In medical school I learned about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s model for the five stages most patients go through when faced with a terminal illness. The stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. What I didn’t learn until recently—at a deep level—was how these stages, particularly denial and anger, might influence care and the provider-patient […]
collaboration
What McDonalds Shares in Common with Most Hospitals: Shift Workers
Gone are the days of “your doctor.” In the past, the family doctor might care for you both in the community as well as in the hospital when needed. However, today if you’re sick enough to require hospitalization, you’re far more likely to be cared for by a stranger, a specialist with additional training in […]
Doctors and Data: Numbers Alone Will Not Transform Healthcare
I began my medical career on yellow paper. At the time, the patient’s record consisted of a page in a large 3-ring binder. Good times perhaps, but such a system felt more like one for the storage of ancient texts—difficult to decipher and almost inaccessible by all but a few. As a result, doctors’ orders […]