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I have decided to spam for public health. Phone calls, text messaging, and even apps have been shown to help improve health and sustain behavior change, even in people suffering from profound mental illness. But when it comes to using these tools for public health, there are two problems. The first is that each message […] When you sleep with your bottle, you’ve passed a milestone in your addiction. You’ve got to have it against your chest, all night, easy to reach. Your relationship to it is like other people’s relationships with their smart phones; it’s crucial to your existence, always clutched in your hand. You feel unsettled when you can’t […] Perhaps you remember Sam, the chronic inebriate whose story I shared to discuss the pitfalls of basing doctor pay on patient satisfaction surveys. Looking at his discharge papers, I wondered who helped Sam fill his survey out, and how much their “help” affected the results. After all, millions upon millions of dollars are already now […] Take a moment to ask yourself whether any of these categories describe you or someone you love: Never had cancer Psychologically distressed No regular health care provider No health insurance Lack confidence in self care Avoid doctors Minority race If any of these terms describes you or a loved one, then you are statistically more […] Patients Rating Doctors: Let’s Pay Popular People More! Obligatory conflict-of-interest announcement: I am paid an hourly salary by a local government. My patients may fill out satisfaction surveys for other physicians in other settings, but they don’t for me. Part One of Three: My patient only had 20 minutes to wait for the van […] You’re working your way through your many patients one day, and this is what you encounter: A woman who won’t meet your gaze when you ask her questions. A man who rocks on the end of the exam table, arms crossed over his chest, eyes unfocused, even as he denies hearing voices. Another woman who […] |
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