Selling your medical practice

The examination of 52 patients with different forms of intestinal dysbacteriosis revealed a considerable decrease in the indices of immunity to endotoxin of gram-negative bacteria. In particular, a decrease in the content of antibodies to chemotype Re glycolipid, as well as in the content of polymorphonuclear leukocytes binding antibodies in the blood stream of the examined patients and leukocytes capable of binding endotoxin in endotoxin-treated blood smears, was registered, which was indicative of the loss of endotoxin binding reserves by leukocytes.     

Rubbing your stomach while tapping your fingers: Interference between motor planning and semantic judgments.

Previous research (R. L. Klatzky et al, 1989) shows that the time required to make sensible/nonsensible judgments about an action-object phrase (e.g., "rub your stomach") is reliably faster when the phrase is preceded by a cue representing a specific prototypical hand shape (vs a neutral cue). The current experiments investigated the effects of preparing for an alternate task (finger tapping vs syllable vocalization) on facilitatory priming of sensibility judgments. Preparation for finger tapping reduced the magnitude of the priming effect more than preparation for vocalization, suggesting that the resources accessed during semantic processing of action-object phrases are also used during manual response preparation. Results support the existence of a system representing manual actions that is limited in the number of activities that can be represented at one time and that is not so general that it represents manual and vocal tract movements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relocating your psychotherapy practice: Packing and unpacking.

A growing number of psychotherapists are facing the challenge of elective relocation of their practices. In so doing, psychotherapists are confronted by many questions about how to leave (close a practice) and how to arrive (open a new practice in a different setting). This article focuses on a number of the cognitive and affective experiences of the therapist during this period of time. The authors' own experiences with this process as well as the limited literature on the subject inform the discussion. Practical recommendations for constructive management of this process are presented. The decision and experience of elective practice relocation can have transformative effects on the prepared practitioner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist as life coach: Transforming your practice.

Review of book, Patrick Williams and Deborah Davis (Aus.) Therapist as Life Coach. New York: Norton, 2002. 216 pp. ISBN 0-393-70341-X. Reviewed by Ronald E. Fox. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leveraging your practice building activities.

Discusses methods for building and developing a psychological practice. The proper balance between service delivery, administration, and practice building is considered. Suggestions are given for identifying and acquiring desirable clients. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taking your place or matching your face: Two paths to empathic embarrassment.

Empathic responding may be elicited by different processes, depending on the available situational and affective cues. We investigated two such processes, perspective-taking and nonverbal mimicry. In Study 1, participants watched an embarrassed or unembarrassed confederate dancing to music while either remaining objective or engaging in perspective-taking. Both manipulations affected empathic embarrassment. Study 2 further examined the effects of targets' embarrassment displays and observers' prior experience with the situation upon spontaneous perspective-taking, expressive mimicry, and empathic embarrassment. Embarrassment displays increased mimicry, but also spontaneous perspective-taking and subsequent empathy. Prior experience moderated the effects of embarrassment displays on perspective-taking and empathy. Path analyses demonstrated that embarrassment displays exerted indirect effects on empathic embarrassment through both perspective-taking and mimicry. The results suggest that available affective and situational cues can activate different routes to empathy, and highlight the value of simultaneously investigating target- and observer-based sources of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing money flow to safeguard your practice

Whether payments for service come in the form of patient cash or checks, or insurer payments, it is paramount that a doctor implement a strong accounting system to disclose all daily financial transactions. It is also essential that a strong audit trail be part of this accounting system. By taking a few minutes at the end of each day to do the necessary review, dentists protect their income and provide one of the best protections an owner can have against embezzlement. Let the staff know you are on top of the books!     

Audit in practice: planning for discharge from hospital

In this discussion of audit, the authors describe a pilot study on discharge planning. They review existing literature on discharge planning and outline how the results and lessons of the pilot study will help develop a full audit and quality cycle in the future.     

Pediatric dental practice: the number of your employees is increasing

Dental practice arrangements are changing. There are proportionately fewer solo practices and increasing numbers of practices with many more employees. A review is provided of this evolving world of dentistry-including pediatric dental practice.