Podcast of ExBem: Episode 68 : Closing the "Sale"

I once thought that having made a diagnosis and recommended  its treatment that I could now move to the next patient. Experience has taught me  however, that it is now that the crucial work begins.

Ready or not artificial intelligence is here. Does this mean that physicians are soon to be out of a job? On this episode I explain why our positions are secure, at least for now....

After a month to process my emergency appendectomy, on this episode I describe my "take aways" from my encounter, or should I say collision, with modern American medicine.

I have had little experience being a patient... until now.   On this episode I share what it was like on the other end of the stethoscope, or in my case the scalpel.

Hospital administration continually reminds me that emergency medicine is a business.  If so, this begs the question - what are we selling?  On this episode I describe why my recent experience suggests that what we are selling is not really what our patients are looking to buy.  

Enormous pressure is being applied to turn emergency departments and the specialists who run them into something the were not meant to be.   This shift in focus threatens both our medical system and our patients.   On this episode I describe these changes and their origins.

On this episode I present an epitaph for the Coronavirus pandemic. I describe how and why it ended and discuss how we were convinced to  make sacrifices and fight in a war that never existed.

After two episodes spent defining the problem, on this offering I outline a prescription to treat our sick society.  We have the tools, do we have the will to try something new? 

If recent events reflect an American society that has become sick, what is the illness affecting us and how did it arise?  On this episode I argue that our attempts to engineer a " Great Society" have collided with human nature and the results have not been those expected.

Do recent events prove that our society is sick? I believe that they do.  Does 40 years of experience caring for sick individuals justify my comentary discussing why it is sick and what can be done to cure it?  Decide for yourself.