Thursday, July 17, 2003

Useful tip of the day A Malady That Mimics Depression. The story's about hypothyroidism (and the process of medical diagnosis), but makes a point of much more general interest: Every day in emergency rooms, patients get inappropriate treatments because they don't carry lists of their medications. When someone rolls in unconscious, the medication list can be the most valuable piece of diagnostic information. I've become sorely aware of this in my moonlighting career managing the managed care system. Two elderly parents, each with multiple doctors, and apparently no one tasked with maintaining a coordinated, synchronized, up to date record of their medications. We've been generally lucky -- only a couple of times has this lack yielded near disastrous results. But it seems that this should be a pretty straightforward database problem for someone to solve. [Although the new medical privacy laws in the US may make it harder to implement.] But I digress. Point of the story: if anyone you know and love takes medication, be sure they carry an up to date list with them. 8:03:12 PM    comment []  trackback []

What does it take to be a leader? Learning the Science of Leading. Dr. Elias Zerhouni discusses his goals as director of the National Institutes of Health and his views on the agency as the nation's premier center for biomedical research. By Denise Grady. [New York Times: Science] Q. What does it take to be a leader? A. I think there are three things. First you have to have a big heart. Because if you don't have a big heart you will never be able to lead. And a big heart means several things to me. You have to have a passion. You have to believe in some things that are your core values. The second is you have to have a spine, which means stand up for what you think and take the risks that you think are important. And third and least important is brains. People often think that high intelligence is a prerequisite. I don't believe so. I think a big heart and a strong spine are more important than high intelligence. True for political leaders, as well as scientific and business leaders... 7:54:46 PM    comment []  trackback []

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