September 29th, 2010 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Dr. Lucy Hornstein, Family Medicine, Fifth Vital Sign, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Not Dead Dinosaur, Pain Control, Pain Management, Pain Perception, Pain Scale, Pain Tolerance, Physical Exam, Primary Care, Signs and Symptoms, Vital Signs
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There’s been a movement afoot for several years now to quantify pain as the so-called “Fifth Vital Sign.” It all started as a well-intentioned effort to raise the level of awareness of inadequate pain control in many patients, but has gotten way out of hand. The problem is that the word “sign” has a specific meaning in medicine that, by definition, cannot be applied to pain.
When you hear us medicos talk about “signs and symptoms” of a disease, it turns out that they are not the same thing. “Symptoms” are things the patient experiences subjectively. “Signs” are things that can be observed objectively by another person.
Headache is a symptom; cough is a sign. Itching is a symptom; scratch marks over a blistery linear rash are a sign. Vertigo, the hallucination of movement, is a symptom; nystagmus, the eye twitching that goes with inner ear abnormalities that can cause vertigo, is a sign. If someone other than the patient can’t see, hear, palpate, percuss, or measure it, it’s a symptom. Anything that can be perceived by someone else is a sign. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
September 29th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Adenovirus-36, Childhood Obesity, Dr. Peggy Polaneczky, LA Times, Obesity and Kids, Obesity Epidemic, Obesity-Causing Virus, Overweight Kids, Pediatrics, The Blog That Ate Manhattan
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Finally, the answer to the obesity epidemic. [According to the LA Times], it’s a virus:
New evidence indicates that children who are exposed to a virus called adenovirus-36 are more likely to be obese than those who are not exposed to it, and to be heavier than other obese kids who were not exposed to it, researchers said this week. The virus…is one of 10 bacteria and viruses that have been associated with a propensity for putting on plural poundage.
Maybe this explains why I and two of my sisters all became fat in the same year. Well, that — combined with the fact that we had just moved to a new neighborhood where there were no kids we knew to play outside with, and we started taking a bus to school instead of walking, and “Dark Shadows” had just started, leading us to spend every afternoon after school snacking in front of the TV. But I like to think it was a virus.
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
September 29th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: 33 Charts, Changing Medical Profession, Devolving Practice of Medicine, Doctor As Human Docent, Doctor's Role, Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Empowered Patients, Family Medicine, Future of Medical Practice, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medical Technology, Patient Empowerment, Primary Care, Role of the Physician
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I had lunch with a group of physicians recently, and along for the ride was a college student thinking of applying to medical school. When talking about the future, I suggested that the work of a physician 30 years from now will be hardly recognizable to today’s physician. Everybody disagreed and the student was confused. There was a lot of denial and myopic rationalization.
But I can’t blame them, really. Most of us see what’s immediately changing in our day-to-day work and the bigger picture gets lost. For most of us, the role of the physician is hard to see for anything other than it always has been. Most live and work as the self-determined independent care coordinator, reactively working to treat disease just as its been done for over a century. But change is happening around us. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
September 29th, 2010 by CodeBlog in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Code Blog, Credential Reminder, Digital Camera, Hospital Equipment, IV Pumps, Medical Apps, Medical Equipment, Medical Monitors, New York Times Blog, Nurse and Lawyer, Nurse Fired, Nurse Loses Job, Nurses and Law Enforcement, Nurses and the Police, Nursing, Photography, Rapid Response Team, RRT
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So who hasn’t heard about The Policeman vs. Nurse? A nurse was pulled over for speeding, told the policeman that she hoped he would never end up as her patient, and was subsequently fired when the policeman complained to the hospital she worked at.
Really? I have the utmost respect for the police of course, but put on some big boy undies and get over it. Should the nurse have made that comment? No. Not in front of him, at least. That was pretty dumb. But being fired for saying it is ridiculous in my opinion. Does that cop go complain to the pimp when the hooker he’s arresting makes a sassy comment? Nurse and Lawyer had a pretty good discussion about the whole situation.
Next up: Rapid Response Teams Sign of Poor Bed Management. Really? I think GruntDoc summed it up best in his tweet about it. The article states that rapid response teams (RRTs) are utilized due to overcrowding because sometimes patients aren’t placed in a unit that is appropriate for their needs. Therefore, their condition worsens and they need help. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at code blog - tales of a nurse*
September 29th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Forbes Magazine, General Medicine, Medical Projections, Predictions In Medicine, Science Fiction and Medicine, Science Roll, The Next 10 Years In Medicine
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Forbes magazine came up with a few lists describing what will happen in the next 10 years in different areas. Medicine is one of these:
We asked our staff and contributors to forecast some of the noteworthy events of the next 10 years, a vision of the coming decade sketched from real data, projections and facts whenever possible — though we’ve injected a dose of rigorous science fiction to fill the gaps.
- 2012: Super-Tuberculosis
- 2013: DNA Sequencing Pays
- 2014: Big Pharma Implodes
- 2015: First autism drug
- 2016: First fatherless child using synthetic sperm
- 2017: U.S. life expectancy declines for first time in a century. Doctors blame 55% obesity rate.
- 2020: FDA approves autonomous robot surgery to remove tumors.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
