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The Importance Of Open-Ended Questions

November 8th, 2009 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips

Tags: Gastroenterology, Interview Skills, Moms, Parenting, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Pediatrics, Questions

I can spend 20 minutes interviewing a parent about their child and still not really understand them. During a consult, my interview centers on the objective elements in a child’s history. When evaluating a child for abdominal pain, for example, I have a panel of questions that cover what I need to know to generate a starting hypothesis.

But none of it helps me understand Mom.

Understanding where the parents are at is critical to both understanding a child’s problem as well as pitching a plan of care. Whether it’s revealed to me or not, parents often come to me with an agenda. If my plan doesn’t meet with their view of the situation, it’s going to be much harder for me to help that child get what she needs.

So at the end of my interview (usually when washing my hands) I launch one or all of the following questions:
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*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

Classic Smoking Cessation Study Suggests You Can Save A Life For $2000

November 6th, 2009 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips

Tags: Addiction Medicine, Costs, Intervention, Pulmonology, quit, Quitting Smoking, Research, smoking, smoking cessation

Every now and again I like to pick one of the classic research studies on smoking cessation in order to highlight some of the key findings. Today I’m going to focus on the part of the Lung Health Study.

The Lung Health Study is certainly one of the best smoking cessation studies ever carried out, partly because of the comprehensive nature of the assessment and follow-up of its 5,887 participants and partly because it was way ahead of its time in delivering a truly “state-of-the-art” intensive smoking cessation intervention which was compared in a randomized manner to the effects of “usual care”. The Lung Health Study (LHS) was a randomized clinical trial of smoking cessation and inhaled bronchodilator therapy in smokers 35 to 60 years of age who did not consider themselves ill but had evidence of mild to moderate airway obstruction. Read more »

This post, Classic Smoking Cessation Study Suggests You Can Save A Life For $2000, was originally published on Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..

Why You Shouldn’t Take A Stroller On An Escalator

November 5th, 2009 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips

Tags: Accident, Danger, Escalator, Parenting, Pediatrics, Stroller

There’s an epidemic at our malls: parents taking their small children up and down escalators in strollers of all sorts of sizes and shapes. I ended up behind one such parent yesterday and found strollers heading up and down all afternoon. Some were small, some large. Some had bags dangling off of them, others not. Sometimes parents had both hands on the handles, other times they were balancing the stroller and a drink or cell phone. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr Gwenn Is In*

What To Do If You Step On A Sea Urchin

November 4th, 2009 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips

Tags: Emergency Medicine, Ocean, Pain, Scuba Diving, Sea Urchin, Spines, Stepping On, Treatment, wilderness medicine, Wound

This is the third post based upon my presentation given at the Wilderness Medical Society Annual Meeting held in Snowmass, Colorado from July 24-29, 2009. The presentation was entitled “Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water.”” The topic was an overview of hazardous marine animals and it was delivered by me. In the previous post, there was information about stingrays and scorpionfishes. In this post, there is information about injuries from sea urchins incurred in the marine environment.

Sea urchins are free-living echinoderms with egg-shaped, globular or flattened bodies. They are covered by tightly arranged spines and/or triple-jawed pedicellariae, which are seizing and envenoming organs. The spines can be brittle, hollow, sharp and venom-bearing or blunt and non venom-bearing (such as with Hawaiian pencil urchins). Most persons are envenomed when they step upon or brush against an urchin. Read more »

This post, What To Do If You Step On A Sea Urchin, was originally published on Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..

How To Reduce Your Risk Of A Shark Attack

October 30th, 2009 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips

Tags: Diving, Emergency Medicine, How To Avoid, Shark, Shark Attack, Sharks, Swimming

First, about sharks and shark attacks:

Sharks are found in oceans, tropical rivers and lakes. They range in size from 10 centimeters to over 15 meters (whale sharks). Approximately 30 out of 350 species have been implicated in human attacks. On average, there are fewer than 100 attacks reported each year worldwide, and less than 10% of these attacks are fatal. Sharks are superbly equipped predators, and can detect motion, chemicals, electrical signals, and vibration in the water, with a sensitivity that enables them to easily hone in on prey. The most dangerous sharks from a frequency-of-attack perspective are the white (“great white”, “white pointer”), tiger, bull, blue, dusky, hammerhead, and grey reef sharks. However, it is important to note that any shark, including the seemingly docile nurse shark, will bite a human if sufficiently provoked. Read more »

This post, How To Reduce Your Risk Of A Shark Attack, was originally published on Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..