May 11, 2021
Those flimsy, wallet-sized pieces of paper that detail the type, size, and location of the stent implanted? After roughly 4 years after device implantation, just under half of patients still carry their stent card, according to a new study.
And even among those diligent card-carrying members of the coronary stent club, patients had very little knowledge about the device propping open their arteries. In fact, only 17% of patients with a stent card were able to correctly identify the date of the procedure, the vessel stented, and the type of stent they received, say researchers.
For one cardiologist, the continued reliance on paper stent cards doesn’t make much sense. Computers, cellular phones, and app-based technology would go a long way toward eliminating the need for patients to carry around the card, especially since half aren’t doing so anyway.
December 10, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed hospitals and healthcare like nothing else this past century. Physicians themselves have fallen ill or died, passed the infection to their loved ones, and weathered grief, burnout, suicides, furloughs, and financial losses. As case numbers and fatalities continue to mount, some doctors are pinning their hopes on the notion that the pandemic has rocked the foundation of medicine, deconstructing and reinventing standard procedures in ways that could improve care down the road. That by providing a footing for new ideas, new technology, new voices, and new ways of working, COVID-19 could change the practice of medicine.