The Secret of Quality Is Love: A Qualitative Study Exploring Physician and Nurse Perspectives on What It Means to Love Their Patients.

Little research systematically explores healthcare professionals' understanding of what it means to love their patients. The authors hypothesized that nurses and physicians would describe a language of love relevant to health care. Researchers conducted structured interviews with 29 physicians and 32 nurses at an academic medical center through a combination of purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using grounded theory, identifying major themes from qualitative data. Most nurses and physicians declared they should love their patients. Characteristics of loving physicians and nurses included caring, clinical excellence, advocating, meeting needs, compassion, sacrifice, and tough love. Moral imperatives included the duty to act on behalf of the patient's best interest, respect the patient's wishes, treat patients as you would want your family treated, and recognize limits of life. Many physicians and nurses commented that loving patients could transform health care. Physicians and nurses described characteristics and imperatives of love that may serve as an ethical standard for healthcare professionals.

Electronic medical record metadata: uses and liability.

BACKGROUND: Minimal information exists concerning the use and liability of electronic medical record (EMR) metadata. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a retrospective review of Vista Imaging (VI) metadata concerning when and which images residents and medical students on a surgery service actually visualized; and the laws governing e-discovery were reviewed. RESULTS: During a 5-month period, PGY III surgery residents logged in to VI 191+/-18.3 times; PGY II surgery residents logged in 164+/-34.3 times; and PGY I surgery residents logged in 92.0+/-14.8 times. Family practice residents logged in 21.0+/-4.6 times, and medical students logged in 32.0+/-5.7 times (p < 0.01). Surgery residents logged about once a day (1.0+/-0.06 log-ins/day); family practice residents (0.2+/-0.2 log-ins/day) and medical students (0.3+/-0.1 log-ins/day) logged about only once a week. CT scans were the most frequently viewed image: surgery residents viewed CT scans during 81.9+/-14.9% of Vista Imaging sessions to view 69.3+/-36.5 images (range 1 to 863 images); family practice residents viewed CT scans during 58.0+/-43.8% of Vista Imaging sessions to view 19.3+/-22.8 images (range 1 to 112 images); and medical students viewed CT scans during 89.8+/-30.3% of Vista Imaging sessions to view 24.4+/-6.3 images (range 1 to 95 images). Changes in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the need to authenticate electronic medical records will mean more metadata will be discovered during litigation. CONCLUSIONS: Electronic medical records metadata allow for creation of detailed physician profiles and will likely be used increasingly to discredit physicians during medical malpractice litigation.

Is a black market in telemedicine on the horizon?

BACKGROUND: Regulation of a global market by regional licensure systems and trade barriers has significant drawbacks. METHODS: Literature review of telemedicine, law and economics. RESULTS: Today's patients are willing to use out-of-pocket dollars to purchase medical care from: (a) foreign physicians in the medical tourism market; and (b) nurse-practitioners in pharmacy clinics. As telemedicine comes of age, patients are likely to purchase more health care from foreign telemedical 'pharmacy' clinics to avoid the costs, and the hassle, of travel. Many of these foreign medicine providers are likely to be unlicensed. This is problematic because experience with Mydoc.com and Usanetrx.com demonstrates that today's patients are relatively unconcerned with the licensure status of telemedicine providers. Accordingly, the elements of a black market in telemedicine may be on the horizon. Strengthening medical licensure laws is unlikely to keep foreign providers out the US health care market forever. Alternatively, one method to minimize the size of a black market in telemedical services would be to allow the market to regulate itself through the creation of a commodities-type exchange. CONCLUSION: Now is the time to open a global dialogue on how to regulate telemedicine.