More articles from Commentary
- The conundrum of explaining breast density to patients
Several states have mandated that, after mammography, patients be informed if their breasts are dense. Explaining what this means is a challenge.
- The overdiagnosis of pneumonia
We are hospitalizing more patients with “pneumonia,” but it has not improved outcomes.
- Azithromycin and risk of sudden cardiac death: Guilty as charged or falsely accused?
We need not abandon this drug, but we should see if our patients have risk factors, and take precautions.
- Electronic siloing: An unintended consequence of the electronic health record
For all their purported benefits, electronic systems drive caregivers to work alone, thereby discouraging spontaneous interaction.
- Should healthy people take calcium and vitamin D to prevent fractures? What the US Preventive Services Task Force and others say
The USPSTF recently threw cold water on the use of these supplements, but the findings need to be put in context.
- The 2012 ACR guidelines for osteoarthritis: Not a cookbook
Treatment approaches differ depending on the patient’s clinical presentation and on the preferences of the patient and the physician. Often, more than one approach is possible.
- An argument for reviving the disappearing skill of cardiac auscultation
Three case scenarios show how the clinical examination can complement echocardiography in the evaluation of valvular heart disease.
- The apples and oranges of cost-effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness analysis, our best tool for comparing apples and oranges, is itself a lot like apples and oranges.
- Personalizing patient care
Personalized health care has been anticipated for decades. Yet in its breadth and in the way we would like it to be practiced, it is still in its infancy.
- A new ICU paradigm: Intensivists as primary critical care physicians
The time has come for critical care medicine to end its identity crisis.