May 13th, 2010 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research
Tags: Accurate, Cyberspace, Dave deBronkart, Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-Patient Connection, Doctors, E-Patients, Educate, Emotional Support, Empowered Patients, Evidence-Based Social Media, Face-To-Face, Family Medicine, Gavin O'Malley, General Medicine, Health 2.0, Healthcare Consumers, Healthcare Social Media, Informational Support, Internal Medicine, Internet, Jerome Groopman, MediaPost News, Medical Technology, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Nurses, Obsolete Doctors, Online Health Communities, Online Health Information, Pamela Hartzband, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Personal Interaction, Phased Out, Physician-Patient Bond, Primary Care, Reliable, Social Health Media, Social Media Platform, Social Media Sites, Social Networking, Spoken Conversation, Web
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A patient apologized to me for asking so many questions. “There’s no need to apologize,” I said to the patient, “It’s wonderful that you have so many questions concerning your healthcare.” I mentioned to her that she is an “empowered and engaged patient,” and that’s a good thing.
It’s no secret that health consumers are turning to the Internet for health information.
In a recent article from MediaPost News, Gavin O’Malley writes that, according to new a study by Epsilon Strategic & Analytic Consulting Group, “40% of online consumers use social media for health information — reading or posting content — while the frequency of engagement varies widely. According to the study, individuals who use healthcare social media fall into two broad groups: the 80% who are highly engaged patients, and take active roles in health management; and the 20% who lack confidence to play an active role in their own health.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
May 13th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Medical Art, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Affected Synovium, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, CTS, DIP, Distal Interphalangial, Family Medicine, Finger Deformity, Fortune Teller, General Medicine, Hand Examination, Hand Lines, Hand Movements, Hand Puppets, Hand Shadows, Internal Medicine, Madam Linda, MCP, Metacarpal Phalange Joint, Nerve Damage, Neurology, Orthopedics, Osteoarthritis, Palm Reading, PIP, Primary Care, Proximal Interphalangial, RA, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thenar Eminence
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Back to the subject at hand.
To those who are relatively new to this blog, one of the most popular…uh…tolerated series of posts has been my series on the physical exam. If you haven’t done so already, you may want to go back and read the posts to get in the proper mindset (or destroy enough brain cells).
Astute readers will note that doctors are not the only professionals to examine the hand.
Long before we knew anything about carpal tunnel syndrome or the thenar eminence, we had Madam Linda and her cohorts looking at the hand for signs of what the future will bring for the individual that happens to be connected to the hand in question. Just as stars and planets can have a peculiar interest as to whether a person will run into money, the lines on a person’s hand can foreshadow a person’s future. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
May 11th, 2010 by JessicaBerthold in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Caregivers, Checklist, Discharge Planning, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Health Care Setting, Hospitalist Medicine, Hospitals, Inpatient, Internal Medicine, Medicare, Nursing Home, Patient Guide, Primary Care
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Medicare has a handy guide to help patients and their caregivers take control of the discharge planning process. It might be good for hospitals to have a stack of these at the ready and a plan to make sure every patient gets one:
Planning for your discharge: A checklist for patients and caregivers preparing to leave a hospital, nursing home, or other health care setting
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
May 10th, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Alone, Best Doctors, Confused, Consumer Business, Evan Falchuk, Frustrated, General Medicine, Healthcare Consumerism, Healthcare Consumers, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare in America, Healthcare reform, Healthcare System, Lost, Major Barriers, MBGH, Midwest Business Group on Health, Primary Care
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I [recently] gave a speech at the Midwest Business Group on Health’s (MBGH) 30th Annual Conference. The MBGH is one of the country’s leading organizations on healthcare, and its members include the leading innovators and thought leaders on healthcare in America. It was a privilege to present to them.
I spoke about why healthcare just isn’t a consumer business in spite of all of the effort to turn people into healthcare “consumers.”
At Best Doctors, we have a closeup view of what happens to people when they try to find their way through the healthcare system. It’s not a pleasant picture. Healthcare consumers –- if you can call them that –- are often lost, confused, frustrated, alone. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
May 10th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Chemical Exposure, Child Care Safety, Children's Health, Drug Disposal, Electromagnetic Energy, Environmental Cancer, Environmental Carcinogens, Environmental Contaminants, Environmental Health, Internal Medicine, kids, National Cancer Institute, NCI, Oncology, Overexposure, Pediatrics, Pharmaceutical Disposal, President's Cancel Panel Report, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Secondhand Smoke, Tobacco Exposure, Toxics, toxins, Ultraviolet Light, UV Rays
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While most of the news sources are reporting that cancers from the environment are ‘grossly underestimated’ in response to the recently released 240-page report from the President’s Cancer Panel, I want to focus on the steps individuals can take to lessen their personal exposure to environmental carcinogens. Collectively, these small actions can drastically reduce the number and levels of environmental contaminants. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
