Roji Intel Blog

Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Consumers & PatientsMedical Decision-MakingResearch
May 2, 2018

Patients Deserve Truth-based Medicine—But Most Aren’t Getting It

“I have breast cancer; I read that I should not drink wine because it may cause my cancer to return. I always wanted to be a sommelier, but that dream is dashed!” People, sensibly, read about their medical conditions, searching for things that might help or hurt them. However, patients are vulnerable. Their vulnerability may cause them to overestimate concerns, or, alternatively, hopes after learning of a medical advance. Physicians and medical reporters have a daunting, yet crucial obligation to give people information that is credible; strategically, we also need to thwart information that is useless. Giving poor, non-science information…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient Empowerment
December 20, 2017

The Crux of Shared Decision-Making: Who Is Actually Deciding?

Shared Decision-Making is an emotionally charged topic for both physicians and patients. Physicians believe they have their patients’ best interests at heart by guiding them into better health through therapies to improve their conditions. Physicians may believe, in fact, that by explaining health status and treatment alternatives (followed by asking the patient to decide), they are already using a Shared Decision-Making process. Patients, in turn, are facing a higher share of costs, yet an ever-worsening health status that requires improvement to avoid financial disaster. Imagine a typical physician-patient discussion about an important medical decision or the path for improving outcomes…
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Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Medical Decision-MakingPatient EmpowermentResearch
December 6, 2017

For Tough Medical Decisions, Hard Choices Require Hard Facts—Not Conventional “Wisdom”

What matters in medical decisions is what we know, not what we think. In the late 1980’s I cared for a pregnant woman with breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in pregnancy, but uncommon in frequency, occurring in about 1 in 3,000 pregnant women. Providing and receiving treatment is certainly a complex emotional experience; at that time, uncertainty about how to treat was the norm. The woman had a mastectomy but did not take chemotherapy based on concern for her baby. Three months after her delivery, now receiving chemotherapy for her aggressive breast cancer, the…
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Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CarePatient EmpowermentResearch
August 9, 2017

How to Recognize “Fake” Medical News — And Why It Matters

Is coffee good for you? A recent headline suggested that people who drink coffee live longer. Sounds great to me. I drink a lot of coffee, so maybe I will be immortal. But, wait, another report links coffee to cancer. Dang. Estrogens were once touted as a life saving elixir for women of elegant ages, until these hormone supplements were linked to increased cancer risk. Wine will either add to your life expectancy or increase chances of breast cancer. But if you are married and have cancer, your outcome is better; you live longer (and can drink more wine?). Eggs…
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Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient Empowerment
July 26, 2017

It’s Not What We Don’t Know That Hurts Us: It‘s What We “Know” That Isn’t So

Making a decision is a—or really—“the” fundamental activity of life. The decisions we make, the consequences of those decisions, our feelings about the consequences, our interpretation of whether we made a good or bad decision based on those consequences, in total, form the basis of our life’s experiences, and, often, how we decide the next time. My children used to say, “Duh,” to my muttering an obvious observance like, “It sure is hot today,” because the temperature just hit 100 degrees. The opening sentence of this blog may seem so obvious that it may trigger a similar response. Making a…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient Empowerment
May 10, 2017

Can Consumers Get Essential Information to Make Good Health Care Decisions?

In the rancorous public debate about how to provide health care to Americans—and especially to vulnerable people with higher risks, lower income, or both—there is a common explanation for rising costs: it’s the patients’ fault. According to this argument, we need to stop the “overuse” of health care services by consumers that are causing our costs to skyrocket. But what if consumers really wanted to be excellent, cost-effective purchasers of health care. Could they actually do it? Could they legitimately question their physicians about recommended treatments? There is little argument that the system of financing health care has immunized both…
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Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient EmpowermentResearch
February 21, 2017

For Patients, “Trust Me” Is No Longer Good Enough for Medical Decision-Making

It’s time to rethink ideologies of medical care that no longer make sense. The following may sound revolutionary, but are nonetheless true: Patients are the future leaders in medical care. Patients must and can make their own medical decisions after being informed. Patients can and must learn to discern useless from useful information. Science must improve to match the increasing abilities of patients. At present, none of these concepts are fully embraced by the business of medicine and, in fact, may be a 180-degree reversal from the way things work now. So, why are these statements important? Because getting the…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CarePatient EmpowermentResearch
December 6, 2016

A Populist’s Wish List for Patient Empowerment

Health care turmoil of the last 10 years was wild enough, but the ride ahead promises to be even wilder. News and social media are swirling with proposals to “reset” health care. Among the dizzying array of possible scenarios, one idea is gaining traction: patient “empowerment.” It will, without doubt, be a prominent call-to-arms in the months ahead. But, what exactly is patient empowerment? The newly branded concepts presented in health care proposals are murky and incorporate everything from patient responsibility for lifestyle changes and following treatment plans (patient “compliance”) to greater financial responsibility for health care (shared premiums). Patient…
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Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Registry ScienceResearch
November 15, 2016

Bedside Viewpoint: Why Watson Will Never Know Enough to Replace Your Physician

Every conversation with a patient is an exercise in big data analysis. Your patient’s appearance, changes in mood and expression, and eye contact are data points. The illness narrative is rich in semiotics: pacing, timing, nuances of speech and dialect are influenced by context, background and insight, which, in turn, reflect religion, education, literacy, numeracy, life experiences and peer input. To all this, add personality traits such as recalcitrance, acceptance and personal philosophies. Taking a history generates a wealth of data. Mix in physical findings of variable reliability, laboratory markers of variable specificity, imaging bits and bytes, and you have…
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Thomas Dent, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPerformance ImprovementRegistry ScienceResearchValue-Based Health Care
October 11, 2016

Physician Culture Must Transition from Defensiveness to Performance Improvement

Physicians undergo long and arduous training, with good reason. Lives are at stake. Learning to make the correct diagnosis, to expertly perform the appropriate procedure and to properly treat conditions is essential. Mistakes or flaws are scrutinized and not tolerated. Being wrong may cause greater harm to the patient—and lead to malpractice litigation. In short, physician culture places a premium on individual performance and responsibility. Steeped in those values, most physicians take great pride in the quality of care they deliver to patients, in the examination room or the surgical suite. Teams who provide specialized services, such as Emergency Departments,…
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