June 17th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: General Medicine, iPhone App, iTunes, Medical Apps, Medical Technology, NEJM This Week, New England Journal of Medicine, Smartphone, Toby Plewak
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Apparently the New England Journal of Medicine was listening yesterday when I suggested to an audience in Chicago that the way to a doctor’s heart is through his smartphone. The NEJM This Week iPhone App went live this morning on iTunes and it’s worth a look.
The App offers four pages covering articles, images, audio and video. According to Toby Plewak, NEJM’s Manager of Product Development, the article page covers most everything available through the print/web version as well as all of the “online first” (early release) articles for the current week. The only articles excluded are those that can’t be delivered effectively on the iPhone.
I just listened to the NEJM This Week audio summary and it’s beautiful (I know what I’ll be doing during my drives to the Texas Medical Center.) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
June 16th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Dr. Karen Li, Family Medicine, Fixing Primary Care, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Lack of Primary Care, Leave The Medical Profession, Leaving Primary Care, Long Hours, Newsweek, Pediatrics, Physician Burnout, Physician Salaries, Primary Care Crisis, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Shortage, Smaller Paychecks, Workplace Environment For Doctors
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There’s little question that the workplace environment for doctors is deteriorating. Especially in primary care, where physicians are arguably needed the most.
That’s why is so disheartening to read this Newsweek essay from pediatrician Karen Li, explaining why she left the field. Much of her piece can be attributed to the bad old days of managed care, where doctors were frustrated by the bureaucratic impediments placed before them. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
June 16th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: AP, Associated Press, British Medical Journal, Dr. Abraham Verghese, Dr. Richard Baron, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Healthy Lifestyle, Internal Medicine, Limiting Radiation Exposure, New England Journal of Medicine, Overtesting, Overtreatment, Physician Payment, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Shortage, Stanford Medical School, Staying Well, Too Many Tests, Too Much Testing, Unnecessary Testing, Unnecessary Treatment
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The Associated Press has been running a fantastic series of must reads with the latest article highlighting the consequence of too many imaging studies, like X-rays and CT scans, which are the biggest contributor to an individual’s total radiation exposure in a lifetime. Americans get more imaging radiation exposure and testing than people from other industrialized countries.
Reasons for doing too many tests include malpractice fear, patient demands for imaging, the difficulty in obtaining imaging results from other doctors or hospitals, as well as advanced technologies, like coronary angioplasty, which have increased radiation but avoid a far more invasive surgery like heart bypass. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
June 15th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: CBS News, Department of Psychology and Biobehavioral Sciences, Dr. Gail Wyatt, Drug Hype, Email Spam, FDA Vote, FDA-Approved Drugs, Female Sexual Problems, Flibanserin, Food and Drug Administration, Gary Schwitzer, Greed, HealthNewsReview.org, HSDD, Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, Internet Drug Sales, Low Sex Drive, Medscape, Merrill Goozner, Online Drug Marketing, Pharmaceutical Solution, Prescription Drugs, Relationship Problems, Sexual Health, The New View Campaign, UCLA, University of California-Los Angeles, Vague Diagnosis, Women's Health
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This week the FDA will vote on flibanserin, the much-talked-about drug for women with the condition called hypoactive sexual desire disorder or — because everything in sexual health needs an acronym like ED or PE — HSDD.
On the eve of the FDA vote, CBS last week ran still another story about flibanserin. This drug has received so much news coverage, you’d think it cures cancer.
And CBS did little more than promote the hype even more, saying FDA approval “could translate into a $2 billion market in this country alone” and then failing to challenge the disease-mongering estimate of “10 percent to 30 percent of women” with this condition. It all just goes along with the drug company’s efforts to build a demand before the drug is even approved. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
June 15th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Brain Surgery, Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks, Cranial Cavity, Endoscopic Surgery, Eyelid Incision, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Less Invasive, Midline Brain Tumors, Neurosurgery, Pneumocephalus, Resection, Skull, Transpalpebral Orbitofrontal Craniotomy
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In the continuing effort to make surgery less invasive, physicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital are operating on the brain through a tiny incision in one of the eyelids instead of lifting a large piece of the skull.
Named transpalpebral orbitofrontal craniotomy, the procedure allows for access to the middle and front regions of the brain. The cranial cavity is reached through a hole created by removing a small, half-inch to one-inch-square section of skull bone right above the eyebrow. Endoscopic surgery can then be performed with help of previously obtained CT and MRI data. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
