Medical Professionals

Having just completed my surgery clerkship, this is surprisingly accurate.

Let's hope Cigna catches some real consequences this time. (Not likely, but we can hope.)

I like to go through and take a couple of these tests every now and then to kind of check up on myself to make sure I'm not developing biases that will negatively impact my ability to care for my patients. I think it's probably a good idea to at least get a baseline for yourself so you know when you're most likely going to need to self-monitor what you say and do more closely.

Nearly 200 health professionals have written to the health secretary saying that patients with the illness are being left to ‘languish behind closed doors’

The Times (UK)

Doctors have said that NHS patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) risk starving to death because of unsafe and “unconscionable” standards of care. 

The letter calls for the government to take action to address the “serious patient safety concerns” for patients with ME, an illness which affects about 250,000 people in the UK.

More than 200 health professionals including GPs, hospital consultants and nurses have written to Wes Streeting, the health secretary, saying that patients with the illness are being left to “languish behind closed doors” because specialist NHS services to provide safe care “do not exist”.

ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, is a complex neurological disorder that leads to symptoms including extreme exhaustion. Severe cases can be fatal, with patients bedridden and unable to eat or drink, but these patients currently “fall through the cracks” as there is no specialist NHS care provision. 

A letter signed by 202 doctors and NHS staff calls on ministers to convene an ME clinical task force providing “emergency specialist guidance in cases where patients are hospitalised”, as well as to commit to holding NHS trusts “accountable” for care.

They write: “There is little access to truly specialist ME care or treatment within the NHS and paradoxically, the sicker a patient is, the less care they receive.

“Even if doctors and healthcare professionals are knowledgeable and willing to treat patients, the infrastructure to provide safe and appropriate care does not exist.”

[…]

Personally, I try to present myself as excited for the training with some degree of competence without trying to pretend like I already know....anything? I feel like I have some trouble striking the perfect balance between competent and receptive, or maybe it's a balance between confidence and humility.

I think erring on the side of humility and receptiveness is a better bet if you're not sure where the balance is, but I'd like to hear from other folks' experiences and perspectives.

(I'd also be grateful for perspectives from folks who have been preceptors or instructors!)

I'm currently in my Family Med clinical rotation, and our professor has us working on social determinants of health stuff for the didactic/academic portion. To that end, she sent us some resources and then I dug up a bunch more, so I wanted to share links to the resources I found in case anyone finds them useful in their practice for helping patients with SDOH needs.

Unfortunately, these are all going to be American resources, but hopefully they'll be helpful to someone.

• Neighborhood Navigator for resources by zip code
• Reading Level analyzer for patient instructions.
• SAGE - Resources for LGBTQ+ Elders
• Medigap/Medicare Part C for supplemental and prescription drug coverage
• Medicare Savings Programs for low-income seniors
• Supplemental Security Income assistance for seniors and people with disabilites
• Aid Access - Buy abortion pills online
• Dental Care state programs
• Free or Low Cost Eye Care
• Hearing Aid Project
• Google Doc of OB/Gyns known to do hysterectomies

If there are any other resources you know about, please share them in the comments! This stuff is so important for healthcare access, but they can be really hard to track down sometimes.