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In a richly technology-saturated world, integrating information technology seamlessly into patient encounters poses a fresh challenge: How does mobile technology support a new style of bedside manner that still keeps the focus squarely on the patient?
Read on to hear how Dr. Claudio Palma accessed the right information in the moment to reassure his patient.
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Plus, our Medical Information editors highlight two popular DocAlert messages: Patient Stories offers advice from a humanities professor who encourages an attitude of humility as we let patients tell us their stories; Simple Advice Motivates Patients to Exercise reminds us that patients are listening – clinician advice about lifestyle changes really does make a meaningful difference.
We also want to hear your extraordinary patient care stories.
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Finding Answers in the Moment
Anne Meneghetti, MD
Director, Clinical Communications
When a patient is right in front of you, it’s great to be able to find answers without breaking the flow
of the visit. This is especially true when a patient is acutely suffering. Dr. Claudio Palma shared the
following story with us, wherein he discovered that a patient’s acute pain flare was related to a drug-drug interaction between an opioid and an antibiotic.
Watch Dr. Palma’s video on YouTube
Little more than a decade ago, mobile technology did not support instant answers like this one. In the
past, many clinicians were not comfortable accessing information in front of patients. Now, clinicians
tell us they get positive feedback from patients when they briefly use technology during visits. Getting
instant answers via phone or tablet makes it that much easier to stay in the moment with patients.
Patient Stories
By Anju Goel, MD, MPH
As medicine becomes increasingly driven by technology and testing, medical educators struggle with physicians on basic bedside skills, such as active listening, to enhance
effective communication with patients.
Med Humanities 2011;37:68-72 [Free full-text PDF]
Johanna Shapiro
Illness narratives: reliability, authenticity and the empathic witness
[EXCERPTS]
Several scholarly trends, such as narrative medicine, patient-centered and relationship-centered care,
have long advocated for the value of the patient's voice in the practice of medicine. From the clinical
perspective, while diagnostic technologies are widely regarded as objective and replicable, patient stories
can change in both content and emphasis from one telling to the next, and therefore may be seen as
problematic, especially when they are resistant or oppositional narratives. While acknowledging the not
inconsiderable pitfalls awaiting the interpreter of illness narratives, I argue that ultimately, physicians and
scholars should approach patient stories with an attitude of narrative humility, despite inevitable limits on
reliability and authenticity. An old folk proverb asks, ‘What is truer than the truth?’ The answer? ‘A good
story’.
Copyright © 2012 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Institute of Medical Ethics. All rights reserved.
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Update (sync) your Epocrates app once a week to ensure that you have the most current clinical information. |
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Simple Advice Motivates Patients to Exercise
Monique Yohanan, MD, MPH
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Recent findings on promoting physical activity highlight the importance of the clinician-patient interaction. In primary care settings where exercise was encouraged in face-to-face or phone discussions, the number needed to treat for previously sedentary adults to meet recommended activity levels at 1 year was 12. Simple discussions between clinicians and patients about lifestyle changes have the potential to make a significant impact.
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BMJ 2012;344:e1389 [Free full-text PDF]
Effectiveness of physical activity promotion based in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Orrow G, et al
[EXCERPTS]
In 13 trials presenting self reported physical activity, we saw small to medium positive intervention effects
at 12 months. The number needed to treat with an intervention for one additional sedentary adult to
meet internationally recommended levels of activity at 12 months was 12 (7 to 33). Promotion of physical
activity to sedentary adults recruited in primary care significantly increases physical activity levels at 12
months, as measured by self report.
© 2012 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
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Act by June 30, 2012, to Avoid Medicare’s 2013 eRx Payment Adjustment
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Electronic Prescribing (eRx) program applies
payment adjustments to encourage electronic prescribing. For eligible professionals who do not become successful
e-prescribers, Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule professional services payments are reduced by 1%
in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% in 2014.
How can you avoid the 2013 payment adjustment?
• Become an e-prescriber by June 30, 2012. Individual professionals need to report at least 10 eRx
events via claims. Small group practice reporting option participants need 625 eRx events via
claims; large group practice reporting option participants need 2,500 eRx events via claims.
• Submit a Significant Hardship Exemption by June 30, 2012. Individuals and groups may be
exempted if e-prescribing would result in a significant hardship, for example, if they:
• are unable to e-prescribe due to local, state, or federal law or regulation
• prescribe fewer than 100 prescriptions in a 6-month reporting period (1/1/12 - 6/30/12)
• practice in rural areas without sufficient high-speed Internet or without sufficient
pharmacies available for e-prescribing.
More information and resources are available from CMS online.
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Over a million healthcare professionals like yourself work to deliver above-and-beyond patient care with
Epocrates.
Every day, the work you do profoundly improves the lives of others. From the physician who discovered
a drug interaction between an opioid and an antibiotic, to the paramedic who identified an overdose of
tricyclic anti-depressants taken by a young adult—we want to hear your stories.
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Epocrates 1-1-1 Donation Program
Thank you for your support of the Epocrates
1-1-1 Donation Program and voting for our 2012 finalists.
We are happy to announce Volunteers in Medicine Clinic (Stuart, Florida) was selected to receive our
premium support package including subscriptions to Epocrates Essentials and mobile devices for its
volunteers.
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Epocrates has saved me countless hours of time which I can now devote to patient care. Thank you for
all your years of assisting in the care of needy patients.
- Dr. Voss, Medical Director, Volunteers in Medicine Clinic |
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The 2013 application is now open at www.epocrates.com/who/donate. Is there a medical non-profit
organization you contribute to or admire? Recommend our program to an organization you know or
apply today.
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Android Tips and Tutorials
The latest version of Epocrates brings you new icons, customizable home screens, transferability to the SD
card, & support for OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
Don’t have Epocrates v 1.925? Update now.
Need help getting oriented? Watch brief demo videos within the Epocrates app by selecting “Help”,
then “Tips”. Or, visit our Tips and Tutorials page.
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Mobile Resource Center: Atrial Fibrillation
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Copyright © 2012 Epocrates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Epocrates, Inc., 1100 Park Place, Suite 300, San Mateo, CA 94403
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