Hopefully, by now, people are realizing that more is not necessarily better. A new study reported at the American Heart Association 2009 Scientific Sessions showed that patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) receive large doses of ionizing radiation per hospital admission.They looked at patients treated at 55 academic hospitals and found, on average, each patient received seven studies per AMI admission. The studies included chest X-rays, chest CT, head CT, ...
December 2009
All Stories
How women can benefit from oral contraceptive pills
Originally posted in MedPage Todayby Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today Contributing WriterHormonal contraceptives have a variety of noncontraceptive uses, ranging from common problems such as dysmenorrhea to severe conditions such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder, according to a new practice bulletin from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
"Combined hormonal contraceptives can correct menstrual irregularities resulting from oligo-ovulation or anovulation and ...
Why patients should be careful of celebrity medical advice
More celebrities are giving medical advice these days.Rahul Parikh explores the phenomenon in a recent piece from Slate, citing Lance Armstrong, Suzanne Somers, and Jenny McCarthy, among others.But does their celebrity make them an authority in a given medical issue? Unfortunately, too many people think so, as following celebrity medical advice can be dangerous
Their messages have led some doctors and patients to make inappropriate health decisions, at times increasing ...
How to tell a family that their loved one has died
by Tim NoonanWhen a team misses out on an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, or something similarly trivial, these words may be appropriate. When the person, who has been the center of your life dies, what is more insensitive than, We're sorry for your loss?What kind of language is that to use when providing some of the worst news we could imagine? True, we ...
Why are women refusing an MRI to screen for breast cancer?
Originally published in MedPage Todayby Crystal Phend, MedPage Today Senior Staff WriterMany women at elevated breast cancer risk may refuse MRI as part of their screening program, largely because of fear and inconvenience, researchers found. Among eligible women with dense breasts who were at intermediate to high risk for breast cancer, 42.1% refused additional MRI screening as part of a ...
Why healthy patients refuse drugs that reduce the risk of cancer
Would you take a pill every day to reduce the risk of breast cancer?That's a question Tara Parker-Pope asks in a recent blog entry. Referring to Tamoxifen, a drug that's been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer in high-risk women, she notes that a substantial number said they wouldn't take the drug after hearing about the side effects:
Just 6 percent said they would consider it after ...
How to find the best cancer specialist for you
by Dana GriffenReceiving a cancer diagnosis is an upsetting experience for the patient, as well as his or her family and friends. Cancer patients are thrust into a new world with new language and new rules. Knowing where to turn and who you can trust is a huge concern.One of the first things a cancer patient will discover is that he or she will not be treated by only one ...
A cockpit checklist to improve patient safety
Originally published in MedPage Todayby Chris Emery, MedPage Today Contributing WriterMedical teams should take a lesson from airplane crews, a new study concludes. Medical personnel who used procedural checklists modeled after preflight checklists used by airplane crews were more likely to report safety-related incidents and feel empowered to address safety issues, according to an online report in the Dec. 21 ...
Radiation from CT scans increases the risk of cancer
One of the best ways to combat unnecessary tests is to truthfully expose their risks and complications.Patients can only make an informed decision after such a discussion with their physicians, and too often, the media ignores publicizing risk. If, for instance, more airtime was spent discussing the risks of breast cancer screening, the outcry wouldn't have been as great.Perhaps that's changing.The Archives of Internal Medicine recently released a study ...
Smoking related diseases are the number one cause of death in African-Americans
Lawrence Jones started smoking Kool Menthols when he was playing Rhythm and Blues in the ‘70s, as a way of fitting in with his bandmates and the in crowd at the clubs where he played.The band broke up after a few years, but the cigarettes remained. Instead of being a way to look sophisticated, smoking became a means for Jones to relax and, he says, to feel he was “in ...
When should chemotherapy be given to treat breast cancer?
Originally posted in InsidermedicineGiving breast cancer patients chemotherapy before hormone-suppressing therapy with tamoxifen may improve their prognosis, but only if they are at high risk for a cancer recurrence, according to research published in The Lancet.classid='clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000' codebase='http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0' WIDTH='385' HEIGHT='239' id='play_continuous_flvs'>
Poll: The biggest obstacle to cutting health care spending
Health economists estimate that 30 percent of annual health care spending is wasted money. That 30 percent translates to 700 billion dollars.Why is cutting health care costs such a challenge?Both Congress and the public are unwilling to admit that reducing health care is the only meaningful way to cut spending. Patients bristle at the suggestion of reduced access to an available test. This is partly due to the pervading ...
Follow KevinMD on Twitter and Facebook, or read my opinion pieces
The blog will be on hiatus until Monday, December 28th.In the meantime, I invite you to explore KevinMD.com on Twitter and Facebook, along with Google Friend Connect.
Don't forget that the blog is also optimized for use in your mobile browser.Still not enough?Here's my collection of published opinion pieces, for your ...
Issues surrounding videotaping surgeries in the operating room
The rapid advance in digital video and still camera technology has found its way into the operating room.There is the potential to capture and record just about every minute of every surgical procedure in some way. The newest endoscopic camera systems and operating microscopes have integrated systems to record video footage. Storing all that data is just the press of a button away.The advantages for surgeons are obvious, like the ...
A review of the latest stroke studies
Originally published in HCPLive.comby Victor G. Dostrow, MDThere are some recent developments in the world of stroke, which are interesting:
The first manuscript is an evaluation of stroke risk and the "stroke belt" (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, or Alabama).The authors evaluated stroke risk measured over three decade census intervals for persons aged 30 to 80, ...
