Things to Consider When Delivering Bad News to Patients
At some point during their practice, most clinicians will need to impart to their patients some bad news about a medical situation. But how can doctors deliver this in the most effective and compassionate way possible, without creating confusion or additional suffering for their patients?
Modern Medicine â Issue 5 2019
With More Complex Illnesses, Are Consult Times Adequate?
Time is a scarce resource in a doctorâs office practice. How doctors use clinic time has important implications for quality of care, patient trust and malpractice suits, and is one of the cornerstones of doctor payments.
Modern Medicine â Issue 4 2019
The Importance of Informed Consent
In spite of major developments in the law, information technology, and patientsâ wishes, procedural aspects of informed consent have not changed sufficiently over the last few decades in most hospitals. Surgeons prepare their patients randomly, and the quality of information will probably differ extensively. Patients are supposed to give consent with (or without) written information.
Modern Medicine â April/May 2019
The Legal Liability of the Good Samaritan Doctor
When the call: âIs there a doctor in the house?â goes out, does a doctor (or nurse or paramedic) who is enjoying a meal in a restaurant or who is travelling on a plane, have to step forward and do what he or she can? If he or she does not step forward, can they be held liable? If they do come forward and the treatment rendered is ineffective or complications arise, will liability be incurred? These are very real questions for the Good Samaritan doctor. They touch on legal and ethical issues potentially affecting all healthcare providers.
Modern Medicine â Oct/Nov 2018
When Drug Repsâ Gifts Bias Prescribing Patterns âŠ
Communications and interactions between pharmaceutical companies and doctors regarding drug promotion and marketing have lately been the focus of ethical interest. These interactions are pervasive and can be influential and beneficial for the patient, but they may also have some undesirable consequences. Concerns are whether drug promotion is inducing doctors to prescribe specific drugs and if promotion leads to inappropriate clinical use of some drugs.
Modern Medicine â June/July 2018
Managing Polypharmacy to Reduce Adverse Events
The use of multiple drugs, often termed polypharmacy, is commonly defined as using from five to 10 prescription drugs. This polypharmacy is sometimes necessary but may be associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes.2 The US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated the annual costs of polypharmacy at over 50 billion dollars in America.
Modern Medicine â May/June 2018
Patientsâ Autonomy: Does Doctor Know Best? – MM1703
Discussions about autonomy in healthcare mainly focus on information sharing and decision making. The obsession with individual rights in the community has
given patientsâ autonomy a helping hand but a ârightsâ context is not necessarily in the best interests of all patients.
Modern Medicine – February 2017
Ethics and Genetic Testing â MM1610
The advent of the âgenomic ageâ through new DNA technologies has for many heralded the promise of a genetic revolution. In reality, although great strides have been made in diagnostic yields and personalised medicine, what has become evident are the limitations in our understanding. Existing challenges such as interpretation and uncertainty have increased and raised new ethical and moral questions for old problems.
Modern Medicine â October 2016
Identifying the Impaired Doctor â MM1608
Doctors sometimes need to be reminded that they are human and susceptible to human frailties such as illness and dependence on illicit substances. For many doctors, physical or mental problems or the use of alcohol or illicit substances may cause brief interruptions in their day-today responsibilities that may resolve quickly with minimal intervention. Occasionally, these conditions may be more severe and interfere with a personâs ability to function as a doctor. Impairment is a legal concept used to define a situation in which a doctorâs physical or mental health potentially interferes with his or her skills and ability to safely care for patients.
Modern Medicine â August 2016
Ethics in Sports Medicine â MM1606
Central to the issues facing the sports physician is the unusual clinical environment of caring for players within the context of a team whose primary goal is to win. This is in variance with the true goal of sport, which is to compete.
Doctors who are sports specialists face a number of ethical issues and this article will highlight some of these dilemmas. Some of the issues are common to other disciplines but others are unique.
Modern Medicine â June 2016
