Inpatient

Beyond Informed Consent

Informed Consent continues to be a source of medical error and medical malpractice claims. Obtaining consent is sometimes delegated to someone other than the physician performing the procedure; it is sometimes reduced to obtaining a signature on a piece of…

Managing Physician Stress, Preventing Burnout

Physicians are under more stress than ever before, much of it due to factors beyond their control. Laurie Drill-Mellum, an emergency medicine physician describes the forces bearing down on physicians, including litigation stress, and presents techniques for actively managing the…

Physician Health and Quality of Care: Who Heals the Healer?

Recent large-scale surveys of physicians show high numbers of respondents endorsing statements of stress and burnout. This video presentation by an emergency medicine physician examines the quantifiable effects of physician stress on the physician’s physiology and on the patient’s quality…

APRNs and the Collaborative Practice Agreement: What Physicians Need to Know

Physicians considering working with a Nurse Practitioner often ask, “What is a Collaborative Practice Agreement?”, “Will this increase my liability?” and “I’ve been asked to just sign off on the NP’s records; what do I do?” This monograph will answer…

Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Standard of Care

Twenty years ago, the AMA noted an alarming trend by physicians and hospitals: they were treating the terms “standard of care” and “clinical practice guidelines” virtually interchangeably, a trend that has only increased over time. In a video interview, cardiologist…

General Surgery Claims and Case Study

On one occasion, a surgeon may make a technical error in the operating room but no claim of medical malpractice follows. On another occasion, a technically perfect surgery may be followed by a claim of medical malpractice. Are there any…

Email Between Physician and Patient

Communicating with patients by e-mail is rapidly becoming a part of many physicians’ medical practice. It ranks high in patient satisfaction, and at least one study found it to be associated with better patient compliance and better control of chronic…

DocCom Module 2: Mindfulness and Reflection in Clinical Training and Practice

This module examines specific communication skills that promote mindful awareness, a key to effective clinical practice. Mindfulness can also be applied to the acquisition of skills and knowledge, cultivation of caring and healing attitudes, and facing the anxiety of uncertainty….

Surgical Readmissions: What Surgeons Can and Can’t Do About Them

CMS’s Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, previously targeting medical diagnoses, is expanding its reach to surgical procedures, starting with knee and hip replacements in 2015. This monograph will review new peer-reviewed studies about the reasons for surgical readmissions, to what extent…