December 23rd, 2009 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Blood Thinner, Cardiology, Coumadin, Emergency Medicine, Karate, Martial Arts, Sarfety, Shorin-Ryu, Warfarin
2 Comments »
I’ve not been blogging much lately because of work craziness and traveling. One of my recent travels, however, was not for work but for pleasure. I’ve been studying karate (a traditional Okinawan version called Shorin-Ryu) for over fifteen years. There’s a national federation to which I belong and there are seminars three or four times a year taught by some of our more senior instructors. This was one such seminar, and it focused on joint lock and grappling techniques, some of which our style shares in common with other martial arts such as Akido and Judo.
At one point I was working with a fifth-degree black belt instructor, “Bill.” Super nice guy, and absolutely amazing in his speed and techniques. He was also very kind in teaching me a number of useful tricks and nuances of the techniques we were working on. There was a sequence which culminated in a choke-hold, and he was unhappy with the manner in which I was choking him. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
December 23rd, 2009 by Medgadget in Announcements, Better Health Network
Tags: Health Policy, Healthcare reform, Medgadget, Medpolitics, Politics
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A year and a half ago we unveiled Medpolitics, a website for doctors to blog about the legislative, regulatory, and public policy issues revolving around the business of medicine.
Today we’d like to present the new and much improved Medpolitics, that anyone can join and participate in using the new, more intuitive and much spiffier interface. Whether you are a health care strategist, doctor, nurse, patient, or just a citizen concerned about the state of medicine, this is the place for you to bring up debates, offer solutions, announce events, organize groups, or find friends and establish professional contacts.
Healthcare is obviously a major topic today in society, and we feel that there should be a real forum for everyone to express their views, offer new ideas, and discuss details that are often ignored by all the noise in the media. Medpolitics allows anyone to blog, post videos from YouTube, and create discussion forums by topic.
If the future of healthcare is important to you, this network will be an ideal outlet for expressing your individual voice. Registration takes seconds and you can start right away.
Link: Medpolitics.com…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
December 23rd, 2009 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Addiction Medicine, New Years Resolutions, Psychiatry, Quitting Smoking, smoking cessation
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As we approach the beginning of the new year, many of us are considering our New Year resolutions for 2010. For many smokers, quitting will be near the top of the list. Particularly in these tough financial times, many smokers are deciding it doesn’t make financial sense to keep smoking. When it comes to new year resolutions, it’s not essential that the change start immediately from midnight on December 31st, but if there isn’t a plan to get started pretty soon afterwards there’s a real risk that the planned change never happens. Read more »
This post, New Years Resolutions And Tips To Help You Quit Smoking, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..
December 23rd, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: AHA, American Heart Association, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiology, Industry, Meetings, Scientific Sessions, Unintended Consequences
1 Comment »
Are medical conferences becoming obsolete? I think so.
It was apparent to me at the Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions meeting and now a similar trend was noticed by Dr. Steven Sedlis at this year’s American Heart Association meeting:
It felt like a ghost town. I ran into Ira Schulman, my medicine resident at Bellevue when I was a third year medical student; we looked at one another and simultaneously blurted out “where is everybody?”
. . .
There are probably numerous reasons for plummeting attendance at AHA. The economy, the on-line publication of trial results prior to presentation, the ubiquity of conference calls, e-mail strings and yes blogs that keep one in regular contact with colleagues throughout the country and the world without the need for face-to-face encounters are just some of the obvious causes.
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
December 22nd, 2009 by Nicholas Genes, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News
Tags: ACEP, Emergency Medicine, Injuries, NYT, Plastic Surgery, Technology, Texting
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Today the NY Times printed a piece that pokes fun at, and highlights the dangers of, the new habit of texting-while-walking:
This summer, the American College of Emergency Room Physicians released a statement expressing concern about the issue, citing a Chicago doctor who was seeing a lot of face, chin, eye and mouth injuries among young people who reported texting and tumbling.
Hmm… I’m a member of ACEP, but I’ve never heard of ACERP. Is it some rival organization of emergency physicians whose practice is confined to four walls? Or, in its rush to condemn new technologies that enable communication on-the-go, has the New York Times abandoned the traditional practices of editing and fact-checking? 
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
