September 2nd, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: Ability To Pay For Drugs, ACP Internist, Big Pharma, Consumer Reports, Cutting Healthcare Costs, Drugmaker's Influence On Physicians, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Not Filling Prescriptions, Patients Not Complying, Pharmacology, Physician Drug Prescribing Habits, Prescription Non-Compliance, Primary Care, Splitting Pills
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Patients are pill-splitting more to trim back healthcare costs, according to a poll by Consumer Reports. In the past year, 39 percent took some action to cut costs.
The poll of more than 1,100 people found that 45 percent of people take at least one prescription drug and average four. But 27 percent said they didn’t always comply with a prescription, and 38 percent of those younger than 65 without drug coverage didn’t fill prescriptions at all.
Just over half of patients felt that doctors didn’t consider their ability to pay when prescribing a drug, while nearly half blamed drugmaker’s influence for physicians’ prescribing habits. (HealthLeaders Media)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
September 2nd, 2010 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: American Academy of Pediatrics, Athlete's Health, Balance Problems, Confusion, Dayton Daily News, Dizziness, Head Injuries, headache, Loss of Consciousness, Nausea and Vomiting, Neurology, Ohio High School Athletic Association, OHSAA, Sports Medicine, Sports-Related Concussions, Symptoms of Concussion, Younger Athletes
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A study published earlier this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics states that “the number of sport-related concussions is highest in high school-aged athletes, but the number in younger athletes is significant and on the rise.” Why is this? Many believe this is from better recognition of the symptoms and the need to be medically evaluated.
I did a couple of interviews with local TV news to talk about the subject (Video 1 and Video 2). In my research on this subject, I found an article from the Dayton Daily News stating that the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) passed a policy in May 2010:
Any athlete who exhibits signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion (such as loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion or balance problems) shall be immediately removed from the contest and shall not return to play until cleared with written authorization by an appropriate health care professional.
In addition, on the OHSAA website there’s an entire section devoted to concussions and head injuries. I have also read that other states have taken similar steps, especially with high school and younger athletes.
If you find the videos in this post helpful, I encourage you to see my other interviews on health-related topics at MikeSevilla.TV
*This blog post was originally published at Doctor Anonymous*
September 2nd, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Alcohol-Impaired Driving, Car & Driver, Cellphone Use While Driving, Cellphones And Driving, Divided Attention, Driver Safety, Drunk Drivers, General Medicine, Legal Alcohol Limit While Driving, Primary Care, Public Safety, Safe Cellphone Use, Texting While Driving, Using Handheld Devices While Driving
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A mentor recently mentioned in passing that he stopped riding motorcycle when cellphones came out, as he noticed the average driver distraction level had gone way up. He said, “It’s like everybody’s drunk.”
There’s lots of ways to be an impaired driver: Physical or mental fatigue, chemicals (legal and not), emotional extremes, etc. (This is not an exhaustive list). What I want to focus on here is a very controllable risk factor: Divided attention.
A quick Internet search turned up some original research from Car and Driver on the subject of texting while driving compared with actual alcohol-impaired driving, and the results are shockingly worse than I would have thought. From their (admittedly limited but well done) study, texting is way worse than being at the legal alcohol limit when it comes to both reading and writing. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
September 2nd, 2010 by Joseph Albietz, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, True Stories
Tags: A Patient's Death, Anti-Vaccine Movement, Anti-Vaccine Propaganda, Anti-Vaccine Quackery, Dangers of Not Vaccinating, Family Medicine, immunizations, Immunology, Infant Death, Pediatrics, Pertussis Vaccine, Premature Death, Preventable Child Death, Public Awareness, Public Health Initiative, Public Safety, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Tdap Vaccine, Unvaccinated, Vaccine Advocacy, Whooping Cough Epidemic
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I lost a patient this season, an infant, to whooping cough (pertussis). After falling ill, he lived for nearly a month in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, three weeks of which was spent on a heart/lung bypass machine (ECMO) due to the extent of the damage to his lungs. But all our efforts were in vain. The most aggressive and advanced care medicine has to offer couldn’t save his life. The only thing that could have saved him would have been to prevent him from contracting pertussis in the first place.
He was unvaccinated, but that was because of his age. He was part of the population that is fully dependent on herd immunity for protection, and that is exquisitely prone to a life-threatening course once infected. This is a topic we’ve covered ad nauseum, and I’m not inclined to go into greater depth in this post. Suffice it to say his death is a failure at every level. We, both as medical professionals and as a society at large, need to do a better job of protecting our children from preventable diseases. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
September 2nd, 2010 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Android OS, Apple, BlackBerry, Blue Light Therapy Apps, Bradley Merrill Thompson, Cellphone Technology, Diagnostic Imaging, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Force Out An App, General Medicine, Health Canada, Healthcare Apps, iMedicalApps, iPhone, Medical Apps, Medical Imaging App, Medicine and Smartphones, Monitoring Medical Apps, Regulating Medical Devices, Resolution MD Mobile, Surveillance of Healthcare-Related Apps, Technology and Medicine, Transmitting Images to a Medical Facility, Web OS
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Bradley Merrill Thompson, an attorney with expertise in the FDA approval process for medical devices, is stating that the FDA is actively monitoring app stores on various platforms. Regulating medical devices and health care-related applications falls under the FDA’s jurisdiction.
James Kendrick from JkOnTheRun spoke with Thompson, where he stated the following:
The FDA is actively engaged in surveillance of various app stores to see if apps should trigger their involvement. Applications where a smartphone is connected in any way to imaging are under scrutiny, in particular. Any app that is used to transmit images to a medical facility requires FDA approval.
By “various app stores,” Thompson is likely referring to the App store [Apple], Palm App Catalog [Web OS], App World [BlackBerry], and the Android Marketplace [Android OS]. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
