My lede:

Chicago — A photograph captures an Afghan girl’s tears as her wrist injury is examined. A painting bursting with color shows the explosive effect of a roadside bomb. A mixed-media piece portrays the emotional turmoil some physicians experience after treating traumatic war injuries.

These pieces — created by orthopedic surgeons who have cared for those wounded in wartime — are just a few of the striking artworks on display through Aug. 31 as part of a free exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Read the whole shebang, and see the slide show.

The new editor-in-chief says medical journals must explore every avenue for communicating with doctors and the public.

Read the whole shebang.

My lede:

Checklists have been used successfully to improve surgical safety and cut infection rates in the intensive care unit, but a study suggests that checklists are even more effective when physicians are prompted by a colleague to take action on information gathered using the quality improvement tool.

A study of 265 critical care patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago found that intensivists who relied on checklists alone did not reduce mortality rates. However, the death rate was cut in half when the checklist was accompanied by residents who asked the attending physicians how to act on information related to matters such as antibiotic prescribing, ventilator use and central-line placement.

Read the whole shebang.

My lede:

The Joint Commission in June cited early progress on a pilot project designed to identify and prevent the problems that can lead to wrong-site and wrong-patient surgeries.

The organizations participating in the project, including La Veta Surgical Center in Orange, Calif., and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia, were able to reduce the proportion of surgical cases in which there was a process-related defect that could result in a wrong procedure. That proportion was reduced from a baseline of 52% to 19%.

Read the whole shebang.

When killer tornadoes struck Missouri and Alabama in the spring, doctors often worked in chaotic conditions to save severely injured patients.

Read the whole shebang.

My lede:

Some stressed-out physicians are seeking the seeming safety of anonymity to blog and tweet about the travails of their lives in medicine. The results can be funny, provocative and revealing, but to some eyes these anonymous accounts veer from physician professionalism.

Read the whole shebang.

My lede:

More than 116 million Americans struggle with chronic pain each year, and associated medical charges and lost productivity cost the nation as much as $635 billion annually.

These are the findings of “Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education and Research,” a July report by an Institute of Medicine panel that calls for an aggressive national strategy to combat the problem.

Read the whole shebang.

Here are the stories that I reported out of the American Medical Association’s Annual Meeting last month:

• AMA delegates reaffirm key policy but target parts of law for change
• AMA backs challenge of “don’t ask” gun law
• AMA house seeks repeal of OTC drug-spending rule
• Delegates ask AMA council how to just say no to patients

Here is the the complete PDF of the House of Delegates issue.