ENTtoday
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • Practice Focus
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Departments
    • Issue Archive
    • TRIO Best Practices
      • Allergy
      • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
      • Head and Neck
      • Laryngology
      • Otology/Neurotology
      • Pediatric
      • Rhinology
      • Sleep Medicine
    • Career Development
    • Case of the Month
    • Everyday Ethics
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Medical Education
    • Online Exclusives
    • Practice Management
    • Resident Focus
    • Rx: Wellness
    • Special Reports
    • Tech Talk
    • Viewpoint
    • What’s Your O.R. Playlist?
  • Literature Reviews
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • TRIO Meetings
  • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Triological Society
    • Advertising Staff
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
    • Place an Ad
    • Classifieds
    • Rate Card
  • Search

Otolaryngologists Share the Advocacy Work that Inspires Them

by Renée Bacher • August 17, 2020

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version

We’ve learned that there’s a way of reaching out in equality and community that can be validating and empowering to everyone involved. The trick is to not just do it once and then never come back. When you provide this sort of care, there’s a code of ethics around making sure you don’t create unintended negative consequences when you go into a community. —Ann Messer, MD

You Might Also Like

  • Mission Possible: Humanitarian work allows otolaryngologists to enact change
  • Black Otolaryngologists Share Their Experiences with Discrimination in Medicine
  • American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy Focused on Advocacy, Patient Care
  • ACGME Revises Cap on Resident Work Hours
Explore This Issue
August 2020

The individuals we’re training in these villages are generally laypeople appointed by the government, not doctors. Sometimes they’re nurses. The level of training is broadly different. Oftentimes, people in low- and middle-income countries who are designated as doctors have some level of training from the minister of health, the Red Cross, or a church organization, but they rarely attend the kind of medical schools we have in the U.S. One Good Turn works to determine where the person is at in their medical education and then bring them information and scale it to whatever level of education they have.

Along the way, we’ve learned that there’s a way of reaching out in equality and community that can be validating and empowering to everyone involved. The trick is to not just do it once and then never come back. When you provide this sort of care, there’s a code of ethics around making sure you don’t create unintended negative consequences when you go into a community. The majority of that has to do with maintaining relationships and not promising what you can’t deliver.

We work pretty regularly with a school in Kenya whose medical officer has had a lot of interactions with the medical system, so he understands a bit about hospitals. When we got there, he showed me children with tinea on their scalps. They call this “shilling.” We talked about how to treat it; he was so excited that there was a medicine that he could put on their scalps and also give them by pill. We also taught him about record keeping and helped him create a rudimentary handwritten medical record system. We’ve also taught him how to treat scabies and diarrhea; next up will be asthma. He’s building a resource of medical information for this community and creating record keeping that will make his job as a healthcare worker much more effective.

We were in another part of Kenya not too long ago and made friends with a young doctor who followed us on Facebook. We had made a post about how loss of smell and taste may indicate a COVID-19 infection. This post helped him identify three people with these symptoms in his village, and he put them in quarantine right away. He also sent us a picture of himself and all of his medical providers wearing masks and practicing social distancing. I’m so excited we were able to make that little bit of impact.

Ending the Opioid Epidemic in Ohio

Stephen Nogan, MDStephen Nogan, MD

Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Columbus, Ohio

The Ohio State University

My work primarily involves clinical research and grassroots outreach to my patients, their families, and other physicians. As a surgeon, I prescribe opioids on a regular basis, which gives me a daily opportunity to educate all groups of people involved in patient care.

I was partly inspired to do advocacy work when a patient shared with me that they had lost a child to an opioid addiction. There’s so much that can be learned from talking with patients and asking questions. I also spent time reading and studying both academic articles and non-medical accounts of this crisis.

My experiences as a surgical resident involved prescribing large amounts of opioids, which was commonplace at the time for even minor surgeries. When I began practicing as a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in 2017, I felt a strong obligation to accurately determine how much opioid medication my surgical patients needed, and I committed to not prescribing more than that.

There have been significant efforts and progress made in preventing prescription opioid abuse nationwide, and especially in Ohio where I live and practice. The more significant issues that need to be addressed now have to do with treating those already addicted, supporting them, and supporting the rehab institutions that are directing these efforts. This is such a critical part of my job on a daily basis that it didn’t feel like I had to carve out specific additional time to focus on it.

The best way to raise awareness about this issue is to share what I have learned with my patients and colleagues and to publish in reputable journals and accept speaking engagements at academic institutions as well as nonmedical settings. I have co-authored recent studies, including “Postoperative Opioid Prescribing and Consumption Patterns after Tonsillectomy” (Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019;161:960-966) and “Postoperative Prescriptions and Corresponding Opioid Consumption After Septoplasty or Rhinoplasty” (Ear Nose Throat J [published online ahead of print Oct. 15, 2019]. doi: 10.1177/0145561319866824).

Like many other surgical practices around the country, we’ve had significant success thus far in reducing the impact of the opioid crisis, primarily by reducing the volume of opioids we prescribe. Not unlike in other industries, sometimes in medicine we have to learn from our mistakes. The overuse and misuse of prescription opioids is an example of that. I think we have much to be proud of with regard to how the medical community has tackled this challenging issue head on.

Every otolaryngologist needs to know that very often their patients aren’t taking anywhere near the total amount of medication they’re prescribed. At the first postoperative visit, make a habit of asking your patients how many opioid pills they took after surgery. I’m often surprised by the answer. Earlier today, for example, I saw a patient one week out from an open septorhinoplasty who took zero of the 10 oxycodone tablets I prescribed him. I think many physicians have already adopted this kind of recommendation, and patients are also more educated and tend to advocate for themselves when it comes to opioids.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 | Single Page

Filed Under: Features, Home Slider Tagged With: advocacy, otolaryngology, work life balanceIssue: August 2020

You Might Also Like:

  • Mission Possible: Humanitarian work allows otolaryngologists to enact change
  • Black Otolaryngologists Share Their Experiences with Discrimination in Medicine
  • American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy Focused on Advocacy, Patient Care
  • ACGME Revises Cap on Resident Work Hours

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

The Laryngoscope
Ensure you have all the latest research at your fingertips; Subscribe to The Laryngoscope today!

Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
Open access journal in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery is currently accepting submissions.

Classifieds

View the classified ads »

TRIO Best Practices

View the TRIO Best Practices »

Top Articles for Residents

  • Do Training Programs Give Otolaryngology Residents the Necessary Tools to Do Productive Research?
  • Why More MDs, Medical Residents Are Choosing to Pursue Additional Academic Degrees
  • What Physicians Need to Know about Investing Before Hiring a Financial Advisor
  • Tips to Help You Regain Your Sense of Self
  • Should USMLE Step 1 Change from Numeric Score to Pass/Fail?
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • Experts Delve into Treatment Options for Laryngopharyngeal Reflux
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Weaning Patients Off of PPIs
    • New Developments in the Management of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Eustachian Tuboplasty: A Potential New Option for Chronic Tube Dysfunction and Patulous Disease
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Podcasts Becoming More Popular Method of Education for Otolaryngologists
    • How to Embrace Optimism in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic
    • Tips on How to Approach Conversations with Patients about the COVID-19 Vaccine
    • Steps You Should Take to Protect Your Voice and Hearing During Telemedicine Sessions
    • Routine Postoperative Adjunct Treatments Unnecessary for Idiopathic Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks

Polls

Have you spoken with your patients about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Visit: The Triological Society • The Laryngoscope • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology

Wiley
© 2021 The Triological Society. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN 1559-4939

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.