What our approach to kidney disease says about us as a nation
Why can’t we be as committed to providing all evidence-based health care to Americans as we are to caring for those with end stage renal disease?
Aug 04, 2019•5 min
Second Opinion
An examination of medical ethics and the practitioners who define them. Sign up to receive the Second Opinion topics in newsletter form at kcrw.com/newsletters .
Episodes
Does it matter how your doctor or nurse is dressed?
Do we want health professionals to dress similarly, just as flight attendants, or should attire be an individual choice?
Jul 28, 2019•5 min
An ambulance is not a medical taxi
When people feel sick from minor illnesses, an ambulance and a trip to the ED is not in their best interest nor is it in the best interest of the public.
Jul 21, 2019•5 min
Hospital Price Transparency
Know how much a medical service costs could be important in making medical decisions. But, new regulations that require this information be provided to the public have created databases that are simply unusable.
Jul 14, 2019•5 min
Shared Decision Making
When sick and needing surgery do patients want to make decisions themselves or have an expert make the decision?
Jul 07, 2019•4 min
Workplace Wellness Programs
Improved work-life balance is an important goal, but do workplace wellness programs help us live healthier more balanced lives?
Jun 30, 2019•5 min
A new batch of interns and residents, but some things haven’t changed
Long grueling work hours and pharmaceutical gifts are still part of medical training.
Jun 23, 2019•5 min
When making medical decisions we often act irrationally
Medical decisions are complex and we often rely on our values and preferences rather than exclusively on the science.
Jun 16, 2019•5 min
Is something wrong with the VA?
By messing with the largest and one of the highest functioning health care systems in the nation we are putting our vet’s health at risk.
Jun 09, 2019•5 min
Politicians have long held woman’s health hostage
Woman’s bodies have long been proxy for politician’s power and control – often under the guise of “morality”. Today access to pregnancy termination is in the news, but before that it was contraceptives.
Jun 02, 2019•5 min
Mental health: An unrecognized problem
T he data on serious mental illness is surprising and we do not have an adequate response to address the problem.
May 26, 2019•5 min
Standing up for women
This week has been a bad one for woman's reproductive rights and the health care providers who care for them.
May 19, 2019•4 min
Direct to Consumer Genetic testing isn’t ready for prime time
While ordering genetic tests directly from a company seeks to empower patients and puts them in control of their own health data, the test results that are returned are often confusing and leads the person to make incorrect assumptions about their health risks.
May 12, 2019•5 min
The need for a just culture in health care
When it error occurs it’s easy to blame an individual but its often important to looks at systems causes.
May 05, 2019•5 min
Diversity of our doctors benefits our nation
Some experts claim America needs more doctors -- what is far clearer is that we need different doctors practicing in different locations working with different communities
Apr 28, 2019•5 min
Changing prescribers' behaviors to stop prescribing drugs that don’t work.
Social psychologists and economists are working from all sides to figure out how to change doctors' prescribing behaviors, but it is not always about what’s best for patients.
Apr 21, 2019•5 min
The impact of hearing loss
Past reasons that people suffered in silence, including stigma and price, are changing meaning more options to assist those with hearing loss.
Apr 14, 2019•5 min
Rating an Uber Driver
No longer is being average acceptable.
Apr 07, 2019•5 min
Anti Depressants: new and old
There’s lots we still don’t know about older antidepressants and now were starting the process all over with an entire new class of drugs.
Mar 31, 2019•5 min
Root Cause Analysis in disasters
It behooves us to approach problems with a systems based orientation.
Mar 24, 2019•4 min
Given the same type of bone fracture, are people likely to get the same treatment for pain?
Medical Professionals unconsciously hold biases and stereotypes that impact the care they provide to different type of people.
Mar 17, 2019•5 min
Racial and Ethnic Difference in medication for pain and anxiety (Part 1)
For a variety of different controlled drugs, such as opioids and stimulants, prescriptions are more common in majority white areas. What is the impact of this disparity?
Mar 10, 2019•5 min
There can be hidden meaning in a medical term
S exually transmitted diseases and mesentaric adenitis.
Mar 03, 2019•4 min
Aging Surgeons pose some complicated problems
Do we want a mandatory retirement age, and if we do it could impact our ability to get timely surgery?
Feb 24, 2019•5 min
Hospital Readmission Rates are too high
Re-admission rates not only lower quality of life but they are expensive.
Feb 17, 2019•5 min
Supervised Injection Facilities for those who use IV drug
The nations is divided – are supervised injection facilities illegal and only serve to promote illicit drug use, or are they a step toward harm reduction as they save lives?
Feb 10, 2019•5 min
Shkreli awards for the worst actors in health care
Unbridled greed and disrespect for human suffering seems to be the driver of all award winners.
Feb 03, 2019•5 min
Transgender youth are suffering greatly
At local, state, and national levels we are failing to protect and care for transgender people
Jan 27, 2019•4 min
STI: Sexually Transmitted Infections: Treatment for two
There is something lost when treatment is only provided to one half of a couple.
Jan 20, 2019•4 min
How do physicians assistants and nurse practitioner compare with physicians on meaningful outcomes?
It is high time to throw out the current model of medical training and look to designing a health care system that really works and is affordable.
Jan 13, 2019•4 min
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