August 27th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Breast Cancer, Breast Reconstruction, Cancer Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery, Doctor-Patient Communication, Healthcare Law, Oncology, Patient Education, Plastic Surgery, State of New York, Susan G. Komen, Treatment Options, U.S. Department of Labor, WHCRA, Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act
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Recently the [state of] New York signed a law requiring hospitals and doctors to discuss breast reconstruction options with the patient prior to her undergoing cancer surgery. It troubled me that this law was needed. Is it not the duty of the physicians and surgeons to educate the patient on the options available?
We need to make sure the patient and their family know of the treatment options which may vary depending on the diagnosis and stage: Radiation, chemotherapy, surgery (lumpectomy, mastectomy, axillary dissection) — a combination of treatments.
Even if the patient and her physicians don’t chose to do immediate reconstruction, isn’t the discussion and information part of the discussion? At least inform the patient of the option.
Do we physicians and surgeons need another law to ensure we do right by our patients? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
August 27th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, Medblogger Shout Outs, News, Research
Tags: Definition of Health 2.0, Definition of Medicine 2.0, Lucien Engelen, Medblogger crowd, Medblogger Shout Out, Online Health Community, Online Survey, Social Health Media, Systematic Review
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My friend and fellow blogger Lucien Engelen asked the health community to help define what Health 2.0 exactly means through an online survey:
After our systematic review about the definition of Health 2.0, one of our next steps will be sorting out what “the crowd” thinks that has to be part of a definition of Health 2.0. For this purpose we’ve set up a little questionnaire that you could fill in below.
To make the crowd as big as possible, we have also made it available to put on your own blog or website. We would encourage you to do this and inspire others to do the same.
You may remember that Lucien and his collegues published a review about the definitions of Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0 currently available.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 27th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
Tags: Becoming A Doctor, Dr. Rob Lamberts, Medical Humor, Primary Care, Specialty Medicine
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If you’re considering primary care medicine as a career someday and want some great insights into what it takes to become a good one, Dr. Rob clarifies the personality type and tolerances required.
So what does it take to be a specialist? Exactly the same. Except the part where he describes a possible need for outward social status and only working on left fingers.
Just realize that those extra years of training that we not-so-specialists endure are really there just so we can completely forget most of what we once knew and how to fill out discharge paperwork.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
August 26th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Doctors On Twitter, Gary Schwitzer, General Surgery, HealthNewsReview.org, Patient Safety, Safe Medical Practices, Surgeons Tweeting in the OR, Surgical Twitter Practices, Twitter Doctors, Twitter Exploits By Healthcare Professionals, Twitter Overload
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Why are so many stories so unquestioning about these runaway surgical Twitter practices? Just look at this frame grab from a Google search showing all of the stories (so far) on one hospital team’s surgical Twitter exploits. One story stated:
“Senior hand fellows…when not actively involved in the surgery, sat at a laptop just outside the operating suite and tweeted real-time updates during the procedure, according to a hospital press release. According to the Twitter feed, expert teams of hand surgeons rotated in and out of the operating room throughout the surgery.”
Oh, phew, their hands were tweeting when their hands weren’t operating! I might rather that my surgeons — even when not actively involved in the operation and when rotating out of the OR — would just rest their digits and not flex them digitally. But what an old-fashioned guy I am.
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 26th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Adherence Behavior, Anxiety, CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Communication Services, Emotionality, General Medicine, Health-Related Outcomes, Internet Use, Isolated Studies, Medical Research, Neuroticism, Psychological Reactance, Psychology, Social Bubble, Social Health, Strategic and Proactive Communication Branch
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Maybe not according to this report from the CDC. They studied Internet use with respect to adherence behavior and a number of health-related outcomes. It suggests that folks who diss the doc in favor of the Internet may not do as well as we think.
This quote caught me:
The data also revealed that personal determinants such as neuroticism (reflects anxiety and emotionality) and health-related poorer quality of life differentiated internet-instigated non-adherent respondents from their counterparts.
More plainly put: If you trust your life to an anonymous guy on Twitter with the handle @YourHealthGuru, you might not do as well as if you partnered with a trained professional. Or perhaps I’m reading too much into the study. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
