September 2nd, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Alcohol-Impaired Driving, Car & Driver, Cellphone Use While Driving, Cellphones And Driving, Divided Attention, Driver Safety, Drunk Drivers, General Medicine, Legal Alcohol Limit While Driving, Primary Care, Public Safety, Safe Cellphone Use, Texting While Driving, Using Handheld Devices While Driving
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A mentor recently mentioned in passing that he stopped riding motorcycle when cellphones came out, as he noticed the average driver distraction level had gone way up. He said, “It’s like everybody’s drunk.”
There’s lots of ways to be an impaired driver: Physical or mental fatigue, chemicals (legal and not), emotional extremes, etc. (This is not an exhaustive list). What I want to focus on here is a very controllable risk factor: Divided attention.
A quick Internet search turned up some original research from Car and Driver on the subject of texting while driving compared with actual alcohol-impaired driving, and the results are shockingly worse than I would have thought. From their (admittedly limited but well done) study, texting is way worse than being at the legal alcohol limit when it comes to both reading and writing. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
September 2nd, 2010 by Joseph Albietz, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, True Stories
Tags: A Patient's Death, Anti-Vaccine Movement, Anti-Vaccine Propaganda, Anti-Vaccine Quackery, Dangers of Not Vaccinating, Family Medicine, immunizations, Immunology, Infant Death, Pediatrics, Pertussis Vaccine, Premature Death, Preventable Child Death, Public Awareness, Public Health Initiative, Public Safety, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Tdap Vaccine, Unvaccinated, Vaccine Advocacy, Whooping Cough Epidemic
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I lost a patient this season, an infant, to whooping cough (pertussis). After falling ill, he lived for nearly a month in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, three weeks of which was spent on a heart/lung bypass machine (ECMO) due to the extent of the damage to his lungs. But all our efforts were in vain. The most aggressive and advanced care medicine has to offer couldn’t save his life. The only thing that could have saved him would have been to prevent him from contracting pertussis in the first place.
He was unvaccinated, but that was because of his age. He was part of the population that is fully dependent on herd immunity for protection, and that is exquisitely prone to a life-threatening course once infected. This is a topic we’ve covered ad nauseum, and I’m not inclined to go into greater depth in this post. Suffice it to say his death is a failure at every level. We, both as medical professionals and as a society at large, need to do a better job of protecting our children from preventable diseases. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
September 2nd, 2010 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Android OS, Apple, BlackBerry, Blue Light Therapy Apps, Bradley Merrill Thompson, Cellphone Technology, Diagnostic Imaging, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Force Out An App, General Medicine, Health Canada, Healthcare Apps, iMedicalApps, iPhone, Medical Apps, Medical Imaging App, Medicine and Smartphones, Monitoring Medical Apps, Regulating Medical Devices, Resolution MD Mobile, Surveillance of Healthcare-Related Apps, Technology and Medicine, Transmitting Images to a Medical Facility, Web OS
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Bradley Merrill Thompson, an attorney with expertise in the FDA approval process for medical devices, is stating that the FDA is actively monitoring app stores on various platforms. Regulating medical devices and health care-related applications falls under the FDA’s jurisdiction.
James Kendrick from JkOnTheRun spoke with Thompson, where he stated the following:
The FDA is actively engaged in surveillance of various app stores to see if apps should trigger their involvement. Applications where a smartphone is connected in any way to imaging are under scrutiny, in particular. Any app that is used to transmit images to a medical facility requires FDA approval.
By “various app stores,” Thompson is likely referring to the App store [Apple], Palm App Catalog [Web OS], App World [BlackBerry], and the Android Marketplace [Android OS]. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
September 2nd, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: ACA, ACP Advocate Blog, Affordable Care Act, Bob Doherty, Federal Regulation of Healthcare, General Medicine, Government Control, Government-run Healthcare, Healthcare reform, McCain-Kennedy Bill, Patient Bill of Rights, Tort Reform
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One of the more surprising twists and turns in the continuing debate over healthcare reform is that many physicians who now object to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were just a few years back advocates for more federal regulation. In fact, in the early 2000s, more than 200 “provider” and consumer groups — including many state medical and national medical specialty societies that now oppose the ACA because of concerns about “excessive regulation” — were among the fiercest champions of federal legislation to mandate that health insurers comply with a Patient Bill of Rights.
A bipartisan bill introduced by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) would have ensured that patients have the “right” to appeal insurance company denials to independent reviewers, to choose a specialist of their choice, and to access emergency room services when needed. This effort to enact a federal Patient Bill of Rights failed, because of opposition from the insurance industry and President George W. Bush.
I bring up this history lesson because most of the key provisions in the McCain-Kennedy bill are now the law of the land, thanks to the ACA. Yet instead of applauding the new protections, many of the same physician organizations who called for a federal patient bill of rights now want to “repeal” the same consumer protections established by the ACA. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
September 1st, 2010 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: General Medicine, Patient-Centered Care, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Patient-Centered Physician, PCMH
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Hint: Being Designated As A Patient-Centered Medical Home Is Not One
We hear a lot about patient-centered care these days. In particular, a growing number of physicians across the country are now referring to their practices as a “Patient-Centered Medical Home.”
But how can you tell if your physician’s practice really is patient-centered, no matter what he or she may call themself? More importantly, why should you care? What is patient-centered care, you ask?
It’s quality care delivered in a manner where you feel that your provider:
- Knows who you are personally as well as clinically.
- Understands, respects and honors (where practicable) your previous health experiences, beliefs and preferences.
- Facilitates and supports your health choices and behavior barring a serious conflict of beliefs or principles.
Since each of us possess a different set of experiences, beliefs and preferences, patient -entered care by definition is tailored to individual patients. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
