From the monthly archives:

November 2008

Engage with Grace: The One Slide Project

November 26, 2008

I’m participating in the Engage with Grace blog rally, as reported in the Boston Globe and the WSJ Health Blog. In the meantime, I’ll be signing off until Monday. Happy Thanksgiving.
Engage with Grace: The One Slide ProjectWe make choices throughout our lives – where we want to live, what types of activities will [...]

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Is an Obama presidency a threat to Catholic hospitals?

November 26, 2008

With President-elect Obama promising to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would nullify all existing laws and regulations that limit abortion in any way, Catholic hospitals have threatened to shut down.
Bishops are saying that “any one of us would consider it a privilege to die tomorrow . . . to bring about the end [...]

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Is major media censoring their own health blogs?

November 26, 2008

A fundamental feature of blogs is the ability to speak one’s mind, solicit feedback and incite discussion to controversial topics.
Some major media outlets aren’t getting the message. Journalism professor Gary Schwitzer cites an example where several controversial blog entries were deleted without the composing reporter’s knowledge.
Being able to express viewpoints without fear of [...]

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Why major health reform is unlikely to happen next year

November 26, 2008

Despite all the big talk about reform, very little may actually happen.
The reason, says Joe Paduda, is the failure to address costs. Blindly focusing on the uninsured and increasing coverage will drive up utilization of services, and “once the medical/pharma/device/hospital industry figures out there are a lot more people with coverage, they will [...]

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"My primary-care physician decided to go boutique"

November 26, 2008

What happens to those who can’t afford the retainer fee?
There is no doubt that doctors are leaving generalist practice to cash-only models, with a recent survey showing that 50 percent want to quit.
The current payment system is not sustainable, and the environment is such that primary care to be practiced properly. Patients are [...]

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Don’t use Wikipedia for drug information

November 26, 2008

Doing so may put your health at risk.
A study showed that many drug entries omitted important side effects and drug reactions. When compared with the Medscape Drug Reference – which is also free, but it’s peer-reviewed – the study found that it answered upwards of 80 percent of the researcher’s questions, versus only [...]

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Key penetrates a toddler’s eyelid into his brain

November 26, 2008

Despite chilling x-rays, he had a full recovery. Very lucky.

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Is trauma surgery a viable specialty?

November 26, 2008

As a primary care physician with a pure office practice, I’m not up to date with many of the issues that surgeons face. That’s why I like to read Jeffrey Parks’ observations on the surgical profession.
A recent post talks about how trauma surgeons want to increase their caseload, by transferring acute surgical cases [...]

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Is there a place for a part-time medical residency?

November 25, 2008

Doctors in training often do so in their prime family-rearing years.
A few pediatric residencies are offering part-time residency options, designed for those who also want to raise their own families. Proponents argue that residents can not only get more rest, but also avoid depression, which affected almost a quarter of pediatrics residents.
Combined [...]

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How do fecal transplants work?

November 25, 2008

Fecal transplants have been mentioned as a possible cure for C Difficile colitis.
Val Jones interviews a gastroenterologist on the procedure, who notes that the data is purely observational, and that although it has potential, “we have to temper our enthusiasm” as it’s “simply not ready for prime time.”
topics: cdiff, fecal transplant

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Searching for health on the web often leads to the most dire diagnoses

November 25, 2008

Microsoft released a study looking at the patterns of those who perform health-related searches on popular search engines.
To no one’s surprise, “self-diagnosis by search engine frequently leads Web searchers to conclude the worst about what ails them.”
People only looked at the first few results for their keyword symptom searches, which often contained zebras like [...]

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Should ADHD be re-branded as a blessing?

November 25, 2008

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has put a positive face on the condition.
Often presented as a disability, some are wondering whether children with ADHD should be re-labeled as having a “gift.” By focusing on inspiring stories, like Phelps and other successful people with the condition, can the disease-focused stigma be removed?
Some wonder whether this is [...]

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Partners Healthcare responds to the payment disparity uproar

November 25, 2008

The Empire strikes back.
BI-Deaconess’ CEO Paul Levy points out that Partners Healthcare has taken out full-page ads in the Boston Globe rebutting the investigative story exposing their disproportionally higher payments.
Or, as Mr. Levy jokes, “the Boston Globe Spotlight team . . . has managed to become a profit center for the newspaper, rather than [...]

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Should physician assistants be re-named?

November 25, 2008

There is some anxiety within the physician assistant ranks.
Do patients truly understand the role and scope of the physician assistant? Will it require more public education? It’s important, because there is no doubt that PAs will play a growing role as health delivery is reformed.
An easier idea may be simply re-branding the profession. [...]

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Why doctors and nurses are dissing the flu shot

November 25, 2008

Almost 60 percent of health care workers do not receive the flu vaccine. That’s a shocking number.
Manoj Jain explores the reasons in his regular Washington Post piece. He debunks common myths, including the fear of side effects, “in particular the misconception that the dead virus the vaccine contains can cause disease.”
It’s pure [...]

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Not enough patients get a second opinion

November 25, 2008

Just 3 percent of patients always seek a second opinion.
I think that’s a mistake. There are enough gray areas in medicine where studies give conflicting guidance, that another physician opinion is warranted in many cases.
Patients often “worry that their primary physician will be less than cordial in future visits,” but I can tell [...]

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