When a Doctor Becomes a Patient
Doctors are perceived to be benevolent, knowledgeable and powerful in matters of life and death. However, a complex concept of reverse hierarchy and role disorientation can take place when a doctor becomes a patient. Because doctors dedicate much of their lives to ensuring the well-being of patients, they may have a skewed perception of their personal health risks and fail to acknowledge that they, too, can fall victim to illness.
Modern Medicine – Issue 4 2020
Moral Injury is at the Root of Burnout
Each day healthcare providers are presented
with new situations from their patients and clients. Many of these situations require much contemplation, and often both personal and professional judgment is used to come to a conclusion.
In many cases, the decision-making process becomes difficult due to personal and professional beliefs, as well as institutional
and legal requirements placed upon the healthcare provider. This phenomenon, known as moral distress, is “when one knows the right thing to do, but institutional or health system constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action”.
Modern Medicine – Issue 3 2020
Patent Protection in Times of Crisis
In recent years, globalisation has forced a deeper appreciation of the relationship between intellectual property law and global health. The threat of an emergent avian bird flu pandemic led to calls for Roche to relax patent restrictions on oseltamivir, a drug with potential efficacy against bird influenza. In the context of the fall 2001 anthrax attacks, the US government faced pressure to break Bayer’s patent on ciprofloxacin in order to increase availability of the drug. Such situations have generated intense debate over the value of patent protection amidst health crisis.
Modern Medicine – Issue 2 2020
Making too Many Decisions in a Day
Leads to Decision Fatigue
Every day doctors make repeated decisions about patient care. Such decisions typically involve careful deliberation of the costs, risks and benefits of a given course of action. An important insight from behavioural theory is that careful consideration of pros and cons in decision making is mentally taxing, leading people to shy away from engaging in cognitively demanding reasoning when tired.
Modern Medicine – Issue 1 2020
Do Placebos Have a Place in the Therapeutic Toolbox?
Placebos are substances and interventions that lack specific efficacy in treating a patient’s condition based on the inherent properties of the treatment. Placebo effects refer to neurobiological and clinical changes produced by a placebo administration or active treatment given in a certain context. Assuming that placebo effects can be harnessed to achieve better outcomes than usual medical care, whether and how doctors may recommend treatments that lack any specific efficacy remains controversial.
Modern Medicine – Issue 6 2019
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 – Issue 5 2019
With More Complex Illnesses, Are Consult Times Adequate?
Time is a scarce resource in a doctor’s 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 – Issue 4 2019
The Importance of Informed Consent
In spite of major developments in the law, information technology, and patients’ 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 – April/May 2019
The Legal Liability of the Good Samaritan Doctor
When the call: “Is there a doctor in the house?” 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 – Oct/Nov 2018
When Drug Reps’ Gifts Bias Prescribing Patterns …
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 – June/July 2018
