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Daily Docblock: International Espionage Edition

Around the world right now, there are evil nerds plotting attacks on our nation’s computer systems, while ours are plotting counter-attacks against theirs. But in my daily grind of looking at images sent from radiology centers, I have discovered something which could be wielded as a sort of super weapon in this war; the CT scan on C.D.  My plan is simple,  just send one  CT scan on C.D. to a high-placed member working on a sensitive computer network of one of our adversaries. It would labelled appropriately to entice the user to place it in the CD drive (“grandkid pictures”, “porn”, “Lady Gaga’s Latest Shoes”, etc. . .) Once the user places the CD in their computer, and clicks on any screen, then if these things work they same way they work on my computer, they are simply moments away from complete system shut down.

Their computers will freeze, becoming completely obstinate in their refusal to continue. If an attempt is made to close the program, or remove the disk, the program will ask for the disk to be placed back in the computer. If the disk is placed back in the computer, the program will state that the disk is not recognized. If an attempt is made to shut down the computer, the program will ask the user “are you sure?”. If the user clicks “no” the program will ask “why not?”. If the user clicks “yes” the program will reply with any number of vague responses such as “in progress…”, or “why?”.

 The process will be frustrating, maddening, even tech support gurus will be beffudled and have no choice but to  wonder about the wisdom of messing with a country that could produce something so diabolically powerful!  

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Daily Docblock: Denied Edition

 

It seems the doc-blockage never stops. A particular thorn in my side has been Care Core. They manage imaging services for an insurance that we accept and often deny coverage for CT scans. Once the requested test is denied, the physician may appeal by calling a 1-800 number, and much of the time, they end up approving the requested study. So my question is, why make the physician jump through hoops just to get the study done, when ultimately you are going to approve the test if a physician calls? Then again, maybe that’s the point, not every physician will have time in their day to call and appeal, and many of tests will not get done.

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The Daily Docblock: Jurisprudence Edition.

We usually have a nurse practitioner who helps round on hospital inpatients. Unfortunately she got called away on jury duty, which means I will be seeing more patients on my own. Luckily it’s not too busy in the hospital today and I’ve also got a fellow doing a critical care rotation, which should make things easier.

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The Daily Docblock: Vacation Edition

Sometimes a doc just wants to get away from it all, ya know go back to their hometown and let the grandparents get some grandkiddy time. Unfortunately the docblockage followed me to the airport, where Delta airlines cancelled our flight, then got us to an adjacent city sans luggage and car seats. . . at 1 am. Luckily we now are now in possession of our prized possessions 2 days later. . .though I was  starting to  get used to wearing my dad’s 1970’s leisure wear.

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EMR and the Loss of Eloquence

Much has been made of the downside of the increasing use of EMR systems by physicians. But I am not going to  dwell on those pervasive complaints concerning the cost and complexity of setting up the systems. Nor shall I rehash the well known issue of what I call “doc blocking”. . . wherein a computer (or other entity) stands between the patient and physician, slowing the exchange of information to however many words can be typed per minute. No there’s another more pressing issue to me personally that is rarely discussed in regards to use of the EMR. The loss of eloquence. Continue reading “EMR and the Loss of Eloquence”

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Healthcare Armageddon 5: The Crux of the Problem

There’s a central theme running through many of these “Truth About Health Care” posts that I write. Whether it comes to medical centers putting out press releases that are nothing more than thinly veiled advertising, or drug companies trying to get physicians to write more prescriptions, it comes down to the fact that there’s a whole lot of competing interests out there trying to get a bigger slice of a shrinking money-pie. And the pie is about to shrink a whole lot faster. . . Continue reading “Healthcare Armageddon 5: The Crux of the Problem”

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A New Staging System for a Terminal Disease.

 strange-hairstyles-11

My dear readers, it is with great regret that I relay the news to you that your author has been diagnosed with a terminal, incurable affliction similar to what you see in the picture above. You may think I’m talking about simple male pattern baldness.  But no, this is much more spontaneous, insidious, and frankly morally shameful. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that I have the early stages of comb-over.

Continue reading “A New Staging System for a Terminal Disease.”