Searching for solace while balancing the care of patient

Patient
October 16, 2010

by Brian McMichael, MD

The NEJM recently published an interesting case in the ongoing series: “ A Request for Retrieval of Oocytes from a 36-year old Woman with Anoxic Brain Injury.” Usually these cases are diagnostic dilemmas. This one focused on an ethical dilemma at end-of-life.

The Case

A 36-year-old woman, in overall good health taking oral contraceptive pills (OCPs), was on a prolonged international flight, and …

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Searching for solace while balancing the care of patient

Are social networks competitive or compatible with the medical blogosphere?

Social Media in Medicine
October 15, 2010

I’m back from my whirlwind trip to Las Vegas, and I want to think those who followed our panel at BlogWorld 2010.

I was joined by Bryan Vartabedian of 33 Charts, and Kerri Morrone Sparling of six until me in a panel moderated by Kim McAllister of Emergiblog.

A few thoughts from my end.

Photos …

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Are social networks competitive or compatible with the medical blogosphere?

Is healthcare is a right? A balanced opinion

Health Policy
October 15, 2010

Chris Mathews had Ron Paul on his show, Hardball, earlier this year to discuss Social Security and the new health care bill.

Mr. Mathews pointed out that people get old and no longer have an adequate income source to take care of their basic needs, and pointed to this as a reason to force working Americans to save for our retirement through a government program as a sort of …

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Is healthcare is a right? A balanced opinion

How drug reps increase drug sales by influencing physicians

Medications
October 15, 2010

An excerpt from Unhinged: The trouble with psychiatry- a doctor’s revelations about a profession in crisis. Copyright © 2010 Daniel Carlat. Excerpted with permission by Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

It may be hard for people to imagine that drug reps can get us to prescribe a particular drug by simply giving us a meal or being nice to us. The process is subtle, but …

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How drug reps increase drug sales by influencing physicians

Breast cancer and understanding your breast type

Conditions and Diseases
October 15, 2010

What does your breast type say about your cancer risk? Quite a bit, actually.

Whether you have large, small or lumpy breasts, self-awareness is very important. Getting to know how your breasts look and feel can help you recognize possible red flags.

Large vs. small breasts

When it comes to cancer risk, size really doesn’t matter. But, size can affect your mammogram and clinical breast exam.

For example, women with large breasts may need …

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Breast cancer and understanding your breast type

Protecting kids in the world of social media, a Cybersafe excerpt

Patient
October 14, 2010

An excerpt from CyberSafe: Protecting and Empowering Digital Kids in the World of Texting, Gaming and Social Media.

by Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, MD, FAAP

Screen Time and Childhood

Have you ever tried to go “screen-less”? I often tell the story of taking my girls to New York City on an April vacation, looking forward to Turnoff Week. This is a semiannual event that encourages families to flip off the screens …

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Protecting kids in the world of social media, a Cybersafe excerpt

Challenges facing patients adopting personal health records

Health Technology
October 14, 2010

by Kristina Fiore

They’re still there. Rows upon rows of number- and color-tagged manila charts, packed in so closely together that Fiore sometimes sticks to Fiori, or hides behind it.

None of my physicians has yet converted to electronic health records. I dream of the day when my PCP can pull up my chart on her iPad, accessing all of the important information (allergies, family history) before …

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Challenges facing patients adopting personal health records

Tips for questioning costs in today’s health care system

Health Policy
October 14, 2010

by Joanna Fief

About two years ago in the wee hours of the morning, I found myself in a local emergency room with severe stomach pain, incessant vomiting and dehydration.  It wasn’t pretty, and I was desperate for something – anything – to ease my pain and stop my vomiting.

Gratefully, within minutes of receiving an IV with medications for pain and nausea, my symptoms subsided.  After a couple of blood tests …

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Tips for questioning costs in today’s health care system

Finasteride, fruit, and the matter of prostate health

Medications
October 14, 2010

by Arnon Krongrad, MD

The noose was loose on its neck. At first I worried, but then I relaxed. This was a bottle of pomegranate juice, the antioxidant superpower. As the billboard implied, it could cheat death. Perhaps if I consumed pomegranate juice, I could cheat death.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission charged POM Wonderful, LLC, makers of pomegranate products, with deceptive advertising. …

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Finasteride, fruit, and the matter of prostate health

What makes an e-Doctor?

Physician
October 13, 2010

The rise of the e-Patient movement has the potential to change the practice of medicine, in my opinion, for the better.  e-Patients demand to be taken seriously, to be “equipped, enabled,  empowered, engaged, equals, and emancipated.”

My recent post on KevinMD.com suggested the need for e-Doctors as well, in response to the growth of the e-Patient movement.

