The Mayo Clinic: A Documentary

by Ken Burns – PBS – September 25, 2018

"The Mayo Clinic," is a two hour video that "chronicles the history of this unique medical institution, from its 19th century roots as an unlikely partnership between a country doctor and the Sisters of Saint Francis — forged in response to a devastating tornado in 1883 — to its position today as a worldwide model for collaborative patient care, research and education,"

Discussion about the show: Amanpour and Company.

FAITH, HOPE AND SCIENCE

DJE:  I watched this documentary on September 25th.  It is sensitively done and deserves a repeat viewing.  It would be a powerful viewing experience for premedical students and trainees.

Precision Medicine

Are We Being Misled About Precision Medicine?

By Liz Szabo

NY Times, September 11, 2018  Link

Doctors and hospitals love to talk about the patients they’ve saved with precision medicine, and reporters love to write about them. But the people who die still vastly outnumber the rare successes.

“There are very few instances in which we can look at a genomic test and pick a drug off the shelf and say, ‘That will work,’” said Dr. Nikhil Wagle, a cancer specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston who helped develop precision-medicine tests. “That’s our goal in the long run, but in 2018 we’re not there yet.”

Failed precision medicine studies received almost no news coverage. Against this backdrop of hope and desperation, how are patients supposed to make informed decisions?

The phrase “precision medicine” suggests a high rate of success. While its successes should be celebrated, its failures must be acknowledged, reminding us how much is left to learn.

[This is a great overview of the rapidly growing field of "precision medicine."  The hype cannot be ignored.]

Coeur d'Alene

by Richard B. Weinberg, M.D.

Wake Forest School of Medicine

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Ann Intern Med. 2016;165:822-823

The EMR meets a teachable moment…

This essay appeared in the On Being a Doctor section of the Annals of Internal Medicine. It is a teachable moment for students, trainees and practicing physicians.

Weinberg tells his millennial resident:

“Let me tell you the advice that my physical diagnosis teacher gave me over 40 years ago. Right off, ask every patient four questions:

1.     Where were you born?

2.     Are you married, and do you have children?

3.     Where did you go to school?

4.     What kind of work do you do?

If you do this, it will be a rare patient with whom you don't find some point of connection.”

See:  Full Text.