January 29th, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Last night, ABC’s Private Practice took on the very challenging issue of teenage pregnancy in a story arc that began with last week’s show when 15 year old Maya announced to Addison that she was pregnant. The show well depicts the shock, the emotion and the difficulty of handling the pro-choice/pro-life discussion when a teenager is at the center of the discussion. It was a raw episode at times and in the end we are left with a 15 year old opting to keep her pregnancy. It’s tempting to criticize the writers for not focusing enough on Maya but, in truth, the show was more realistic than you may realize.
In the episode, Maya’s mom, Naomi, basically freaks out from the start. This pro-life mom first storms out of the room then tries to force an abortion onto her daughter. When that doesn’t work, she shows Maya a woman in labor only to have Maya entranced by the sight of a baby and determined to keep the pregnancy even more. The show concludes with Naomi leaving the building not talking to anyone, in tears. True to life? You bet. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
January 22nd, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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My daughter really wants an iTouch. She’s 12…a tween. We heard nothing about this until recently when a friend was over who happened to have been given one for a holiday gift. It turns out that many of her friends have them now so she feels like iPods are suddenly passe.
Instead of asking us for one or concocting a plan to put it on her next birthday list, she came up with the idea to earn enough money for it by doing chores around the house. Pointing out the amount of chores and likely time frame to sock away $200-300 bucks was not a deterrent, at least not out of the gate. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
January 14th, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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The WSJ Blog posted recently that health care job postings are up and that the health care job market is “strong”.
According to the post, ”The business research group said that “advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners or technical occupations outnumbered the unemployed looking for work in this field by almost 3 to 1,” citing November data.”
While it’s true that more job openings than job hunters is typically a good thing and indicates a robust job market, the WSJ Blog failed to recognize one important issue with the health care industry: in some areas of the health care sector, namely primary care, docs are leaving the field of medicine all together, and have been for at least a decade. So, it’s no wonder there are so many job openings…there’s no one around to fill them! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
December 22nd, 2009 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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With our world becoming high tech, it’s not surprising that gizmos and programs or our computers, iPhones and Smartphones are emerging to help us track everything from our infant’s cry to our child’s development. But, are these necessary?
I was called by a reporter from Wired.com to weigh in on this with a colleague of mine. As members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council of Communications and Media, and Spokespersons for the AAP, we had a few opinions on this very important topic that I want to share with you that you can find here.
Before you download or buy any computer program or cell phone application just ask yourself one question: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr Gwenn Is In*
December 18th, 2009 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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I had heard there were “adult only” applications on iTunes but hadn’t seen any myself – until yesterday.
I’ve been on the application store many times to find cool application for my iPhone and never seen anything alarming. Yesterday, however, under “top free applications”, this is what I found:
Note #2, “Beautiful Boobs”. If you scroll down, you’ll find #74 “Pocket Girlfriend lite”, among others in a similar vein! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr Gwenn Is In*
