October 22nd, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, News, Opinion
Tags: Doctor's Office Waiting Room, Dr. John Mandrola, General Medicine, Healthcare Crisis, Long Waits for Patients, Medical Complexity, Medical Humor, Practicing Quality Medicine, Time With The Patient, Wait Times, Waiting In Doctor's Office, Waiting Too Long, Wall Street Journal
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I have an easy solution to a vexing problem in today’s healthcare crisis. A problem so widespread that it’s worth hundreds of words in the Wall Street Journal: Long wait times at the doctor’s office.
But first, before I give my simple, pragmatic, master-of-the-obvious solution, let me say something truthful: I try. I try really hard — to run on time, that is.
I’ve been there myself — a patient in a gown, in a cold room with only big pharma-sponsored propaganda on the walls to stare at.
At the risk of a sounding like a…blogger, let it be said that practicing quality medicine in the current luxury of technology is much more complicated than it used to be. Such complexity devours our most precious treasure: Time with the patient. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
October 22nd, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Dr. Wes Fisher, EHRs, Electronic Health Records, Electronic Medical Records, EMRs, Health Disparities, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Healthcare's Facebook, HIPAA, Invasion Of Privacy, Online Personal Information, Patient Privacy Laws, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, PPACA, Privacy Breech, Privacy Policy, PSQIA, Social Media Privacy, Wall Street Journal, WesMusings
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[Recently] the Wall Street Journal‘s front page story exposed a significant privacy breech of online personal information via the world’s most popular social networking site, Facebook:
Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information—in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names—to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook’s strictest privacy settings. The practice breaks Facebook’s rules, and renews questions about its ability to keep identifiable information about its users’ activities secure.
How could they? Imagine the nerve of marketers using Facebook ID’s to develop profiles on people using little socializing games! Facebook has a privacy policy! I was assured that if I set my privacy settings to “maximum,” this would never happen! To which I say: “Duh!” When it comes to money, people get awfully creative.
So while Facebook grapples with its latest public relations nightmare, we should realize our electronic medical record app vendors are doing exactly the same thing. Worse, it’s perfectly legal, even though each of use has been assured our privacy settings are set to “maximum” through the reassurances of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (PSQIA). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
October 22nd, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: ACP Internist, American College Of Physicians, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, ASIPP, CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Drug Overdose, Drug Safety, Drug Side Effects, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Increased Training for Prescribers, Medication Side Effects, Motor Vehicle Accidents, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, Older Adults, Opioid Analgesics, Opioid Dependence, Opioids, Patient Safety, Prescribing Guidelines, Prescription Drug Abuse, Prescription Drug Spending, Prescription Drug Use, Public Awareness, Public Health, Ryan DuBosar, Unused Prescription Medications, Young People
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Eighty eight percent of Americans 60 years or older take at least one prescription drug and more than two-thirds of this age group take five or more, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics. Spending for prescription drugs totaled $234.1 billion in 2008 — more than double what was spent in 1999.
The National Center for Health Statistics excerpted elements of its National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to prepare the report:
Other key findings include:
— Over the last 10 years, the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44 percent to 48 percent. The use of two or more drugs increased from 25 percent to 31 percent. The use of five or more drugs increased from 6 percent to 11 percent. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
October 21st, 2010 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Complications of Chronic Diseases, Disruptive Physician, Doctors and Social Media, Dr. Stanley Feld, General Medicine, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare reform, Medical Malpractice, Non-Compliant Patients, Patient Lifestyle, Patient Responsibility, Patients Must Own Their Disease, Patients' Central Role In Healthcare, Personal Responsibility For Illness, Physician Frustration, Physician Leadership, Physicians' Social Network, Preventive Care, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Sermo, U.S. Healthcare System
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It is important to listen to what physicians are saying. An article appeared in SERMO, a physicians’ social network, which expressed a physician’s frustration. It is appropriate to publish some of that physician’s thoughts:
“I first heard this statement over twenty years ago, when I was an intern in general surgery, struggling to find my professional self.”
“My chief resident said; “The patient owns the disease,” “You’re not trying to make them suffer, you’re trying to help. They’re sick, you’re not.”
“The human body is unpredictable. Disease complications happen.”
The author thought his chief resident was heartless and callous. In a way, he was but he was getting at the heart of the matter. What is the patient’s responsibility in the evolution of disease? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
October 21st, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Army, Blood Test, Brain Injury Protein, Combat Troops, Concussion, Contact Sports, Emergency Medicine, General Peter Chiarelli, GruntDoc, Head Injury, Head Trauma, Lumbar Puncture, Mild Brain Damage, Neurology, Pseudotumor Cerebri, Seizure, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Stroke, TBI, TIA, Traumatic Brain Injury, USAToday.com, Young Athletes
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Via USAToday.com:
FREDERICK, Md. — The Army says it has discovered a simple blood test that can diagnose mild traumatic brain damage [TBI] or concussion, a hard-to-detect injury that can affect young athletes, infants with “shaken baby syndrome” and combat troops.
“This is huge,” said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff.
Yes, it is, if it pans out. There’s so little actual information in this that it’s hard to get excited about it, but let’s say they’ve isolated a “brain injury” protein.
First, it would have uses outside traumatic brain injury (TBI), though that in and of itself might be useful. I don’t want to poo-pooh this test for TBI, but there are already rules for returning to contact sports (and combat has to be the ultimate in contact activities), so what’s the purpose here? (I forsee more Purple Hearts, which is fine.)
Stroke? TIA? Seizure? Pseudotumor cerebri, as a strain indicator? What if this is the test that allows us to diagnose meningitis without doing lumbar punctures? I’m all in on that front. Let’s hope this pans out, for all our sakes.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
