In health care, we tend to value the new and the next, occasionally with a snub of the tried and the true. I’m thinking about how clinicians today build relationships with their patients. Research findings differ, but on average, patients spend 10 or 15 minutes with their doctor during each visit. Because of changes in(...)
Patient Care
Not Born to Walk, but Ready to Run
Posted by | Middle East, Patient CareFrom birth, Naif had hip, knee and ankle problems and had to use a wheelchair for mobility as he grew into childhood. Naif and his family traveled from Saudi Arabia to Johns Hopkins with one goal: to help him walk. Although the Saudi embassy didn’t refer Naif to Johns Hopkins Medicine for treatment, his family(...)
One Robot, Zero Radiation, Healing Twice as Fast
Posted by | Care Providers, Health Innovation, Medical Technology, Patient Care, Patient SafetyBy Nicholas Theodore, M.D. If a person’s spine is unstable because of injury, degenerative disease or another cause, he or she may need spinal stabilization surgery to correct the problem. During this procedure, surgeons typically take multiple X-rays to pinpoint where to place screws to stabilize the spine. I was convinced there was a better(...)
Why We Ask the Big Questions
Posted by | Asia Pacific, Collaboration, Health Innovation, Latin America, Medical Technology, Middle East, Patient Care, Patient Safety, ResearchFor more than a century, Johns Hopkins physicians and scientists have investigated the roots of wellness and made countless advances in medicine — developing breakthrough treatments that change lives. These men and women pioneered surgery for breast cancer, developed CPR, invented the first implantable pacemaker, described the role of Vitamin A to prevent blindness and identified the(...)
Homing In on Better Health
Posted by | Health Innovation, Medical Technology, Patient Care, Precision Medicine, ResearchAt Johns Hopkins, pursuing personalized medicine is nothing new. Our founding father William Osler set the course of modern medicine by urging his colleagues to “care more for the individual patient than for the special features of his disease.” For 130 years, Johns Hopkins has focused on the idea that every patient’s battle with a(...)
No More Pain and Dancing Again
Posted by | Care Providers, Latin America, Patient CareFor nearly four years, Mexico City resident Rebecca Passy suffered from a displaced vertebra in her lower back. Not only did this cause her debilitating pain, it robbed her of one of her greatest joys: dancing. If she ever was going to be able to live pain free and dance, Rebecca needed surgery to fuse(...)
Bringing Our Global Mission Home
Posted by | Academic Medicine, Clinical Program Development, Collaboration, Health System Sustainability, Latin America, Medical Education, Nurse Development, Patient Care, Patient Safety, Project DevelopmentIt’s been almost two years since Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, causing an estimated $100 billion in damage. Health care providers on the island are still seeing increased needs related to chronic conditions, particularly for diabetes. According to a recent Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 41 percent of Puerto Rico residents surveyed who have(...)
One-in-a-Million Diagnosis? Those Odds Don’t Faze Us.
Posted by | Care Providers, Latin America, Patient CareBy Ali Bydon, M.D. Before he came to The Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment in 2017, Pedro Gil, now 45, had struggled with a thoracic disk herniation for 10 years. His herniated disk had calcified, turning to bone, and it pressed on his spinal cord to produce excruciating pain, weakness, numbness and even paralysis. He(...)
AI and Eye Health
Posted by | Care Providers, Patient CareBy Dr. T. Y. Alvin Liu Did you know the retina is actually part of the brain? It’s a direct extension of the central nervous system. So when people say eyes are the window to one’s soul, it’s perhaps not that far of a stretch after all. I’ve been interested in the retina since I(...)
From West Point to East Baltimore
Posted by | Care Providers, Patient CareBy Dr. James Ficke I have been an orthopaedic surgeon for more than two decades, but I’m also a retired U.S. Army colonel. It was my 30-year career in military medicine that instilled a passion for studying outcomes related to limb loss, limb salvage and lower-extremity trauma—conditions I saw in Mosul that I now treat(...)