September 11th, 2019
Podcast 233: Antipsychotics are no solution to delirium during hospitalization
Using “Vitamin H” (haloperidol) or newer antipsychotics to treat delirium in hospitalized patients should be off the menu, writes Edward Marcantonio in an Annals of Internal Medicine editorial. Dr. Marcantonio agrees with the authors of a systematic review who conclude that “current evidence does not support routine use of haloperidol or second-generation antipsychotics to treat delirium […]
September 25th, 2013
Podcast 168: The Camden Coalition’s work on alleviating the discontinuity of medical care
Running time: 10 minutes The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers formed about 10 years ago as a quarterly breakfast club of primary-care providers who were frustrated in their attempts to bring care to comprehensive care to their patients in Camden, N.J. The Coalition’s found and executive director, Dr. Jeffrey Brenner (himself a family physician) has just been […]
November 10th, 2012
Podcast 159: Making the Clinical Diagnosis, But Blowing the Patient’s Treatment Preference
Running time: 20 min. In some diseases there are two diagnoses to make: the clinical diagnosis and the diagnosis of what the patient’s treatment preference is. The first is hard enough to make, and the widening choice of treatment choices complicates the second. Welcome to the task of “preference diagnosis,” which can lead to disappointment and worse […]
October 18th, 2012
Podcast 158: Physician-assisted dying — a conversation with Dr. Marcia Angell about the Massachusetts ‘Death with Dignity’ ballot question
Our conversation explores the question that Dr. Marcia Angell poses in a recent essay in the New York Review of Books: May doctors help you to die? Angell’s is the first name to appear as the sponsor of a November 6 ballot initiative here in Massachusetts, which is modeled on the Oregon law already in place. I’d […]
July 16th, 2011
Podcast 126: Placebos and Medical ‘Meaning’
Last week’s New England Journal of Medicine paper on the placebo effect in evaluating asthma treatments was fascinating in itself. The editorial that accompanied it, however, was a delight. It asks clinicians to think less about laboratory measures of cure, and more about the patient’s satisfaction with treatment — whether the treatment was “real” or not. […]
December 21st, 2008
Podcast 24: An interview with Dr. Douglas B. White on the perspectives of surrogate decision makers regarding discussions about their loved one’s prognosis
We talk with Douglas B. White about his paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine, entitled “Hope, Truth, and Preparing for Death: Perspectives of surrogate decision makers,” and we offer a roundup of the week’s news. A reminder, before we start, that Admitting Diagnosis is taking the next two weeks off. We hope you’ll find […]
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