What separates good doctors from great ones?

--------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors [The Physician’s Guide to Getting Time Back]( 3 Ways Technology Accelerates Your Workflows. [Read now](. Reducing [burnout]( requires understanding the multiple root causes and action from individual physicians, institutional clinic leadership, electronic health record software designers, and health care regulators. Howard Marcus, MD defines the [problem]( and reveals solutions. 90% of physicians use mobile devices to [connect with patients](. How can you make sure your care plan is staying [front of mind]( for patients when they aren’t in front of you? [Survey results]( Virtually every clinician uses a smartphone at work. But what do they use it for? We asked over 300 health care professionals and the results show a mix of applications. [See the results now](. Each extra log-on can add up to thousands of hours of lost time that could be spent with your patients, improving your overall quality of care. [Learn more about EHR integration]( with Imprivata. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Plus: Aug 23, 2018 [What is one thing that separates good doctors from great ones?]( What makes a good doctor or, for that matter, a great one? Most patients want physicians who are excellent clinicians and diagnosticians. But we also want doctors who are caring, empathetic and maybe even telepathic — doctors who seem to know intuitively what we need without any awkward discussion of sensitive issues. After all, patients […] [Remember that your doctor is also human]( “I love what I do. I hate what I have to do.” It’s a quote that doctors attribute to their profession behind closed doors. As patients, we are so overwhelmed with our own problems. We fail to notice that our doctor may be battling her own problems with a complicated system. But what do we […] [Why doctors don’t like to retire]( The past decade has seen an enormous upheaval in the practice of medicine. The private independent medical practice is in danger of extinction. Management overhead and red tape has skyrocketed due to government regulations and private insurance and pharmaceutical benefit rules. Added to that are multiple electronic medical records that need to be implemented, vary […] [A strong doctor-patient relationship: why it matters]( Writing in Annals of Family Medicine a few years ago, Chicago obstetrician Benjamin P. Brown vividly described his mentor’s interaction with a patient who had just emigrated from Mexico and had no family support. “When he asked earnestly how she was doing, her hard-won defenses seemed to crumple, and all of a sudden she was […] [MKSAP: 30-year-old woman with HIV infection]( Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 30-year-old woman is evaluated in follow-up after being recently diagnosed with HIV infection. She is asymptomatic. Medical history is unremarkable, and she takes no medications; she has not yet started antiretroviral therapy. She received all scheduled childhood immunizations. On physical […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [Conference planners!]( Find vetted, handpicked physician speakers that shine on stage. Now booking for 2019! Physician Speaking by KevinMD: [Your audience deserves the best](. --------------------------------------------------------------- [What do the Fidelity ZERO mutual funds mean for physician investors?]( Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab have been engaging in a fierce competition to claim the mantle as the leading provider of low-cost index funds. As a result, each has aggressively lowered their fees for their index fund offerings over the past few years and advertised their low-cost offerings to investors. After the latest round of fee […] [This infectious disease physician still finds HIV care rewarding. Here’s why.]( Earlier this year, I wrote a piece about friends and colleagues of mine who have left HIV clinical practice. Something about it touched a nerve. And this was a typical response: A bunch of my friends and colleagues have left HIV/ID clinical practice recently. This is why they did it. Latest post: Why Experienced HIV/ID Doctors Leave […] [The problem with telephone messages in primary care]( Sometimes I wonder if I am wired differently from other doctors, in terms of what I remember on my own and what I need some help with. The other day I got a “medical call” that simply said, “Mr. Brown called to report his blood pressure is 120/80.” With more than fifty calls in my […] [The erosion of informed consent in medical research]( The bedrock requirement to obtain informed consent before patients may be enrolled in research has been eroding. I’ve documented the different ways and different reasons for this several times over the years (“Informed Consent for Babies: When Experts Disagree,” “Informed Consent in Infant Research: Ethical Problems Remain,” “Informed Consent in Comparative Effectiveness Research,” and “The […] [A physician explains the afterlife to his child]( Death and dying — it is one of the first topics I was taught about in medical school. I was fortunate to attend a medical school that only made us spend half our time falling asleep in lectures. The other half we were in small group sessions, working our way through real patient scenarios, trying to learn […] [The simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with patients]( I have a theory. There is a simple thing hospitalists can do that can enhance relationships with our patients, and even, I bet, improve patient satisfaction scores. The catch is it is not something you can do for yourself; you can only “pay it forward” for somebody else. We know patients who trust their physicians […] [What physicians need to know about living trusts]( One common question that doctors face in estate planning is whether to establish a trust. This topic gets brought up in the doctors’ lounges, especially after someone gets a pitch from their financial planner. Most doctors who bring up the topic are quite enthusiastic, and cite that doctors need a trust because “we make a […] --------------------------------------------------------------- If a friend sent you this email and you want to subscribe, go to [KevinMD](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 345 Hudson Street New York NY 10014 USA [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](