Teaching at the bedside

Great physicians understand how to motivate patients, they focus on helping patients develop healthier lifestyles.

In which the Happy Hospitalist drinks the Kool-Aid

I have no objections to hospitalist salaries.  Hospitalists have made themselves valuable to hospitals in many ways.

Making night float work

We must design night float systems, not to meet numbers but to optimize education and patient care.  It can be done.

Night float – a plus or a minus

I love night float; I hate night float.  Night float is a necessary evil, but make no mistake it is an evil.  And I see no alternative.

What the heck is medical credit scoring?

Has anyone heard of this positively or negatively?  Robert Berner would love to talk to anyone who is familiar with this phenomenon.

RUQ pain and abnormal labs

A 45-year-old woman with RUQ pain, elevated bilirubin, and gallbladder sludge likely has cholestasis or biliary obstruction.

Atrial fibrillation – stick with rate control

I guess rate control for atrial fibrillation has become so standard that this article does not shock anyone.

Is outpatient internal medicine dead?

We need more “combo” types – those who are comfortable and competent in both inpatient and outpatient medicine.

More on diagnostic errors

We continue to have a health care payment system that rewards procedures – surgery, invasive cardiology, radiology, etc.

In which advocates rethink performance indicators

Yesterday, the NEJM released several important articles which challenge blood sugar tight control as a means of decreasing complications.