December 11th, 2009 by PhilBaumannRN in Better Health Network, Interviews, Patient Interviews
Tags: Dave deBronkart, ePatient, ePatients, Medicine, Participatory Medicine, Social Media
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Dave deBronkart is a Freedom Fighter. In 2007, Dave battled metastatic cancer and emerged a passionate advocate for leveraging the Web to connect patients with the content and support and inspiration they need to cope with the human consequences of disease.
The Web has brought forth new ways of connecting the world and brings with it questions and answers about how to safely and effectively extend the power of health care from face-to-face meetings to remote but important regions of human experience. It’s important for us to understand the integrative nature of health care: no single perspective will yield approaches that work. Rather, we will need the perspective of all participants. Read more »
December 11th, 2009 by DrGwenn in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Barbara Meltz, Boston Globe, Economic Hardship, Holidays, Parenting, Pediatrics
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With the holidays upon us and our country still facing a challenging economic crisis, many families are struggling with how to balance celebrating and spending without disappointing their children.
From news stories to Facebook postings, families are expressing clear concern for how to celebrate this year, what to buy for their kids and how much money to spend. They want to be honest with their kids yet shelter them from their adult financial concerns at the same time. Moreover, they feel guilty because this year was supposed to be different because last year they had the same stresses and concerns. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr Gwenn Is In*
December 10th, 2009 by DrJonathanFoulds in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Addiction Medicine, MassHealth Study, Programs, Psychiatry, Psychology, Quitting, smoking, smoking cessation
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Across the country health insurance coverage for smoking cessation treatment - both counseling and medications – has been extremely patchy. For example, we ask all the new patients attending our smoking cessation clinic in New Jersey if their insurance covers smoking cessation treatment, and the vast majority have no idea. Typically its also not easy for either the patient or provider to find out either. It doesn’t just depend on the insurer, but on the plan, the type of service, what they’ve already had in terms of preventive care. We’ve had many occasions where we call the insurer twice on the same day and get a different answer. And New Jersey is a state that is supposed to have relatively good insurance coverage for tobacco cessation! So it’s a mess nationwide, and the net result is that fewer patients get the treatment they need because they are put of by the uncertainty about the cost and difficulty finding out how much it is. Read more »
This post, Massachusetts Leads The Way In Smoking Cessation, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds M.A., M.App.Sci., Ph.D..
December 10th, 2009 by DrBryanVartabedian in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Bedside Manner, Geriatrics, Good Physician, Hip Replacement, Orthopedic Surgery, Surgery
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A close relative recently underwent hip replacement at the Texas Orthopedic Hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center. She raved about her surgeon, Dr Richard Kearns. I had the opportunity to sit by her bed while he made his evening rounds (he didn’t know I was a physician until we were introduced at the end of his visit).
These are the qualities seem to make him successful:
December 10th, 2009 by DrRamonaBates in Better Health Network, Research
Tags: Breast Mass, Case Report, Cystosarcoma Phyllodes, Phyllodes Tumor, Plastic Surgery
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Flipping through my current copy of The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society, I was surprised to see this case report (full reference below) of a 30.8 pound cystosarcoma phyllodes of the breast. The accompanying photos are impressive. Many questions filled my head – Why did the woman wait so long to seek care? How did she manage to physically do her daily chores on the farm? How did she manage to find clothing to wear?
I scanned this photo in from the article. The patient’s history is as follows: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
December 10th, 2009 by DrSteveNovella in Better Health Network, Research
Tags: Autism, Early Intervention, Early Start Denver Model, ESDM, Neurology, Pediatrics
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Many parents of children with autism have expressed to me their dismay that the anti-vaccine lobby is sucking all the oxygen out of the room for autism awareness. They feel that just being a parent of a child with autism makes others assume that they are anti-vaccine. They also worry that resources and attention are being diverted from promising legitimate research because of all the attention being paid to the failed vaccine hypothesis.
So it is good to occasionally focus on mainstream autism research to show that progress is being made, despite the unfortunate anti-vaccine sideshow. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
December 9th, 2009 by DrPaulSAuerbach in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
Tags: Emergency MedicineAnd Rehabilitation, Head Injury, Helmet, Injury, Motorcycle Helmet, Neurology, Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation, TBI, wilderness medicine
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported an analysis of motorcycle helmet use in fatal crashes. What was discovered is not surprising - namely, that in states in which there is not a state helmet law, the odds of a rider in a single-vehicle (e.g., the motorcycle) crash wearing a helmet was 72% less than in states with a helmet law. So, absent a law, people are not particularly inclined to wear a helmet.
One needs to couple this information with the facts about the benefits of wearing motorcycle helmets. First, motorcyle fatalities and fatality rates are increasing at a time when motorcycle riding is becoming more popular. Second, the average age of motorcycle fatalities has moved up to 39 years, from 30 years nearly 20 years ago, probably because the age of motorcycle riders has increased. Third, motorcycles expose the drivers more directly to lethal forces than do enclosed vehicles. Helmets are essential to prevent brain injuries and deaths. Read more »
This post, Motorcycle Helmets: Why Don’t People Wear Them?, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul S Auerbach M.D., M.S..
December 9th, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Cost, Electronic Medical Records, EMR, Finance, Primary Care, Quality, Safety, Technology
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Have electronic medical records made a difference in patient care?
According to a study looking at digital medical record adoption of 3,000 hospitals, electronic records have made little difference in cost or quality of care.
That’s discouraging, considering that the government is investing billions of dollars into the technology.
Very few physicians use electronic record systems effectively. For instance, many are simply scanning paper records into a computer, which provides minimal benefit. It’s difficult to track quality improvement data doing that. The problem is further compounded by the archaic interfaces that the current generation of EMRs have, which is akin to a user interface circa Windows 95.
It’s no wonder that most doctors find electronic medical systems actually slows them down. The next generation of systems needs to focus on facilitating the doctor-patient encounter, rather than being an impediment. Taking a few lessons from Google, and improving the user interface would be a good start.
Only then can EMRs realize the potential relied upon by the government and health reformers.
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
December 8th, 2009 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Colostomy, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Leak, Reversal, Sepsis
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I have already spoken about the hazards of doing favours, but recently I was reminded of another example when I was still a registrar where I only just escaped the proverbial falling anvil.
It was not an unusual case but still fairly challenging for a registrar like myself. The old man presented with an acutely tender abdomen and free air revealed on x-rays. If you ignore the outside horses for a while, this is either a perforated peptic ulcer or complicated diverticulitis (some people would throw complicated appendicitis into the mix, but I’m going to leave it in the stable with the outside horses if there are no objections). The patient needed an operation and soon. So with the sun shining happily over Australia somewhere, I took him to theater. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
December 8th, 2009 by Berci in Better Health Network, News, True Stories
Tags: Facebook, Inappropriate, Legal, Patients, Sexual Advances, Social Media, Surgery, Web 2.0
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There is an interesting article in E-Health Europe about how patients try to contact doctors on Facebook, the popular social networking site, and how doctors shouldn’t respond to them. In my “Medicine and Web 2.0” university credit course, we cover this important issue several times and I try to provide students with useful pieces of advice about how to avoid such problems.
The Medical Defence Union said it was aware of a number of cases where patients have attempted to proposition doctors by sending them an unsolicited message on Facebook or similar sites.
The medical defence body said it would be “wholly inappropriate” to respond to a patient making an advance in such a way. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
