This is a serious list. We get conditioned on what we have and accept the untoward effects or inconveniences of the drugs in our armamentarium. These five tweaks would make our lives a helluva lot easier:
- A non-opiate pain reliever without the nasty side effects of an NSAID. By far and away, this is my number one.
- An oral insulin. Can you imagine how much easier life would be?
- A rapid-acting antidepressant that works. We (adult providers) neglect the limited functional abilities from cardiovascular or musculoskeletal disorders our patients live with. The problem is only getting worse. Imagine an accelerated resolution to mental health issues which invariably magnify and worsen the physical ones we have a hard enough time dealing with in the first place.
- A systemic anti-inflammatory that is not prednisone. We use that train wreck of a drug so often we forget what a horror show it is. Its list of side effects reads longer than the ingredient label on a Twinkie box.
- COPD drugs that do not require inhalation. One and done and just swallow. Wouldn’t that be a change?
- Bonus: Anti-obesity drugs with efficacy. And yes, they would have a place for inpatient practitioners–seeing as the obesity epidemic touches just about everyone on the wards with vascular disease.
About the Author: Bradley Flansbaum
Bradley Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM works for Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA in both the divisions of hospital medicine and population health. He began working as a hospitalist in 1996, at the inception of the hospital medicine movement. He is a founding member of the Society of Hospital Medicine and served as a board member and officer. He speaks nationally in promoting hospital medicine and has presented at many statewide meetings and conferences. He is also actively involved in house staff education.
Currently, he serves on the SHM Public Policy Committee and has an interest in payment policy, healthcare market competition, health disparities, cost-effectiveness analysis, and pain and palliative care. He is SHM’s delegate for the AMA House of Delegates.
Dr. Flansbaum received his undergraduate degree from Union College in Schenectady, NY and attended medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. He received his M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management at Columbia University.
He is a political junky, and loves to cook, stay fit, read non-fiction, listen to many genres of music, and is a resident of Danville, PA.
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