September 26th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
Tags: Aging Adults, Atrial Fibrillation, Dr. Bing, Dr. John Mandrola, Elisabeth Strout, Embrace Life, General Medicine, Happiness In Life, Healthy Aging, Hiccups of the Heart, Life Awareness, Life Reflections, Life's Imperfections, Life's Lessons, Living Life, Middle Age, Middle-Age Experiences, Moments In Life, Olive Kitteridge
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
An intermission, the curtain has closed on youth, but the next act awaits.
Caring for hiccups of the heart, like atrial fibrillation for example, often throws me in front of the mirror, of middle age that is, and sadly the reflections show imperfections. Since I am middle aged myself, there are my own experiences. But everyday at work, on my job site, I see the effects of these same middle-age experiences on the atrium of my patients. The results are often profound. So must be the pressures.
I read a passage in the wee hours of the quiet morning, in the dark, with a flickering book light. It grabbed me. It is from Elisabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, Olive Kitteridge. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
September 26th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: AngelMed Guardian System, Biotechnology, Cardiac Screening Devices, Cardiology, Critical Medical Alerts, Dr. Wes Fisher, Early Heart Attack Detection, Hand-held Telemetry Device, Heart Attack, Heart Attack Overdetection, Heart Attack Underdetection, Implantable Medical Devices, Pre-Heart Attack Screening, Predicting Heart Attacks, Preventive Medicine, Silent Ischemia, ST Segment Shifts, Symptom Alerts For Doctors, Wireless EMT Alert Service
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Imagine: There you are sitting outside on a warm, sunny day having a leisurely picnic with your family. You hear an ambulance in the distance getting closer. You’re not on call. Suddenly, the paramedics hop from the vehicle’s cabin and pronounce:
“Excuse me sir, your heart’s not getting enough oxygen and you might develop a heart attack. Please, come with us.”
Sound far fetched? Well, maybe not. A new device is being tested that might detect “silent” ischemia and notify a patient (or even call 911) that he or she is showing signs of heart ischemia on the wire installed in his or her chest. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
September 26th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctors' Pay, Doctors' Status, Dr. Rob Lamberts, Empowered Patients, General Medicine, Health Care Vs. Health Performance, Healthcare reform, Medical Knowledge, Musings of a Distractible Mind, Patient Empowerment, Patient-Centered Medicine, Patient-Centeredness, Primary Care
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The “empowered patient” movement (which I think is a good thing) strives to take the doctor out of the center of care and put the patient at its focus. The role of doctor is not to be the star of the show, the quarterback, the superhero, but the advocate and helper for the patient to accomplish their goal: Health.
Many rightly attack doctor prima donnas who want the exam/operating room to be about them instead of the patient. This is health care, not health performance. They want doctors who care more about the people they treat than they do about money, praise, or status.
I get it. I get the message that doctors have to adjust to this new age of patient empowerment and patient-centeredness. I get the fact that making patients wait is a bad thing, and that communication is as essential of a skill as is medical knowledge — remove either one of them and you don’t have care. I hear the message: Doctors should care about patients more than they care about themselves. That is what we are paid to do, and that is what we have neglected at our own peril. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
September 25th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Evidence-Based Health Reporting, Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, Inaccurate Health Reporting, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA, Preventive Medicine, Preventive Screening, Screening Tests, Sound Health Journalism
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One part of the health care law that took effect this week is widely reported as “establishing a menu of preventive procedures, such as colonoscopies, mammograms and cholesterol screening, that must be covered without co-payments.” For example, one of my local papers, the [St. Paul, Minnesota] Star Tribune, wrote: “Some people will no longer have to pay for copays, coinsurance or meet their deductibles for preventive care that’s backed up by the best scientific evidence.” (emphasis added)
That phrase should always include a huge asterisk, like the one hung on Roger Maris’ 61st home run. The best scientific evidence according to whom?
Time magazine reports, “Procedures, screenings and tests that are considered ‘preventive’ will be determined by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Centers for Disease Control (for vaccines) and the Health Resources and Services Administration.” As written, that is incorrect and inaccurate at worst and misleading at best. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
September 25th, 2010 by AndrewSchorr in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: A Life of Medicine, Andrew Schorr, Doctor's Lifestyle, Doctor's Personal Story, Dr. Gerald Vockley, Dr. Irl Hirsh, Dr. Sunil Hingorani, General Medicine, Kaiten Kormanik, Life Choices, Life Lessons For Doctors, Life Mission, Life Stories, Medical Dedication, Patient Power, Personal Life, Personal Pain, Sarah Swartz
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The old joke about psychological therapists is they are among the biggest consumers of therapy themselves. Lately, I have been noticing more and more how a significant portion of the people we meet wearing white lab coats have a very personal connection to the medical work they do. For them it is not a job, a meal ticket, or just putting their years of training into practice, it is a mission connected to something in their past, something in their own body, or the health of a loved one.
A recent example is Kaiten Kormanik. She is 23 and has had the genetic condition PKU since birth. She has to follow a strict low protein diet or otherwise risk severe negative effects on her brain. If you toured the labs of The Children’s Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh you might bump into her as she does research for her Ph.D. on, guess what?- genetic illnesses in children. And she often works alongside Dr. Gerald Vockley, the very expert physician who guides her care. As you can imagine, Kaitlen thinks about her own childhood and the faces of other children every day. You can hear her story on one of our recent programs.
Irl Hirsh, M.D., at the University of Washington, is one of America’s most famous diabetes doctors. He has diabetes himself and has all the challenges everyone with this disease has in managing it. You can hear his story on one of our earlier programs on diabetes. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
