July 16th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Opinion
Tags: Changing Doctors, Doctor-Patient Communication, Empowered Patients, Familiarity, New Doctor, Patient Satisfaction
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Come on people… you know what I am talking about. Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor… after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up. Yes the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. But you aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high satisfaction scores. After all who wants to upset their doctor? But admit it; you have wondered if there isn’t a doctor out there that would be a better fit with you. I know I have.
Doctors probably feel the same way about many of their patients. It can’t be easy everyday trying to help patients that don’t seem to want to help themselves… or who want a quick fix from a bottle of pills. Not to mention patients who habitually miss their appointments and are generally non-compliant.
How Would Changing Doctor’s Help? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
July 16th, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Opinion
Tags: Doctor Patient Relationship, Dr. Maureen Goldman, Marsha Linehan, New York Times, Psychiatric Disorder, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Self-disclosure
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Dr. Maureen Goldman talks about self-disclosure for psychiatrists and brings the topic up in the context of Marsha Linehan’s recent announcement that she was treated for a psychiatric disorder as a teenager.
In Clinical Psychiatry News, Dr. Goldman notes:
Psychiatric care and psychotherapy are different from the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship, where the mutual sharing of personal experience is an integral part of helping people maintain sobriety. I believe that there is middle ground between disclosing personal information and presenting myself as a blank slate. In my practice, I show myself to be a real person. I make mistakes and admit them. I joke about my poor bookkeeping skills and inferior technological skills. I look things up during sessions if necessary, and I tell patients when I need to do research or consult with a colleague. I treat them as real people, too, not just as patients.
I do not, however, share my own story. Mostly, I think that I can help people feel heard, understood, and known, and create a therapeutic plan without personal disclosure. I communicate that “I get it” without being clear that “I really get it.”
I cannot speculate about the motivation behind Dr. Linehan’s decision to allow her mental health history to be chronicled in the New York Times. The story was a very public disclosure, and in that way quite different from a disclosure made in the context of a one-on-one, doctor-patient therapeutic relationship.
We’ve talked in detail about self-disclosure before, and specifically about whether psychiatrists should tell their patients if they’ve suffered from a psychiatric disorder. See Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
July 15th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Birth Control, Birth Control Pill, Co-Pay, Condoms, Depo Provera, Emergency Contraception, Family Planning, Generic, IUDs, Mirena, Nuvaring, Pharmacy, Plan B, Planned Parenthood, Spermacide, Sponge
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If you live in New Hampshire, or some other state that is withdrawing Planned Parenthood funding, you may need to find an alternate source of affordable birth control, at least until the states get their heads screwed back on straight. In the meantime, please, don’t stop your birth control because you think you can’t afford it – the costs of not using it are much, much higher.
But what can you do to make the choice to use birth control even more cost effective?
Birth Control Pills
- Buy them cheap locally. Walmart, Target and Kroger sell very low priced birth control pills – only $4 to $9 a pack. It’s only a few brands (Trinessa, Sprintec and Trisprintec), but ask your doctor if it makes sense to switch if cost is a barrier for you.
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
July 15th, 2011 by Glenn Laffel, M.D., Ph.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Electronic Medical Record, EMR, Health IT, Meaningful Use, Minority, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, Practice Fusion, Quest Diagnostics, Race, Racial Disparity
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In the 12 years since our government acknowledged we had a problem with racial disparities in health care, we’ve made significant progress in reducing them. Steep declines in the prevalence of cigarette smoking among African Americans have narrowed the gap in lung cancer death rates between them and whites, for example. Inner city kids have better food choices at school. The 3-decade rise in obesity rates, steepest among minorities, has leveled off.
Still, racial disparities persist across the widest possible range of health services and disease states in our country. The racial gap in colorectal cancer mortality has widened since the 1980s. Overall cancer death rates are 24% higher among African Americans. Sixteen percent of African American adults and 17% of Hispanic adults report their health to be fair or poor, whereas only 10% of white American adults say that. The number of African Americans and Hispanics who report having access to a primary care physician is 30-50% lower than white folks who have one.
How can EMRs Help? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Pizaazz*
July 15th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Opinion, Research
Tags: Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Dermatology, Hydrocortisone, Laser, Laser Therapy, Linear Dermal Scars, Moisturizing Cream, Nonablative, Skin, Stretch Marks, striae distensae, Topical Skin Care, Treatment
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Stretch marks (striae distensae) are common. They represent linear dermal scars accompanied by epidermal atrophy. Stretch marks aren’t a significant medical problem, but can be a source of significant emotional distress.
There are many treatments available, ranging from therapy applied to the skin, laser therapy, and even more invasive surgical methods. Unfortunately, stretch marks remain a tricky problem to target, in which no established treatment exists.
A recent article in the May issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal (full reference below) discusses the use of fractional nonablative laser treatment for stretch marks.
Dr. Francesca de Angelis and colleagues conducted a clinical study involving 51 patients with striae, three male and 48 female, who were treated between May 2007 to May 2008. Several patients had striae on multiple areas of the body so a total of 79 striae locations were treated.
Patient ages ranged from 13 to 56 years (mean, 33 years). Fitzpatrick skin type ranged from II to IV. The duration of striae ranged from one to 40 years, with an average duration of 12 years. The striae formed as a result of pubertal growth (41%, n = 21), pregnancy (31%, n = 16), weight change (20%, n = 10), muscular atrophy (2%, n = one ), or unknown causes (6%, n = three).
Anatomical locations for treatment included the hips, breasts, abdomen, flanks, knees, buttocks, arms, thighs, and shoulders, with the majority of treatments occurring on the first three sites.
The stated objective of this study was to determine Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
Come on people… you know what I am talking about. Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor… after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up. Yes the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. But you aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high satisfaction scores. After all who wants to upset their doctor? But admit it; you have wondered if there isn’t a doctor out there that would be a better fit with you. I know I have.
