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• Can the Physical Examination Save Us From the Technology-Induced Dehumanization of Medicine?

  In last week’s NEJM, physician-author Abraham Verghese paints a disturbing picture of a medical world in which technology has morphed from tool to object, the patient relegated to a supporting role. To me, Abraham has nailed the diagnosis but not the Read More... Posted Thu, Jan 01 2009 4:17 PM by Bob Wachter | 9 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Diagnosis/Clinical Reasoning, Information Technology

• Why the Medical Record Needs to Become More Like Facebook

  The explosive growth of Facebook and MySpace illustrates the market for electronic tools to enhance communication and collaboration. Could there possibly be another workplace more in need of social networking tools than the modern hospital? If you are Read More... Posted Thu, Sep 11 2008 6:29 AM by Bob Wachter | 8 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Information Technology, Industry/Pharma, Nurses/Nursing

• Will Knols and Blogs Upend the Cozy World of Medical Publishing?

  Yesterday, Google launched Knol, immediately branded as Google’s answer to Wikipedia. As healthcare advisor to the project, I’ll say a few words about Knol, but focus on how it – and other forms of electronic self-publishing – may signal the end of medical Read More... Posted Fri, Jul 25 2008 6:03 AM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Medical Education/Academia, Information Technology, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Why Diagnostic Errors Don’t Get Any Respect… And What Can Be Done About It

  I gave a keynote yesterday to the first-ever meeting on “Diagnostic Error in Medicine.” I hope the confab helps put diagnostic errors on the safety map. But, as Ricky Ricardo would say, the experts and advocates in the audience have some ‘splainin’ to Read More... Posted Mon, Jun 02 2008 4:20 AM by Bob Wachter | 5 Comments Filed under: Quality Measurement, Medical Education/Academia, Diagnosis/Clinical Reasoning, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• More Consequences of IT: The Disappearance of Radiology Rounds

  When I was a med student, the Beating Heart of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) was not the CEO’s suite, the neurosurgeon’s OR, or the Dean’s lair. It was the seat of one Wallace Miller, Sr., in the decidedly unglamorous Chest Reading Read More... Posted Thu, Jan 31 2008 6:11 AM by Bob Wachter | 8 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Information Technology, Health Policy, Outsourcing/Medical Tourism

• How Clinical IT is Transforming Hospital Care – For Better and Worse

  My friend Mark Smith, who runs the California HealthCare Foundation, once wryly observed, “Have you ever noticed that the doctors who talk about how much fun primary care is only practice it one afternoon a week?” I may have become the hospitalist version Read More... Posted Sun, Jan 27 2008 7:19 AM by Bob Wachter | 7 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Nurses/Nursing

• A Nordstrom To-Do List: Tie, Slacks, a Little V. Tach?

  Great quote by USC cardiologist Leslie Saxon (a reporter reached her on her cell phone as Leslie was shopping) on this week’s NEJM study on delayed defibrillation: “You’re better off having your arrest [here] at Nordstrom [than in a hospital]… because Read More... Posted Mon, Jan 07 2008 4:09 AM by Bob Wachter | 0 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Industry/Pharma, Nurses/Nursing, Media/Press Coverage

• The Shameless Commerce Division

  Sorry, but today is the day for a tiny bit of Shameless Commerce – a quick plug for my new book, Understanding Patient Safety. I wouldn’t normally do this – I’m as brazenly promotional as anybody, mind you, but it does seem a bit cheesy – but then I saw Read More... Posted Thu, Nov 01 2007 11:42 PM by Bob Wachter | 0 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Diagnosis/Clinical Reasoning, Information Technology, Ambulatory/Primary Care, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Nurses/Nursing

• Rating Doctors Like Restaurants

  So Zagat will now be rating doctors, using the methods it perfected helping you find the best sushi in Brooklyn Heights. What’s next, Consumer Reports rating grad schools? Fodor rating auto mechanics? Whatever you think of Zagat’s cross-dressing, it again Read More... Posted Sun, Oct 28 2007 5:57 AM by Bob Wachter | 4 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Medical Education/Academia, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Information Technology, Ambulatory/Primary Care

• Can Computerized Decision Support Get Docs to Toe the Line on Quality?

  A humorous and telling story about quality measurement, decision support, and human nature: I was visiting professor at a very good academic medical center a year or so ago. On these trips, one of the fun things I get to do is meet with the residents. Read More... Posted Wed, Oct 10 2007 3:47 AM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Medical Education/Academia, Information Technology