are you?” is the first question that comes out of my patient’s mouth. Not the typical query, but then, this isn’t a ‘typical’ patient encounter. It’s actually a valid concern, considering I’m about 60 miles and two snow-strewn highways from the hospital room my patient is currently in, admitted for a COPD exacerbation. Yet, […]
This is the time of year to sit back at night, in front of the fireplace, a cup of hot chocolate in hand, warming up after the coolness of the day. As I sip, I notice the marshmallows bobbing up and down and reflect on the impact those white confections have in medicine. Yes, marshmallows […]
GOOD PARENTING QUIZ: Your 6-year-old has said to you… True / False: “Mommy/Daddy, I drew a picture of you for your birthday with papers all around you, doing your ‘computering,’ since that’s your favorite thing to do…” True / False: “Mommy/Daddy, there’s early release today at school. You never come get me up at pickup […]
I am feeling discouraged. Actually, I am pretty frustrated. I truly believed that if we could “choose wisely” and cut out the nearly $1 trillion of waste in health care that we would make a real dent in costs in health care. Not only that, I even thought that decreasing these total costs of care […]