How constant H1N1 breaking news updates may be going too far
Originally posted in MedPage TodayShe is 11, a fifth grader, as prepubescent as nature allows, and utterly terrified. She hasn't eaten normally for nearly a month, her mother reports. She sleeps poorly, reports nightmares, and cleans her hands so obsessively that she is literally bleeding raw.Her fifth grade peer group typically does not guard its language nor govern its remarks, ...
The hidden problem when patients e-mail their doctor
The number of physicians adopting e-mail has been distressingly low.That's a stark fact, especially when you consider that other industries have moved on from e-mail, using more instant forms of communication, like Twitter and other social networking tools.There are a number of reasons, which have been discussed here in the past. They range from a lack of financial incentives for doctors to e-mail their patients to the bureaucracy ...
10 ways patients can save on health care costs
It’s beginning to look like health care consumers are going to have to take lowering health care into their own hands since no answers are coming down from above.Here are ten tips for lowering your costs.One, encourage your employer to offer a health savings account with a high deductible. Encourage the employer to pay half the deductible. Your premiums will be much lower, and your employer will save up to ...
How doctors can afford to have a vacation
Originally published in HCPLive.comby Jeff Brown, MDNow this is a fun topic. I've always liked writing, "For a vacation" on a script pad for those stressed out patients who need to go on one. Even a weekend away, or in this economy, a "staycation." It's good for the soul. And it's a good use of medical authority to help your patients.
How medication mistakes happen in the hospital
Originally published in MedPage Todayby Katrina Woznicki, MedPage Today Contributing WriterHospitalized patients were often clueless when asked about their medications, with almost all of them unable to name all their medications and many leaving out as many as a half-dozen drugs they have been prescribed, according to a small survey of patients in a Colorado hospital. Ninety-six percent of the ...
Kevin Pho, MD
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Why Priscilla Chan may become the country’s most influential doctor
Who has the potential to be the most influential physician of our generation? It's Priscilla Chan, who not only recently graduated from...
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Confused about prostate cancer screening? Make a shared decision
In a widely anticipated move, the USPSTF officially recommended against prostate cancer screening in healthy men. Case closed, right? Hardly. The prostate...
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When it comes to doctors and social media, hospitals fail miserably
When it comes to medicine and social media, much of the attention is negative. Doctors losing their hospital privileges because of Facebook....
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Warren Buffett’s prostate cancer choices aren’t right for every man
A version of this column was published on April 24, 2012 in USA Today. There has been a recent uptick of elderly men...
Physician
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Why test recalls should not be considered cheating
I was appalled recently by the coverage of radiology “test recalls” by CNN, amplified by Dr. Gary Becker of the American Board...
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Why physicians are susceptible to hardball tactics
I was invited to a medical staff leadership conference sponsored by our hospital. A company specializing in training physician leaders ran the...
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How we deliver bad news is critical to how families deal with grief
As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during...
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His father’s suffering had already been too great
He looked dead. The paramedics brought him down the hall toward one of my critical care beds, and for a moment I...
Patient
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How death can be a beautiful experience
I was honored to be part of a beautiful experience in late January of 2011. It was the death of my mother-in-law...
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What meaningful encouragement can be given to someone who is dying?
Theirs is a lonely journey; to be moving towards the separation and end of all things known and loved. Being with a...
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Health care journalists have tendencies similar to those of doctors
As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert....
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Adaptation can be painful, but it can also be a gift
Nothing will force you to live life on your own terms faster than almost losing it. In 2008, I was on fire....
Policy
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What should America’s health care vision be?
America has this paradox of excellent biomedical science, innovative drug manufacturers and entrepreneurial device developers along with outstanding providers but at the...
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Hospitals around the world aim to remain relevant to patients
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." So begins a story called A Tale of Two...
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Repairing the tear in health care’s safety net with social media
The nation’s “safety net” hospitals are designed to ensure that uninsured, lower income and indigent populations receive adequate medical care – a...
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Look to technology to reduce health costs
Technology to lower costs rather than accelerate them. Smart phones to increase physician and other providers’ productivity. Fewer primary care physicians but...
Tech
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When patient care becomes secondary to filling out the medical record
The policeman was two cars in front of me. I meandered down the road cautiously adjusting my speed a few ticks above...
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Doctors, use Google to get more patients in less than 7 minutes
Every month, hundreds of thousands of people look for a doctor on Google. As an amazing practitioner, your site deserves to be...
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The user interface for EHRs should be uniform
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the physician’s office were the tall cabinets filled with manila folders, tabbed with...
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EMR liability needs to go further than just the physician
This example of a disaster waiting to happen, in the form of an error-promoting CPOE, is a poster example of why the...
Social Media
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We need to see the potential harm of social media
Prior to 1794, farms across the world could only pick cotton as fast as humanly possible. In the late 18th century, Eli Whitney...
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Why social media may not be worth it for doctors
Social media in healthcare is all the rage these days. You can’t visit even one physician-oriented website without someone breathlessly advising you...
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Transparency defines social media success for doctors
Want to understand social media? Physicians wanting to learn about social media must learn transparency. We must learn transparency on a personal...
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How Twitter was used in a potential mass casualty scenario
It was my first ER shift in charge of the resuscitation area. Needless to say, my adrenaline and nerves were firing like...
