Patient-Physician Relationship

Joan M. Teno, MD, of Brown University, and colleagues found that many patients continue to receive aggressive care at the end of life, with on average 3 health care transitions in the last 3 months of life. Image: Joan M. Teno

Author Insights: Patients Face Too Many Burdensome Care Transitions at the End of Life

By Bridget M. Kuehn on February 5, 2013

A growing number of older adults in the United States are dying at home, but many continue to face multiple health care transitions to different care sites and receive aggressive inpatient care in their final days, according to a study… Read More ›

Henry J. Michtalik, MD, MPH, MHS, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues found that many hospital physicians report having unsafe workloads that jeopardize the quality of care. Image: Henry J. Michtalik

Author Insights: Excessive Workloads for Hospitalists Are Common and Put Patients at Risk

By Bridget M. Kuehn on January 28, 2013

Patient care may be suffering at many hospitals because hospital physicians are often overloaded, suggest results from a survey published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. Concerns that clinicians at hospitals were stretched thin by excessive caseloads or fatigue led to… Read More ›

Physicians who unwisely use social media to post false information about their credentials or treatments, engage in unprofessional interactions with patients, or post information about patients may find themselves under investigation by state medical boards, a new survey has found. Image: Lisa Eastman /iStockphoto.com.

Physicians Cautioned About Online Behaviors

By Bridget M. Kuehn on January 14, 2013

Physicians are likely to find themselves in hot water for ill-considered online behaviors, such as posting information that misrepresents their credentials or their treatments, violating patient privacy by posting patient photographs online, or sending inappropriate messages to patients, according to… Read More ›

Patients may be less likely to continue taking the medication as prescribed if pills in a refilled prescription are a different color from those in the prior prescription, say the authors of a new study. (Image: David Walker/iStockphoto.com)

If a Renewed Prescription Involves Changes in Pill Color, Patients May Be Less Likely to Follow Through

By Mike Mitka on January 2, 2013

Changes in pill color that patients often experience—typically when they switch from a brand-name drug to a generic version (or vice versa) or from one generic version to another—may make patients less likely to continue taking their medications as prescribed,… Read More ›

Patients with access to their physicians’ notes may gain a better sense of control over their health care. (Image: lionvision/iStockphoto.com)

Patients With Access to Their Physicians’ Notes May Have a Better Sense of Control Over Their Health

By Mike Mitka on October 1, 2012

Results from a pilot study suggest that patients who have online access to their physicians’ electronic notes may be more engaged and understanding of their health and become more reliable in taking medications as prescribed. The findings appear today in… Read More ›

Mark L. Graber, MD, RTI International, said diagnosis is overlooked as a quality measure by health care organizations.

Author Insights: Diagnosis Error Is Ignored as a Quality and Safety Measure

By Mike Mitka on September 25, 2012

Delayed, missed, and incorrect diagnoses occur up to 20% of the time and result in an estimated 40 000 to 80 000 deaths each year. Authors of a Viewpoint appearing today in JAMA say that to prevent avoidable injury and death, medical… Read More ›

JAMA Forum: The Poorest of Times: A Shift in “Death Panel” Rhetoric

By Diana Mason, PhD, RN on July 9, 2012

“It was the richest of times,” writes journalist Robert Lipsyte in his 1998 book In the Country of Illness: Comfort and Advice for the Journey. He’s speaking about the impending death of his exwife, Margie, who was dying of cancer…. Read More ›

Jenna Duffecy, PhD, a research assistant professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill, and her colleagues found that fewer patients with depression drop out of telephone-based therapy. (Image: Mark Begale)

Author Insights: Patients More Likely to Complete Therapy for Depression Over the Phone

By Bridget M. Kuehn on June 5, 2012

Patients with depression are less likely to drop out of therapy for psychiatric conditions that is administered over the phone than therapy delivered face-to-face, according to a study published in JAMA today. Many patients with depression report a preference for… Read More ›

Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues found that increasing out-of-pocket costs had limited effects on children’s adherence with asthma medication. (Image: David Christopher for the University of Chicago Medicine)

Author Insights: Cost Has Small Impact on Children’s Use of Asthma Medication

By Bridget M. Kuehn on March 28, 2012

When insurance companies pass a larger share of the costs of asthma medications along to families, children aged 5 years or older use slightly less medication and are hospitalized more frequently, report researchers in this week’s JAMA. But such cost… Read More ›

A survey of US physicians finds that some are less forthcoming with information when talking with their patients. (VisualField/iStockphoto.com)

Survey: Some Physicians Not Always Honest or Frank With Patients

By Mike Mitka on February 8, 2012

Not all physicians are as truthful or open in their communications with patients as the latter may expect, behavior that is in conflict with at least some of the tenets of the Charter on Medical Professionalism, according to new findings… Read More ›

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