Medicine

Meet Peter Ubel

Frank Stasio — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Medical decisions are fraught with emotion and often have drastic impacts, yet we leave much of the choice in the hands of the doctors. They have been to medical school, after all. But Dr. Peter Ubel thinks the medical establishment has got it all wrong. Patients need way more participation in their medical decisions, and doctors should not dictate treatments. He explores this issue as well as others in his new book, “Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Decisions Together” (HarperOne/2012).

A "Kinder, Gentler" Rib Spreader

Alex Granados and Frank Stasio — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Rib spreaders allow doctors the ability to get inside the human chest and fix the internal organs. However, these devices, created in the 1930s, can do a great deal of damage to ribs, nerves and ligaments. Hugh Crenshaw and Charles Pell, co-founders of the medical technology company Physcient wanted to change that, so they designed a new kind of rib spreader, one that spares the patient the needless agony caused by old models. Host Frank Stasio talks to Crenshaw and Pell about their medical innovation.

Coordinated Care System for Heart Attacks Improves Survival

Isaac-Davy Aronson — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:07:00 +0000

A years-long project to coordinate heart attack care among North Carolina's hundreds of hospitals and emergency services has shortened response times and reduced the number of deaths.

That's according to a study out this week. One of its authors is Duke cardiologist James Jollis. He says one way the system reduced response times was by creating standard statewide practices for EMS workers.