December 30th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Medblogger Shout Outs, Medical Art
Tags: Alzheimer's, Asystole, Birth, Bloggers, Blogging, CBC Today, Death, doctorblackbear, ImpactedEDNurse, Intellectual Disability, JordanGrumet, Medicine, Skeleton Typogram, The Boerewors Emergency Medicine Chronicles
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The Boerewors Emergency Medicine Chronicles has a great post which I think is worth your time: On alzheimer’s
……..…I think it is beautifully written and provides a real window into the difficulty of loving someone who has this disease.
“The thing with this sentence, this arrest of dementia, is that its greatest victims aren’t those who have it. That’s not to say that the diagnosis isn’t dreadful for the recipient, but there is a peculiar and particular hammering sadness for those that love and care for an Alzheimer’s spouse or parent.
It is a wearying and lonely obligation, but with the added cruelty that the person you’re looking after vanishes, escapes before your eyes. In the end, you’re caring for the case that someone came in………”
………………………………….
Check out this post from @JordanGrumet who blogs at In My Humble Opinion: From Birth To Death Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
December 10th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Medblogger Shout Outs, Research
Tags: Blog, Cancer, celebrity, Compete, ENT, Entertainment, Health, healthcare, Hospital Websites, Hot Topics In health, Popularity, Pregnancy, Search, The Value Of Blogging, Traffic, Volume
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An interesting blog article from the folks at Compete came to my attention recently. Compete for those who don’t know is a fantastic analytics site to see how ANY website is doing in terms of popularity (number of visitors in a given time period). The basic data is free. For more in depth information, there’s a charge.
For example, for our practice’s website, here is the Compete data I pulled which is pretty accurate based on my own analytics information:
My nearest local competitor in terms of website popularity is the hospital, Fauquier Health System: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
November 8th, 2011 by Dr. Val Jones in Medblogger Shout Outs
Tags: @GrandRounds, Grand Rounds, Grand Rounds Volume 8 Number 7, Myths
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As regular readers of the Better Health blog already know, I am opposed to health misinformation. In fact, I started this very blog because of my disappointment with the sheer volume of false claims, misleading stories, and pseudoscience actively promoted to patients.
It was my hope that gathering together key medical blogger “voices of reason” would promote health sanity on Google. You could argue that we’re tilting at windmills, but tilt we must – and I’m proud to say that our membership now includes contributions from the CDC, the American College of Physicians, Harvard Health publications, Diario Medico (Spain’s premier MD website) and over 100 independent bloggers who are standing with us in an attempt to provide smart health commentary to patients and providers alike.
And with that, let us begin our terrific Grand Rounds tradition (now in its eighth year – which in blog years is about 120) of highlighting this week’s best of the medical blogosphere… (And yes, that’s me with Mythbuster’s TV host Adam Savage, circa 2009).
Adam Savage & Dr. Val Jones
Myth #1: Coca-Cola will turn teenagers into homicidal maniacs.
Toni Brayer, M.D. of the Everything Health blog, finds the connection between drinking Coca-Cola and teenage violence laughable. Junk science is scarfed up by the media before the truth can get its wrapper opened. For more amusement, check out the newspaper headline on her blog: “Bananas As Good As Drugs For Treating HIV, Say Scientists.” Were these the scientists from the Planet of the Apes? Just sayin’.
Myth #2: Popular dietary supplements deliver on all their promises.
Jessica Berthold at ACP Hospitalist discovered a fascinating evidence graphic for vitamins and supplements during a presentation by Dr. Brent Bauer. “Which supplements work?” You may ask. Follow the bouncing bubbles. This site has an interesting, interactive graphic that illustrates both the number of Web search hits for health supplements like fish oil and garlic, and the evidence that the supplements work. (The bubble size illustrates # of hits, and the position of the bubble shows strength of evidence.)
Myth #3: Drinking cold water will make you lose weight.
Ryan DuBosar at the ACP Internist, offers the cold, hard truth about water and weight loss. Does drinking cold water really help you lose weight? It’s an urban myth with some truth to it. While it’s probable that drinking water before a meal induces satiation sooner, the number of calories that it takes to warm up a liter of ice water is fairly small and is unlikely to induce weight loss.
Myth # 4: Health screenings are not necessary.
Elaine Schattner, M.D. at Medical Lessons blog, is concerned about one-sided reporting on the downsides of mammograms. She reminds us that epidemiologists are not oncologists, and that the Dartmouth data may not offer the whole picture regarding cancer prevention and mammography. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – and for now, mammograms are our best hope.
Rich Fogoros, M.D. at the Covert Rationing Blog, deconstructs the latest prostate screening recommendations, arguing that what’s good from a public health standpoint isn’t necessarily what’s best for the individual. Prostate cancer screenings can save the lives of those whose aggressive cancer is detected early. The question is how to find the people who would benefit. Dr. Rich believes that people should be able to choose for themselves if they’d like to be tested, but worries that it will become exceedingly difficult to do so with the new USPSTF recommendations.
Myth #5: Just because two people have the same disease means they have a lot in common.
The Afternoon Napper (from The Afternoon Nap Society), an anonymous blogger with a rare chronic disease (intimal fibromuscular dysplasia) takes a look at the intricacies of interpersonal relationships in the patient advocate community. In the Napper’s post, “Just Because I Have The Same Disease As You That Doesn’t Mean I Like You—But That’s OK” we discover that having likes and dislikes in common can draw you closer than sharing the same disease or condition.
Myth #6 Sleep is not a key ingredient of a safe hospital stay.