So how do you become an e-Doctor?  I believe you, and I, need to be equally …

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What makes an e-Doctor?

Selecting health insurance requires free choice for individuals

Health Policy
October 13, 2010

by William Bayer

Buying health insurance across state lines and health savings accounts are good – but they do not resolve the core issue.

The core issue is that the employer is making the main choice for the employees, leaving them essentially with a choice between small, medium or large. That may satisfy the most important needs, but it does not encourage competition because the …

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Selecting health insurance requires free choice for individuals

HIV sufferers benefit from the FDA’s unapproved drugs initiative

Medications
October 13, 2010

by Gary Puckrein, PhD

Unapproved drugs have never been tested by the Food and Drugs Administration for safety and efficacy. Prescribed by the million every year in the United States, these products pose a potential danger to all patients, but HIV/AIDS patients who suffer weakened immune systems are at an even higher risk as they are more vulnerable to injury due to their disease.

That’s why we …

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HIV sufferers benefit from the FDA’s unapproved drugs initiative

Narcotic use is rampant in workers compensation

Medications
October 12, 2010

Just in case you thought the problems with abuse of powerful prescription drugs have been overstated, here’s a wake-up call.

The CDC’s Director is taking this very seriously, saying: “Overdose with prescription drugs is one of the most serious and fastest-growing problems in this country.”

The problem is showing up in a doubling of emergency room admissions due to prescription drug abuse, driven primarily by oxycodone, methadone, and hydrocodone.

Narcotic use is rampant …

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Narcotic use is rampant in workers compensation

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Making health care better, faster, and cheaper with collective innovations

Health Policy
October 12, 2010

The country seems to have shifted in less than 18 months from a slogan of “Yes We Can!” to “Oh, well…” and a shrug, then back to “Cool! I think. What was that, really?”

Hopes for a true rebirth of health care turned into the Year of Screaming Inanely, then took that long slide from what we might hope for to what we might settle for. Yet suddenly it seems like …

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Making health care better, faster, and cheaper with collective innovations

Does being a lawyer or journalist stack up with being a physician?

Physician
October 12, 2010

I don’t think there is anything nobler than being a physician. In it’s most prime form it is service to life’s most basic needs.

Certainly there are professions and lives with similar dedication. But lawyers and journalist I can’t reasonably place amongst them. This from someone who favors liberty and transparency in society above most else; certainly things that lawyers and journalists can help foster.

And yet, for all the respect thrown …

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Does being a lawyer or journalist stack up with being a physician?

How medical practice operations impacts productivity and profitability

Physician
October 12, 2010

“How many staffers should we have per doctor?” was the opening question in a recent column. We looked at the impact of staff on provider productivity and ultimately practice profitability as an approach to address that question.

In that piece, we focused primarily on clinical staff, but in this column, we’ll dig even deeper into medical practice operations, looking at the way a practice utilizes nonclinical support staff for traditionally …

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How medical practice operations impacts productivity and profitability

Intimate partner violence an epidemic of grave proportion

Patient
October 12, 2010

October is breast cancer awareness month. There are pink ribbons and wristbands to wear, pink products to buy, and pink races to run — all to improve awareness about screening and raise money for a cure. And rightly so, because breast cancer affects 250,000 American women every year.

Fewer people know that October is also intimate partner violence awareness month. Purple is the color representing the more than 1.3 million women …

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Intimate partner violence an epidemic of grave proportion

Deal with your triggers when trying to lose weight

Patient
October 11, 2010

One of the most common complaints that I hear from people attempting to lose weight is, “I don’t know how to deal with my triggers.”  Most of us have had the experience of eating just one bite of something and suddenly wanting to devour the entire thing.  Sometimes we do, even though we know we won’t be happy with ourselves when we finish.

I am familiar with the experience of insisting …

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Deal with your triggers when trying to lose weight

Avandia aftermath: winners and losers

Medications
October 11, 2010

Responses to the Avandia panel have been all over the map, as cleverly noted on the Wall Street Journal‘s Health Blog. Avandia is “dead” (Forbes), or, perhaps worse, “now a Zombie” (BNET). By contrast, others thought the panel granted Avandia a “reprieve” (Wall Street Journal and that Avandia would now probably be allowed to stay on the market (Los Angeles Times, Pharmalot).

All …

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Avandia aftermath: winners and losers

Medicare needs to be more like a credit card

Health Policy
October 11, 2010

I live in New York. Last week my daughter in Chicago called to say that a five dollar charge had been refused at a local coffee shop. My credit card company had identified an unusual pattern of purchases, and had put a hold on the card.

No similar process exists for the Medicare system, where cost savings could be realized by systems that identify unusual patterns of charges and outright abuse …

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Medicare needs to be more like a credit card

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