It’s said that everything comes with a price. The average American now lives almost thirty years longer than a hundred years ago. But for millions of people, the price of longevity has been Alzheimer’s disease. The greatest fear my patients express to me is, “I think I’m losing my mind.” Read more »
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*
It may still be a little fuzzy how health care reform will affect insurance coverage, but there is one area where it’s already having a clear impact, according to the Washington Post: menus.
A lesser-known aspect of the proposed legislation is that it will mandate calorie posting of the sort currently done in New York City for restaurants with more than 20 locations nationwide. The WashPo story reports on the positive impacts that publicization of calories has public health–apparently restaurants offer more healthy dishes, and diners swarm to them. Which is interesting, because the last time we discussed this issue, researchers were reporting that people actually consumed more calories after the stats were posted. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
The perpetually struggling British National Health Service (NHS) is testing a telemonitoring system from Philips in hopes that it will help moderate the cost of providing care to the elderly. The Philips Motiva is a device that hooks up to a television and displays interactive prompts for patients to perform certain tasks, like measuring blood sugar. Via a broadband connection, readings are then sent out to the clinic for overview by a healthcare professional. NHS is hoping that the system will help it reduce the number of in-person patient visits to the hospital, freeing up time for more pressing issues to get their turn.
From The Times of London:
Some 400 patients are being monitored in Newham. Each is provided with diagnostic equipment, such as an SPO2 meter for blood oxygen, which clips on the patient’s finger. The meter is attached to a set-top box linked to the patient’s television. The readings are sent to healthcare staff of the Primary Health Trust, who contact the patient if the readings cause concern.
The Newham trial includes patients with diabetes, heart disease or breathing problems, known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, a condition affecting a million Britons. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
Whenever I talk about medical professionals using social media, people are surprised by what I say. Most people think they can hide online and never have to reveal their real identity. I think they are wrong. In the online world, it’s much easier to find out private information about someone who wasn’t cautious enough than in real life. A recent example includes Doctors warned of Facebook flirts (e-Health article):
The Medical Defence Union said it was aware of a number of cases where patients have attempted to proposition doctors by sending them an unsolicited message on Facebook or similar sites. The medical defence body said it would be “wholly inappropriate” to respond to a patient making an advance in such a way. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
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