There is an ever-increasing presence of mid-level practitioners (MLPs) in the emergency departments (EDs) of US hospitals. According to the standard model, as described by those who use it, these practitioners are supervised by a physician specializing in emergency medicine, typically one who has trained...
The April 18, 2019 CNN headline was a prime example of clickbait: “Feds charge doctors in 8 states in opioid bust, including ‘Rock Doc’ accused of trading pills for sex.” The only problem with this headline? Of the 60 individuals charged, half were not physicians. More...
Does anyone care about our prisoners? After all, some may think, they are prisoners for a reason, to be punished for their misdeeds. Many of our prisoners, though, are mentally ill. And all of them are human and deserve to be treated with compassion and...
A brilliant physician recently wrote this letter to educate legislators. We can all learn from her words, whether a physician, legislator, or patient. She has graciously agreed to allow us to reprint her letter: SUBJECT: GIVING TALK THERAPISTS THE RIGHT TO PRACTICE MEDICINE BY THE VOTES...
The last thing Steven Maron, MD, expected when he was called into his administrator’s office was to be fired. The Arizona pediatrician said he had never faced any disciplinary actions throughout his 10 ½ years with the organization, and although he had written an opinion...
Let me start with the following: [perfectpullquote align="full" bordertop="false" cite="" link="" color="" class="" size=""] No, I don’t think nurse practitioners or physician assistants are stupid. Yes, I respect my nurse practitioner and physician assistant colleagues. Yes, I believe in a team-based model of health care… sort...
It occurs to me that training may be over-valued, and our failure to understand this is causing us a great deal of angst. Today I am at the dealership from which I acquired my vehicle. It needs routine scheduled maintenance, as well as new brakes, front...
By NIRAN AL-AGBA, MD As originally published here, shared with permission from the author: https://thedeductible.com/2019/02/15/the-death-of-specialization/ fbclid=IwAR1IK02oTlEE6Zb5Ae8pc3zFKXMB_czQb0ihCSsNJUcSdVQDMoHGBiAdPrI [perfectpullquote align="full" bordertop="false" cite="" link="" color="" class="" size=""]“If you control the language, you control the argument If you control the argument, you control information, If you control information, you control history, If you control history,...
As some states entertain legislation granting nurse practitioners independent practice rights, there are some finer details which deserve careful deliberation. While nurse practitioners are intelligent, capable, and contribute much to our healthcare system, they are not physicians and lack the same training and knowledge base. ...
Being a medical student in 2019 is a strange predicament. We are the most competitive matriculants to ever apply to medical school, with GPA averages around 3.8 and MCAT scores in the 90th percentile. 60% of medical school applicants were unable to find a seat...