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Guest Post At Medpolitics.com: Bill O’Reilly Interviewed

While I was “between blogs” I posted this amusing interview excerpt at Medpolitics.com:

Kalb: Where did you come up with the title for your new book, “A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity?”
O’Reilly: My third grade teacher, sister Mary Lurana, of Saint Bridget’s School on Long Island called me that and it traumatized me for my whole life.
Kalb: Why did she call you that?
O’Reilly: I was a little thug. I was bothering her one day and she blurted out, “William, you bold fresh piece of humanity!” and then whacked me with a ruler. That was the end of me – I ended up turning into the monster that you see now…

To read the rest of the interview, please click here.

Guest Post At Kevin MD and Emergiblog: Grand Rounds 5:1

Many thanks to KevinMD and Emergiblog for allowing me to host Grand Rounds at their websites. Here’s a copy of the post that was featured at both sites:

I’m honored to co-guest-host this week’s Grand Rounds. Without further ado, here’s Dr. Val Jones.

Welcome to the historic, 5th year anniversary of Grand Rounds, the weekly summary of the best of the medical blogosphere. As the proud new co-leader of Grand Rounds, I am committed to expanding its reach, promoting the Grand Rounds “brand,” and making sure contributors’ voices are heard by healthcare’s movers and shakers.

This day happens to be historic for me as well, since I have just taken the leap into blogging independence. I’m excited that “Dr. Val and the Voice of Reason” lives on at the Getting Better Blog. I am committed to integrity, transparency, and medical accuracy – presented in a warm, and down-to-earth manner. Unfortunately, my new site is not live yet, so KevinMD and Kim from Emergiblog have graciously allowed me to crash guest blog at their sites for this edition of Grand Rounds. Read more »

Guest Post At Dr. Bates’ Blog: Think Twice About Lip Plumping

While I was “homeless” my blogging friends kindly invited me to guest post at their websites. Ramona Bates at Suture For A Living posted this for me:

I have a great plastic surgeon friend who offered to fill a facial scar for me. I was bitten in the face by a dog when I was very young, and the small (1/2 inch) divot of flesh from my cheek still bothers me slightly. I’ve generally ignored it but thought it might be fun to see if it could be corrected in any way – so I happily agreed to try a Restylane (hyaluronic acid) injection.

My surgeon and I decided not to use any numbing medication because it distorts the contours of the face, making correction more challenging. So I tried my best not to squirm as he inserted a fairly long needle parallel to my nose…

To read the rest of the post, please click here.

Guest Post At InsureBlog: The Cost Of Patient Non-Compliance

While I was “homeless” my blogging friends kindly invited me to guest post at their websites. Henry Stern at InsureBlog posted this for me:
Are Health Insurance Dollars Being Wasted Due To Medication Non-Compliance?
In case the answer to that question isn’t obvious, it is a resounding “yes.” Non-compliance costs the health insurance industry a staggering 177 billion dollars a year. It is estimated that fifty percent of patients forget to take their meds and over 30 percent don’t refill their prescriptions. Twenty percent say they don’t take the full course of treatment and fifty percent of patients don’t take drugs as directed. So much for preventing that heart attack, stroke, or limb amputation.

The health insurance industry (as well as pharmaceutical companies) have invested heavily in patient compliance initiatives, most of which have failed to produce substantially improved outcomes. The reason?…

To read the rest of the post, please click here.

Guest Post At GruntDoc’s Blog: Plantar Warts

While I was “homeless” my blogging friends kindly invited me to guest post at their websites. Allen Roberts (aka GruntDoc) posted this for me:

As many of my close followers know, I’m “in between blogs” at the moment. My new website has not launched yet, so I’ve asked a few close friends if I could guest-blog at their sites until further notice. Dear Grunt Doc actually offered me a password and authority to post directly to his blog. Now that’s trusting! I mean, I could fill up his site with LOLcats posts if I wanted.

A few blog-hijacking fantasies later, I decided to ask myself – “What sort of content would be appropriate to contribute to an Emergency Medicine blog?” The answer, of course, is “real photos of anything gross.”

And as luck would have it, I do have a nice photo of something gross (albeit mildly so). Even better, it’s my own grossness so there’s no HIPAA violation looming. What is it? Well, it’s the sadistic work of a dermatologist. (By the way, dermatologists have the best photo galleries of really gory conditions).

Let me explain…

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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