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Health & Medicine

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Health & Medicine

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

performance improvement: if all you measure is garbage, you will get garbage - Doctors Without Boredom

Everybody thinks performance improvement for doctors. The problem is deciding what you're going to measure.

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

let's stop asking doctors to text while driving - Doctors Without Boredom

Using an EMR while talking to patients is like texting while driving. There's got to be a better way.

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

overselling the value of fistula surgery - Doctors Without Boredom

It turns out that fistulas aren't always as easy to fix as we thought, and sometimes the surgical "success" data are manipulated.

Matthew LoftusCultureEconomicsHealth & Medicine

there are reasons why poor people eat what they eat - Doctors Without Boredom

Diet and socioeconomic status are closely linked because poverty fosters a sense of nihilism about health and the future.

Matthew LoftusEthicsHealth & Medicine

when sex hurts - Doctors Without Boredom

This essay from Joy Pedrow Skarka about pain and sex says some things that need to be heard: After our wedding, riding the elevator up to our hotel room, I looked into my groom’s eyes and saw excitement. We had […]

Matthew LoftusEthicsHealth & Medicine

preventing child deaths in America - Doctors Without Boredom

Thinking about how to eliminate America's child death discrepancy means asking hard questions about how we will collectively sacrifice.

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

experts shooting themselves in the foot with conflicts of interest - Doctors Without Boredom

People will always be skeptical of medical authorities. The authorities shouldn't make things worse by hiding potential conflicts of interest.

Matthew LoftusEthicsHealth & Medicine

questioning brain death - Doctors Without Boredom

The story of Jahi McMath illustrates how tenuous the idea of "brain death" really is.

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

EMRs are designed for billing, not for retaining information - Doctors Without Boredom

The dirty secret of all electronic medical records (EMRs) is this: they are not primarily designed to help doctors record, review, or share information about their patients. No, they are primarily designed to capture the data necessary to submit bills to […]

Matthew LoftusEconomicsHealth & Medicine

follow the money, asthma prevention edition - Doctors Without Boredom

We'd save money if we tried to help prevent asthma attacks rather than just treating them acutely. Why don't we?

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

what about Christian healthcare sharing ministries? - Doctors Without Boredom

A lot of Christians ask if healthcare sharing ministries are a good alternative to insurance. The answer: maybe!

Matthew LoftusEthicsHealth & Medicine

letting dying people die is not the same as killing them - Doctors Without Boredom

The government shouldn't interfere with a parents' decision to try to keep their child alive. But keeping someone alive isn't always ethical & dignifying.