The nature of an average child’s free time has changed. For the past 25 years kids have been spending decreasing amounts of time outdoors. The time that our kids do spend outdoors is frequently a part of an organized sports activity. Other activities taking up our children’s time include indoor lessons and organized events such as music, art and dance lessons. Another big indoor activity, taking up to 7.5 …
Why children need more unstructured play
I was getting ready for the day, my 2 1/2 year old was watching Sesame Street. In the show, the segments change every few minutes or so and seem to weave old-school 1970′s content (familiar to me) with newly created vignettes that have a modern feel and construction. I like it nearly as much as the boys. One of the stories this morning was about tooth fairies. An animated group …
A TV should not be allowed in a child’s bedroom
Taking a trip to the grocery store can be more dangerous than you’d think.
Waiting for you in each and every aisle are marketing ploys aimed at suppressing your better reasoning, the ultimate result being you making poor dietary or financial decisions – whether you know it or not (enter the 100 calorie pack, my arch nemesis, right behind diet soda). But it doesn’t have to be that way – …
Grocery store tips to avoid poor dietary and financial decisions
Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor, after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up.
Yes, the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. You aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high Read more…
Why patients should change their doctor
Over 1.5 million Americans travel abroad each year for medical procedures.
Services typically sought by travelers include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as cardiac surgery, dental surgery, joint replacement, and cosmetic surgeries. However, virtually every type of health care, including alternative treatments, psychiatry, convalescent care and even burial services are available.
U.S. based healthcare providers have taken notice as have self-funded employers and health plans. The …
Domestic medical tourism saving employers money and improving outcomes
If someone asked me at this point in the year, which happens to be nearly the end of my first one, what I liked most about medical school, it would have to be the patient’s stories.
I could do without the hours of science classes and my utter lack of motivation to learn any subject that I am told is important. I could also do without the people who need …
The side effects of cancer treatment go beyond losing your hair
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) is celebrating its 25th anniversary. APSF is a patient advocate organization whose mission is to improve the safety of patients during anesthesia care by encouraging and conducting: safety research and education; patient safety programs and campaigns; and the …
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation improves patient safety
Sooner or later, it happens to every patient advocate or navigator who works with patients on the medical aspects of their care (as opposed to other forms of advocacy, like billing or legal advocates).
One of “our” patients — someone whose hand we have held, who we have protected from problems in the hospital, who depended on our advocacy expertise as a way to make the …
It’s not an advocate’s job to save a patient’s life
Getting your infant, toddler, or even preschooler to sleep through the night is tricky at best.
If you are one of the lucky ones, you may have an “easy” sleeper. You know, the one that seems content after some rocking, singing, and nursing. Things just flow and voila, you actually have a baby that, “sleeps like a baby” so to speak.
However, for many of us, “sleep like a baby” is …
Let go of guilt while trying to get your baby to sleep
by Sara Billings, RN
I believe knowledge is power. There is no more complex topic in the healthcare debate than end-of-life care. I have been a Registered Nurse for thirty years. I deal with this every day. All of us will confront this issue eventually. When it’s your turn, I hope the medical profession will guide you to the best options for you and your family.
Often I see patients who have …
Our health system defaults toward treatment rather than compassion
Meet Elaine.
We lost touch for a while, but caught up with each other recently.
Like most girlfriends, we shared adventures of love, travel, and work. I told Elaine that I left assembly-line medicine. Now I host town hall meetings-inspiring citizens nationwide to design ideal clinics and hospitals.
Elaine shared: “If I’m kept waiting, I bill the doctor. At the twenty-minute mark, I politely tell …
Patients who bill their doctor for being late
I bet you didn’t know that the war for independence is being fought on a daily basis throughout our glorious country. From the time we are born until the time we die, each of us strives to assert our independence. Once the toddler learns to run, he insists on running wherever he wants to. As he ages, we foster his need to be independent and teach him …
When the parent becomes child and child becomes parent
Brenda Bryant learned she had breast cancer while she was sitting alone in her car in the parking lot of her grandson’s day care center. It was early evening on a Friday two years ago, and her surgeon called to tell her the results of a biopsy. “He just gave me my results and that was it,” says Bryant, who lives in Northern Virginia. “It was like there was …
Use the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service
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Members of the American public are frequently surveyed about their trust in various professionals. Doctors and nurses usually wind up near the top of the list, especially when compared to lawyers, hairdressers and politicians. Trust in professionals is important to us: they possess expertise we lack but need, to solve problems ranging from the serious (illness) to the relatively trivial (appearance).
How much professionals trust us seems irrelevant: our reciprocity is …
Measuring physician trust in patients
It happened 25 years ago and I never forgot it. I’d been in the forefront of women’s consciousness-raising; I recognized that women had been professionally downtrodden for years (in certain fields), and hoping to do my part to balance the inequity, I opted for female doctors whenever possible.
But using gender as sole determinant for my choice of doctor would prove to be a huge mistake … as I’d learn.
At …
Using gender as sole determinant for a choice of doctor
As a recently minted physician, I am often on the receiving end of the gripes and grouses about the medical profession.
Often I get complaints of office visits that are too short, doctors who seem too preoccupied to hear their patients’ complaints, medical bills that are too high and medications that do nothing but cause adverse effects. On the other hand, I can’t count the number of times I have …
Patients are often intimidated and confused by the medical experience
When I was 8, my mom went to a parent-teacher night at school. When she sat down with my teacher, the teacher smiled and said: “So how are Susan’s swimming lessons going?”
My mom frowned, confused. “Susan isn’t taking swimming lessons – perhaps you’ve confused her with someone else?”
“No, I’m sure,” my teacher insisted. “Susan told me that she has to leave at 3 o’clock every afternoon, right when the bell …
Avoiding confrontations and the difficulty of standing up for yourself
I was sick the other day. A bout of gastroenteritis that had me vomiting with diarrhea for 24 hours and feeling weak for another 48. I felt rough for a while, but got over it pretty quickly. My family gave me just the right amount of care, and avoided me appropriately because I get grumpy when I am sick.
Had they dared approach me with the suggestion that my state of …
How positive thinking affects patients with serious illnesses
I lived in Japan in 1991. When I was having a conversation with someone, they would always nod their head as if they completely understood the message I was trying to convey.
It turns out that was not the case. The nodding was a sign of respect. When I began to inquire if they understood what I was trying to say — it became clear that the answer was usually no.
Many …
Closing the communication gap between patients and physicians
“I don’t study because it gets in the way of my video game time”
-15 year old patient.
Sorry mom and dad, video games are here to stay. In my clinic, this is a topic of discussion every day:
“How many hours of screen time does Mikey get every day?” I ask.
“Tell the truth”, Mom says looking at Mikey.
“brmfbr mbbrm,” says Mikey looking away.
Mother turns to me with the familiar look that …
Using video games to fight childhood obesity
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