Harold (Rick) Pillsbury, MD, President-Elect of the Triological Society, has been predicting for 10 years that there would be a need to hire people to help extend otolaryngology practices—in other words, physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs). “I was right. That makes me the soothsayer here,” he joked.
Improving health care quality is absolutely the right thing to do for our patients, and different approaches are being used by the various organizations involved in health care.
How much stock should otolaryngologists put into the parental interpretations of their child’s complaints? According to Ellen M. Friedman, MD, an otolaryngologist in Houston, parental descriptions are an important part of patient histories, but you still need to perform objective measures.
In 2004, President George W. Bush called for the establishment of a national health information technology (HIT) program by the year 2014.
When the team of otolaryngologists from Children’s Hospital in Boston, including Drs. David Roberson and Rahul Shah, among others, investigated the classification of errors and physician responses to errors as it is germane to otolaryngology, they provided a great service to their fellow specialists.
As otolaryngologists are performing more procedures on an in-office basis, more are also using conscious sedation in the clinic setting.
Pharmaceutical company representatives (PCRs) are as ubiquitous in otolaryngologists’ offices as seasonal allergies and ear infections.