Incidental Findings

Medicine, Culture, and Life

Danielle Ofri

Danielle Ofri
Location
New York, New York,
Title
Physician
Bio
Danielle Ofri, M.D., Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and an internist at Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the country. She is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Bellevue Literary Review. Her newest book, Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients--is about the experience of immigrants and Americans in the U.S. health care system. She is the author of two collections of essays about life in medicine: Incidental Findings: Lessons from my Patients in the Art of Medicine and Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue. Danielle Ofri's writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and on National Public Radio. Danielle Ofri is currently working on a set of essays about medicine, while several unfinished novels in various states of disrepair gather prime New-York-City dust under her bed. Ofri lives with her husband, three children, cello, and black-lab mutt in a singularly intimate Manhattan-sized apartment. Danielle's homepage is www.danielleofri.com

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AUGUST 26, 2010 11:44PM

Can We Measure a “Good Doctor?”

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DataQuality measures are all the rage now. Insurance companies and HMOs love them because they see them as ways to save money. Hospitals and medical organizations are flocking to them because they are an appealing way to measure and possibly improve medical care. The zeitgeist of “pay for performance” is in the air, and quality measures are integral. But what do quality measures actually measure? Can they tell us who is a good doctor, or what makes a good doctor? Danielle Ofri explores this in her newest essay published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Danielle Ofri is a writer and practicing internist at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. She is the editor-in-chief of the Bellevue Literary Review. Her newest book is Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients.

View the YouTube book trailer.

You can follow Danielle on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her homepage.

 

 

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This is a wonderful, insightful editorial, Danielle, thanks for the link. I agree totally with your premise, grading hospitals for complications and infection rates makes sense, grading doctors on A1C levels does not. It takes the humanity out of the equation. People with multiple chronic illnesses get worse, not better. The hope and comradely support, the good advice usually-not-followed, the presence and availability, the honesty and compassion-- these are the things that count, in my humble opinion. I always enjoy your writing!
Risa Denenberg
August 27, 2010 10:30 AM