Sensible Medicine

Why have I been committed to medical education? Some of the reasons are admirable but not terribly novel. Others are a bit hard to admit, but just as true. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

Friday Reflection 35: Why Don’t Doctors Want to See Patients? I was asked “Why is it that doctors don’t want to see patients?” and I could not answer the question. Fourteen months later, here is my response. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

Ben Recht is a professor at UC Berkeley. You know, the place that has all those parking spaces for the Nobel laureates. He understands the innards of math. And that is exactly why he explained that doctors who use evidence don’t have to get bogged down in technicalities. I reached out to Ben to discuss a complicated but provocative statistical paper in NEJM evidence. But we mostly talk basics. Ben...

As many of you know, I have long argued (unsuccessfully until now) for a placebo-controlled trial of AF ablation. One group gets the ablation; the other gets a placebo or sham procedure. This way we can sort out the placebo-resistant effect of the ablation. Finally, here is the first report of one. Dr. Malcolm Finlay is an electrophysiologist at St Bartholomew hospital in London UK and primary inv...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

These patients did the right thing leaving my care. We were wrong for each other, or I had given what I had to offer (at the time) and it was not enough. That does not lessen the feeling that I failed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

They say dying alone is sad. They also say we all die alone. There is trauma to not dying alone as well.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

If you care about AF you will love this conversation. Soren has some interesting ideas about what AF is now vs what AF was in the past. Here are some links:The LOOP Study (which was non-significant). Effects of Atrial Fibrillation Screening According to N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide: A Secondary Analysis of the Randomized LOOP Study Severity and Etiology of Incident Stroke in Patients...

The study in question is a randomized clinical trial looking at the Million Hearts Model. This model paid health care organizations to assess and reduce CV risk. Obviously, this is an important goal. Heart disease, specifically, atherosclerotic vascular disease, is a leading killer of humans. Any reduction of heart disease should have a benefit on both a person and a population. But paying health...

Friday Reflection 31: Senses, Memories, and Medicine Medical training introduced me to a whole menu of smells -- both diagnostic tools and reminders of times in my career. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

Sudden cardiac death due to ventricular rhythm disturbances are rare but highly public. It’s strange and curious because you don’t expect healthy athletes to suffer serious cardiac issues. Recently three prominent athletes have survived sudden cardiac death. Christian Erikson, a Danish soccer player, Damar Hamlin, an American football player and Bronny James, son of Lebron James. These high-profil...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

Angela Lu is training to be a physician. She’s interested in public policy. As a third year medical student, she teamed up with established leaders to ask a unique question regarding public disclosure of financial relationships. When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issues National Coverage Determinations (NCDs) for services or products, they mean business. Such decisions have hu...

Andrew Foy rejoins the Sensible Medicine podcast. We talk first about coronary artery calcium. Andrew is an expert in this area. We have co-written our case against CAC scoring for any cause in the American Family Physician . It’s had little effect as CAC scoring is running rampant. Sensible Medicine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a...

This week, I talk with Andrew Foy, who is an academic cardiologist at Penn State University in Hershey, PA. Andrew is one of the smartest voices in medicine today. We start with the REMEDIAL trial, published recently in JAMA. Ablation vs Meds. Primary endpoint—depression and anxiety. One of the main issues was the control arm—namely that there was no sham control. We referenced this useful review...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

Sensible Medicine Sensible Medicine x Vaccine Curious Cross Podcast on the USA vs Denmark, vaccines, etc: Show notes by Dovid Y Rimmer, Tracy Beth Høeg and Christine Stabell Benn * Benn, Høeg. Regarding becoming a medical skeptic. Hoeg: anonymous blog - exercise during pregnancy. Benn: Vitamins, sex differences, and vaccines. * Differences in pandemic response between Denmark v. California - schoo...

Although it is unoriginal to point out that doctors learn from our patients, here are a few lessons so powerful, so extrapolatable, that I forever associate them with an individual. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe

Here is the profile for Harvard Professor Robert (Bobby) Yeh. His most recent Circulation paper: Bringing the Credibility Revolution to Observational Research in Cardiology. We referenced a paper by Professor Miguel Hernan: The C-Word: Scientific Euphemisms Do Not Improve Causal Inference From Observational Data Paper referenced on left ventricular assist devices: Comparative Effectiveness of Perc...

BW was a 66-year-old woman who presented for an urgent visit to the general medicine clinic. She reported that she had been having dizziness for the last four days. When pressed, she said it occurred intermittently, being present more than absent. She could not identify any palliative or provocative features, and when asked about associated symptoms she said that she felt “bad and scared” when it...

There is something valuable about learning to adapt old skills to novel situations. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sensible-med.com/subscribe