Neil Baum, MD

Articles, page 4

August 25, 2011Aug 25, 2011

Today, healthcare is criticized by the public as too high on technology and too low in touch. Computers take patients histories, provide differential diagnoses, and even supply educational materials to patients. A new specialty, tele-medicine, offers healthcare services to rural…

A humorous story about technology occurred when a patient’s secretary called to say that her boss was too …

Conditions and diseases

Women with these 5 pelvic symptoms should call their doctor

Neil Baum, MD

August 11, 2011Aug 11, 2011

For most women, a couple of irregular menstrual cycles or an occasional yeast infection are just a part of life -- nothing that time or simple treatment won’t cure. However, there are a few symptoms that warrant a call to…

For most women, a couple of irregular menstrual cycles or an occasional yeast infection are just a part of life — nothing that time or simple treatment won’t cure.

However, there are a few symptoms that warrant a call to the doctor. This article will cover when you should call your doctor for problems “down there”?

1. Pelvic pain. Pain at the time of ovulation is referred to as Mittelschmerz. However, if …

Patient voices

Patients want and need to take a greater role in their medical care

Neil Baum, MD

August 5, 2011Aug 5, 20118

Today the patient is far different than the patient of a few decades ago. Patients can find healthcare information just as easily as a physician and many patients are taking a greater role in their healthcare and want to be involved in the decision making and work with the doctor as a team with the doctor being the captain of the healthcare ship. This new attitude has been referred to …

Physician voices

Patients could use more group hugs from their doctors

Neil Baum, MD

June 7, 2011Jun 7, 201116

A humorous story about technology occurred when a patient’s secretary called to say that her boss was too …

Conditions and diseases

Pay attention to the color and smell of your urine

Neil Baum, MD

May 20, 2011May 20, 2011

Most of us are uncomfortable talking about our waste products, urine and feces. However, changes in the color and odor may signify disease that can be treated or prevented. This article will review causes of discoloration of urine and when…

For hundreds of years doctors have looked at urine as a barometer of what is happening in the body. The urine can …

Physician voices

Transfusing a Jehovah’s Witness during surgery

Neil Baum, MD

May 13, 2011May 13, 201158

I was in practice about five years and was about to do a radical nephrectomy on a patient. I met with the patient and his son in my office and the son informed me that he and his father were…

I was in practice about five years and was about to do a radical nephrectomy on a patient.

I met with the patient and his son in my office and the son informed me that he and his father were Jehovah’s Witnesses and that he didn’t want his father to receive any blood or blood products before, during, or after surgery. I asked the father if that was his wish and he …

Physician voices

Physician reputation management in the age of social media

Neil Baum, MD

March 16, 2011Mar 16, 20116

What is the physician's most precious possession? Some might answer that it is his patients. Others might respond it is the training and education that the physician has obtained to practice his (or her's) craft. But the real answer is…

What is the physician’s most precious possession? Some might answer that it is his patients.

Others might respond it is the training and education that the physician has obtained to practice his (or her’s) craft.

But the real answer is that it’s the physician’s reputation.

Doctors live and die by their reputations. Reputations take years to …

Conditions and diseases

Lifestyle changes to control the symptoms of prostate enlargement

Neil Baum, MD

March 7, 2011Mar 7, 2011

Prostate enlargement, or benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), is a common, non-cancerous condition affecting nearly 14 million men over the age of 50. The symptoms of prostate gland enlargement include a decrease in the force and caliber of the urinary stream,…

Prostate enlargement, or benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), is a common, non-cancerous condition affecting nearly 14 million men over the age of 50.

The symptoms of prostate gland enlargement include a decrease in the force and caliber of the urinary stream, frequency of urination, urgency, a feeling of not emptying the bladder despite urination and nocturia, or the need to get up at night to urinate. Although lifestyle changes will not cure …

Patient voices

How you can reduce preventable mistakes in your medical care

Neil Baum, MD

January 5, 2011Jan 5, 20118

There are nearly 1.5 million Americans who suffer each year from preventable mistakes. A report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. Most…

There are nearly 1.5 million Americans who suffer each year from preventable mistakes. A report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors.

Most of these errors are related to drug mistakes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your doctors and hospitals are trying to reduce these errors by using by using …