Rita Schwab at Supporting Safer Healthcare, explains why disturbed sleep can make patients sicker. But better yet, she offers practical solutions for reducing noise in the hospital setting.
Myth #7: It’s ok to give enemas to anyone who is constipated.
Joel Topf, M.D. at the Precious Bodily Fluids blog explains why people with impaired kidney function could die if they’re given a Fleets (sodium phosphorous) enema. Citing some pretty horrific case studies, Dr. Topf notes: “Look at that phosphorous! A phosphorous over fifty is like a traffic accident, can’t tear your eyes away. Here’s a simple rule: If the medicine is supposed to go in the butt, don’t feed it to your patient.” Read the rest for some nightmare-inducing lab values.
Myth #8: Hydrochlorothiazide is a good anti-hypertensive medicine.
But wait, there’s more from our nephrologist blogger, Dr. Topf explains how a journal article from NEJM in 2008 changed the treatment of his patients with high blood pressure. He enthusiastically exclaims that:
“I avoid hydrochlorothiazide wherever possible. This usually requires re-jiggering a number of medications but a common switch will be to move patients from a list that looks like this:
- Lisinopril HCT
- Amlodipine
To a list that looks like this:
- ACEi CCB combination pill
- Chlorthalidone
This results in significant improvement in blood pressure control.”
A word to the wise who are managing high blood pressure: check out the ACCOMPLISH trial. It trumps ALLHAT.
Myth #9 Rapid fluid correction in kids with fever and impending shock (caused by infection) is the best way to save their lives.
Paul Auerbach, M.D. at Healthline reviews some interesting new data from a NEJM study suggesting that child mortality actually increases with aggressive IV fluid resuscitation. It is unclear if this remains true for other causes of shock, but as Dr. Topf explained earlier – one must think very carefully before putting large volumes of any fluids in any orifice (or vein) of any patient.
Myth #10: Teens are irredeemably bad drivers and cannot be helped.
Louise Galaska at the CDC Injury Center: Director’s View Blog offers some sobering statistics about teen driving, both regarding how dangerous driving can be (one in three teen deaths is caused by a motor vehicle accident) but in how much safer they can become when a graduated driver’s licensing system (GDL) is implemented. Research suggests that GDL systems are associated with reducing injury crashes by up to 40 percent in 16-year-old drivers. In the end though, there’s no substitute for an engaged parent.
Myth #11: Patient advocates will be quickly and easily integrated into the research design process.
Jessie Gruman, Ph.D., patient advocate extraordinaire at the Center for Advancing Health, is concerned about “patient-centered rhetoric.” In her post, “Getting the Patient’s Perspective in Research: Will PCORI Deliver on its Promise?” she describes the challenges of integrating patient advocates into the research design process.
“Including the patient perspective in research remains a foreign concept to most scientists and as a result, our views may be sought but ignored as the other participants continue doing business as usual. Jargon abounds.”
Jessie’s courage and candor are the reality check needed for PCORI’s success.
Myth#12 My doctor recommended an open hysterectomy because that would be best for me.
David Williams at The Health Business Blog interviews a surgeon who suggests that the type of procedure chosen is not always because it would be best for the patient, but rather more convenient for, or more familiar to, the surgeon. Check out all the hysterectomy options in this recent interview and podcast.
Myth #13: Cutting physician Medicare/Medicaid payments will help us do more with less.
David Harlow at the HealthBlawg describes some of the intricacies of upcoming legislative battles as congress and CMS try to negotiate a way to decrease healthcare spending by instituting “value-based modifier codes” to incentivize quality care while cutting physician reimbursement rates. Do not read this post if you are already depressed and confused. I numbered it “myth 13” for a reason!
Myth #14: Discount drug coupons save money.
Dr. Ed Pullen at Dr.Pullen.com argues that they may save money in the short-term – but watch out- it may be a ruse to keep patients from switching to less expensive generic drugs, and saving money long-term.
Myth #15: There’s a pill for everything.
Fisher Qua at the Health 3.0 Blog describes the creation of a new disease label (Female Sexual Dysfunction) primarily driven by companies hoping to discover and sell a new women’s blockbuster equivalent of Viagra. Funny how the label didn’t stick when there was no pill discovered to treat it?
Alright dear readers, that’s all the myths we can bust this week. Please check out Grand Rounds’ next host, the Sharp Brains blog so bring your A game!
June 7th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Medblogger Shout Outs
Tags: Blog, Blogging, Doctors, Etc., Fresh White Coat, MedCrunch, On Surgery, Physicians, Pulsus, Social Media, The Adjacent Possible
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I love finding new physician voices. Here are a few that I’ve been peeking at over the past couple months. They’re worth checking out.
Linda Pourmassina. Linda is an internist in Seattle and one of the finest writers in the medical blogosphere. You can find her over at Pulsus where she offers commentary on an eclectic mix of medical goodness ranging from social media to the subtleties of patient interaction. Really good stuff. Check out The Internet and Delusional Thinking. Beyond her blog, Linda’s Twitter output is the perfect balance of valuable links and dialog. Put her in your feed and she’ll bring you good things.
Chris Porter. Chris is a surgeon who has been writing at On Surgery, Etc. since April. This guy has an incredible voice and offers rare insight into the experience of the surgeon. He has a remarkable way of seeing medicine at its most granular level. When he corrals his narrative in just the right way I expect we may see him on the new release table at Barnes & Noble. Check out his experience as a surgeon in Guatemala. And from the narrow column Blogger template to the liberal use of crazy images, his site offers the raw feel of some of the vintage medical bloggers. His bio reflects the mindset of a next-gen physician: I’m Phoenix-based and world oriented. How can you resist that? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
