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My father in law is 83 years old. He has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and occasional “senior moments.” He rarely complains about anything, and spends most of his time doing household chores, playing with grand kids, and watching TV. So it was with some degree of concern ...
Medicine
According to MedPAC , 18% of hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries resulted in readmission within 30 days, accounting for $15 billion in spending. Since treatable chronic illnesses are responsible for many such hospitalizations, it is assumed that they represent failures of the health ...
Medicine
Ski season is upon us. There is no greater relief on a frigid winter day than warming cold, painful fingers and toes. In a recent issue of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (2009;20:33-38), William Sands, Ph.D. and colleagues authored an article entitled, “Comparison of ...
Medicine
Dear Influenza Vaccine:
I am sorry to be so formal, but using your pet name, “flu shot”, doesn’t seem appropriate in a letter like this. I am also sorry to be writing this letter; I don’t want you to be hurt and I don’t want others to think bad of you.
I just don’t love you any more and ...
Medicine
What does America’s economic recession have to do with a school teacher in Kenya? A lot more than you realize. If there’s one thing I learned at the World Bank’s World AIDS Day event yesterday, it’s that our lives, economies, and health are all inextricably intertwined ...
Medicine
HIV/AIDS
It’s official. Happy has now earned his CMS physician pay for performance PQRI Bonus for 2008 , a direct deposit into Happy’s bank account. PQRI stands for Physician Quality Reporting Initiative. How much was my PQRI Medicare pay for performance bonus for calendar year 2008? A ...
Medicine
Last week, I introduced the key characters in the parody of family medicine which I entitled, Trapped in Family Medicine. Can This Marriage Be Saved.
As the scene opens, we see a typical day in the waiting room of a family practice: the primary care physician (PCP) is 45 minutes behind ...
Medicine
There has been a lot of media attention surrounding the safety of polycarbonate plastic products containing bisphenol A (BPA). In the next week or so, the FDA is expected to provide a new analysis of the science behind BPA safety. To gain some insight into what the fuss is all about, Dr. Steve ...
Medicine
My position on the H1N1 flu vaccine is clear: everyone should get it.
But not every physician shares that sentiment. The Washington Post reports that there are a minority who are unconvinced of the vaccine’s safety and believe the H1N1 pandemic is over-hyped.
Worse, they aren’t ...
Medicine
Swine Flu
Wired Magazine always publishes some interesting videos dedicated to science and, let’s say, fun. Here are the entries and a few sample videos.
Best Science Visualization Videos of 2009
Volume rendering is a technique used to display two-dimensional data in three-dimensional space. ...
Medicine
A comment on my previous post by undead doctor , reminded me of another story about a lift in the old academic building in the old hospital.
Every morning all the registrars, medical officers and interns in the surgery department would meet in the boss’ office for a report on the ...
Medicine
Remedium Technologies won first prize in the Most Promising Security Idea category of the Global Security Challenge 2009 for their shaving cream-like foam that can stop bleeding. The foam incorporates chitosan, a natural low-cost hemostatic substance derived from shellfish. It is designed to ...
Medicine
Nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs: patch, gum, lozenge, nasal spray and inhaler) are intended to be used to help smokers to quit smoking completely. But an international report was recently published, finding that of the 17% of smokers who had used NRT in the previous year, approximately a ...
Medicine
I’ve spent the last few days with much of our European team, today in Madrid, Spain.
Here are a few quick observations, as the American reform process continues.
1. Every country’s health care system has developed in the unique circumstances of its history. That is, the health care ...
Medicine
Two weeks ago, Canadian Skeptics United published on their Skeptic North site a piece by an Ontario pharmacist criticizing a proposal by the province to grant limited prescribing rights to naturopaths. The essay, which was reprinted in the National Post on Tuesday, outlines the intellectual ...
Medicine
I’ve been warning folks about this for years - and alas, fake medicine and quackery has finally oiled its way into the healthcare reform bills. We are in the midst of a growing primary care shortage, and on the brink of vastly expanding health insurance coverage without increasing the ...
Medicine
I remember very clearly as a medical student hearing my attending hammer home the importance of the history and physical examination . Everyday I heard the same thing
The history and physical examination is the most important part of patient care
After seven long years of hospitalist ...
Medicine
Code Blue Then & Now…
Then:
11:30 pm - Cackling though the overhead intercom system:
“Code Blue, Three East, Room 236”
A thunderous herd of medical students, residents, anesthesiologists, cardiologists, social workers, security personnel descend on the scene. Arriving, the ...
Medicine
In a recent Health Affairs blog , Wennberg and Brownlee lamented that op-eds , blogs , letters to members of Congress, broadsides in the press and now a report from the American Hospital Association decry the Dartmouth Atlas as a lot of “ malarkey .” Once again they tried to defend their work ...
Medicine
The movement for physicians to say “I’m sorry” when things go wrong in patient care has been under debate for the past few years. In the past, physicians were advised to never admit to a problem or to apologize for clinical errors with the thought that it would lead to ...
