mannd

The Art of the Compromise

I haven’t read “The Art of the Deal,” but I suspect that part of it has to do with the give and take that is necessary in order to achieve a deal. My understanding of the word “deal” implies that I get some things I want, and you get some things you want. I don’t… Continue reading The Art of the Compromise

CenturyLink Sucks, Part 57

I don’t usually work at a coffee shop, but here I am, at Panera’s dealing with their bad (also CenturyLink) internet service, because my internet service is down at home. Yes we are going into DAY NUMBER 4 of the great CenturyLink Internet Service Outage of Parker, Colorado. This started inauspiciously, perhaps coincidentally, during a… Continue reading CenturyLink Sucks, Part 57

EP Studios App Updates

Here’s what’s going on with the EP Studios apps: EP Calipers Most of the new stuff is in EP Calipers. Probably the most useful new feature is available on the Mac and Windows versions: a transparent floating caliper window. Use it to overlay calipers over any open window on the desktop. Check figures of journal… Continue reading EP Studios App Updates

Do No Harm

Cardiac neuroses are often iatrogenic in origin. A well-meaning but careless comment by a physician can change a person’s sense of well-being in an instant. The effect can be permanent and devastating. Many clinicians who complain about overly anxious patients don’t appreciate their own role in the genesis of this problem. Our words matter. They… Continue reading Do No Harm

Thoughts on Mark Josephson

I’m sure there will be plenty of tributes to Dr. Josephson in the next few days from his colleagues who knew him well and those who didn’t know him personally but learned so much from his books and articles. I fall somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t one of his students at Penn who learned… Continue reading Thoughts on Mark Josephson

A Tale of Two Histories

Compare the following two versions of the same medical history: Version 1 CC: chest pain Mr. Smith is a 57 y/o white man who comes into the office today for the first time with a complaint of chest pain. He states he has been in generally good health in the past, though he has smoked… Continue reading A Tale of Two Histories

Massive Heart Attacks

Carrie Fisher’s sad, premature death is an occasion to reflect upon the poor job the news media does in reporting medical news. The initial report from TMZ had the headline “Carrie Fisher Massive Heart Attack on Plane.” If one equates “heart attack” to the more precise medical term “myocardial infarction,” as is usually done, then this… Continue reading Massive Heart Attacks

Escape from Escape

During my college days computers were run from teletype machines. These teletypes had a typewriter keyboard layout extended with unfamiliar keys like Control (Ctrl) and Escape (Esc). You could press Ctrl-G and make the teletype ring its bell — ding! You could press Esc when you mistakenly wrote a BASIC program with an infinite loop and make the program… Continue reading Escape from Escape

Geeky Docs

I remember the disdain some of the EHR trainers had for their trainees back when our hospital system “went live” several years ago. Of course this disdain was tempered by their knowledge that if docs weren’t so computer illiterate, or the user interfaces of the EHR systems weren’t so awful, or if the EHR software… Continue reading Geeky Docs

The Last

He was the last. Old and wizened, he counted down his final days, his final hours on Earth. He lay in his bed, the rain drumming monotonously on the window. Night came. He pressed the button to call the aide. The aide appeared at his bedside. Every night the old man had the same request.… Continue reading The Last