Category: Health care

Will asking good questions in med school help doctors ask good questions of patients?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters 

“When I was in medical school, I was always told to question what was taught – even by the teachers who taught it to me. That was amazing!”   

Amazing, indeed! Questioning everything your teachers tell you may seem risky, but that observation from veteran cardiologist Dr. Milton Packer about his own med school experience feels oddly encouraging even to non-students like me. I’m naturally curious, skeptical, eager to learn, and sometimes a pain in the neck to physicians who may not be as open to questioning as Dr. Packer is!         .    Continue reading “Will asking good questions in med school help doctors ask good questions of patients?” →

Implementation science: should research actually DO SOMETHING?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 14 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

“Don’t just publish another paper.  Let’s DO something!”  That feisty challenge to her academic colleagues comes from Dr. Cindy Blackstock, expressing her frustration in a University Affairs interview.

The McGill University professor in Montréal is internationally known for her work in child protection rights of Indigenous families. But her frustration can readily apply to medical research, too – where “doing something” seems barely on the radar.           Continue reading “Implementation science: should research actually DO SOMETHING?” →

Medical Minimizer or Medical Maximizer: which one are you?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 21 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

I’ve been thinking lately about why so many heart patients don’t seem to follow their doctor’s advice (because that’s the specific topic I was invited to speak on during the annual Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit being held in beautiful Vancouver, BC).

I’m pretty sure I was invited to speak because I’ve been harping on about the patronizing term “non-compliant” for years.  This is how some physicians label patients who are not advice-followers. I’m not a physician, so I tend to rely on what others far above my pay grade offer as suggestions to replace that cringe-worthy term. See also: First, There was Compliance. Then, Adherence. Now, Concordance.

No matter what you call it, researchers tell us that there are several commonly reported reasons that many patients don’t follow ‘doctor’s orders’. This week, I learned about another reason:         .

Continue reading “Medical Minimizer or Medical Maximizer: which one are you?” →

Chest pain and your periods

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters  

It may come as a surprise, but chest pain doesn’t always mean HEART ATTACK. A researcher in Atlanta has a reminder for us of a common symptom that can be mistaken for heart-related pain. It’s called mastalgia.           .      Continue reading “Chest pain and your periods” →