91–100 of 119 posts
Good on you, man. I'm in medical school currently and the emphasis on locking down patient data is one of the most frustrating things to see. I'm convinced that it's a policy that everyone knows has little benefit and yet pushes for ethical brownie points. What's to be gained from freeing up the data far, far exceeds what could potentially be lost. Even freeing up anonymized patient data seems to be met with oppositi…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can make this argument about most software developers too, while they may create unique applications, they are mainly using the "already known" (existing languages, API's, etc)... You can then go on to apply this argument to nearly any other "white collar" job, accounting is "the application of the already known", etc.. White collar does not mean that you are in a research field and pushing the limits of knowledg…
"Blue collar" was a poor voice of words. You're right that the white/blue collar divide is not a creative difference. But I still feel that software development is a creative field whereas most of medicine is reactive. All fields are based upon past knowledge so the use of APIs seems irrelevant since they are just tools used to create. The criterion to differentiate between creative and non-creative fields seems to b…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can make this argument about most software developers too, while they may create unique applications, they are mainly using the "already known" (existing languages, API's, etc)... You can then go on to apply this argument to nearly any other "white collar" job, accounting is "the application of the already known", etc.. White collar does not mean that you are in a research field and pushing the limits of knowledg…
"Blue collar" was a poor voice of words. You're right that the white/blue collar divide is not a creative difference. But I still feel that software development is a creative field whereas most of medicine is reactive. All fields are based upon past knowledge so the use of APIs seems irrelevant since they are just tools used to create. The criterion to differentiate between creative and non-creative fields seems to b…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Blue collar" was a poor voice of words. You're right that the white/blue collar divide is not a creative difference. But I still feel that software development is a creative field whereas most of medicine is reactive. All fields are based upon past knowledge so the use of APIs seems irrelevant since they are just tools used to create. The criterion to differentiate between creative and non-creative fields seems to b…
There is a certain element of truth to what you are saying. When I was early in my training I was dissappointed in my choice of medicine as a career because I also thought it lacked an outlet for creativity. As a now experienced physician, there are still times when you get to a point in the care of some patients at which the next step is programmatic and rote (if A then B). However, sometimes--probably most of the t…
Sounds a lot like the medical data startup I joined ten years ago. We were so, so painfully naive about the realities of medical software. Medical records are a trivial technical problem, but an almost insurmountable political and regulatory challenge. I knew our company was doomed when we were talking to another medical software company and saw the literal wall of binders that represented a single FDA approval proce…
You're getting it wrong I think. I work in healthcare IT and many EMRs are getting on the mobile bandwagon and building out mobile clients that let you do this. Additionally, hospitals require doctors to put in diagnosis / treatment notes into EMRs which is usually done by transcribing service that the doctors can call or by sitting at a computer and typing it out. Although this process is worse than doing it over a…
I think this article should be a cautionary tale about socializing health care.
With a title of "Why I quit medicine" you would think somebody quit medicine because there is something wrong with medicine or the job of being a doctor. What we have instead is a very well intentioned individual that is getting out of medicine because they want to run a startup. And that's fine. Maybe getting jealous because they see it as a path to riches and have been reading about to many outliers. Or maybe wanti…
When a hospitalist quits medicine I am never surprised. * The job is boring * The pay is average for a smart person * The doctor spends a ton of time interacting with people that have sub-average critical thinking ability These three things are something that one cannot admit in writing, but are all true. Some people just don't have personalities that can survive being a hospitalist. One way to cope is to have hobbie…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21773849
Your contention that hospitalists actually hate their jobs and lie on surveys is implausible.
Medicine is lots of things, but it's never boring, especially in hospitals which are mad, mad places. Sure hospital work is not for everyone, but that isn't because it 'sucks'.
You're getting it wrong I think. I work in healthcare IT and many EMRs are getting on the mobile bandwagon and building out mobile clients that let you do this. Additionally, hospitals require doctors to put in diagnosis / treatment notes into EMRs which is usually done by transcribing service that the doctors can call or by sitting at a computer and typing it out. Although this process is worse than doing it over a…
My understanding is that some "hospital chains" have started doing stuff like this, primarily larger ones, however I think a lot of the smaller / independent ones are often still stuck in the dark ages as they can't afford the hassle of moving to newer technology
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Thanks so much for your support. You're right about how important face-to-face interaction is. That is not going to be replaced any time soon - nor should it be. But for the purpose of handover, you still need a written summary of all the patients on a ward that people can refer to. As I mentioned in the post, it would be useful to see who wrote what about each patient - so that you know who to talk to for further in…
Yeah... hackers are usually incredibly naive about compensation outside of their own world. For reference: http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2011... Bottom line: here in the US of A, your average doc (most certainly NOT an outlier) is making between $150k and $350k. Put that in your VC-backed pipe and smoke it. (Debt? Between $150k-$200k for 4 years of med school. Post med school training, in th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks so much for your support. You're right about how important face-to-face interaction is. That is not going to be replaced any time soon - nor should it be. But for the purpose of handover, you still need a written summary of all the patients on a ward that people can refer to. As I mentioned in the post, it would be useful to see who wrote what about each patient - so that you know who to talk to for further in…
Yeah... hackers are usually incredibly naive about compensation outside of their own world. For reference: http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2011... Bottom line: here in the US of A, your average doc (most certainly NOT an outlier) is making between $150k and $350k. Put that in your VC-backed pipe and smoke it. (Debt? Between $150k-$200k for 4 years of med school. Post med school training, in th…