On one hand, health-care reform is increasing the pressure on U.S. teaching hospitals to cut costs and improve care. On the other, since they're set up to promote innovation, they're a natural source of solutions. Will they make good on their potential?
The summer issue of Stanford Medicine magazine reports on U.S. teaching hospitals today, with an emphasis on Stanford Hospital & Clinics. "It's clear that business as usual - and certainly one based simply on growth - is not sustainable," Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of School of Medicine, says in the report's lead article.
Here's what else is in the magazine:
- The lead story, describing a new approach to hospital management, which adopts some strategies from the corporate world
- A Q&A with the federal chief health information technology officer, David Blumenthal, MD
- A story on the effort to revive the bedside exam, along with a description of 25 essential exam techniques
- A look at the trend toward "stealth" surgeries - gaining access through natural openings such as nostrils to minimize damage to tissues and scarring
- An article on Stanford Hospital's pneumatic tubes, which whisk medical samples from one side of the medical center to the other
- A feature on hospitals' growing use of green building practices
Illustration by The Heads of State
