August 8th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Medblogger Shout Outs, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Adam Marcus, Dr. Ivan Oransky, Embargo Watch, Gary Schwitzer, Health News Blogs, Health News Coverage, HealthNewsReview.org, Medblogs, Niche Blog, Retraction Watch, Reuters Health, Science Journalists, Science Reporting, Scientific Information Embargoes, Scientific Information Retractions
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Ivan Oransky, M.D., executive editor of Reuters Health, somehow found time a few months ago to launch his first blog, Embargo Watch — with the tagline: “Keeping an eye on how scientific information embargoes affect news coverage.”
Now, as evidence he either doesn’t sleep or has roots in Transylvania, Oransky the Impaler launches a new blog, Retraction Watch along with partner Adam Marcus. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 8th, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Accuracy in Diagnosis, Baseball, Best Doctors, Brad Falchuk, Charity, Fenway Park, General Medicine, Malformed Blood Vessel, Patient Empowerment, Preventive Health, Red Sox Foundation, Spinal Cord Tumor, Wrong Diagnosis
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How often do people get the wrong diagnosis? Too often.
There are things you can do help protect yourself. Things like, asking questions, being sure everything makes sense to you, not doing anything you’re not sure about.
At Best Doctors, helping people do this is what we do every day, and so I want to tell you a story. It’s about my brother. I want to tell it to you it because it will help you understand the important work we do here, and because of something very special that happened for him this weekend. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
August 8th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: A Kind Nation, All Men Created Equal, Americans, Anti-inflammatory, Cardiology, Cost of Healthcare, Freedom, Gay Marriage, General Medicine, Generosity, Goodness, Heart Attack, Heart Health, Inner Peace, Kindness, Less-Sticky Platelets, Lifestyle Choices, Reduces Inflammation, Smoother Arteries, Tolerance, Treating Heart Disease
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As an American, I was proud when I heard the news. I grinned to myself. It was on my way to work, through a beautiful city park, with the sun rising over the hillside. The morning radio program reported the news that a California judge overturned their state’s ban on gay marriage.
I know what you’re thinking: A medical blog is running amuck right into a political hornet’s nest. But isn’t it true that a nation’s kindness is a defining characteristic?
America and Americans do much that is good and right. Examples of such goodness are too numerous to list. If you are a victim of a calamity, you can be sure that America will help. Ask Haiti. And it’s not just foreign countries, we help each other. There’s a flood and then there are volunteers. A power outage and there are cords across the streets. It’s not controversial to say we are a kind nation. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
August 7th, 2010 by Steven Roy Daviss, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, Research
Tags: Depression On The Job, Psychiatry, Psychology
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Katina from OnlineCollege.org writes to inform us of a post about 10 Professions With The Highest Levels Of Depression. What I found interesting is the assumption that these jobs cause depression. For example:
Social Workers: If you had to deal with abused children, unkind foster parents and less-than-stellar family dynamics all day, you might be depressed too. Those working in this field are three times more likely to be depressed than the general population, and many are so focused on helping others they don’t get the help that they need themselves.
There’s nothing in the post that addresses the “chicken-or-egg” question. Maybe people with depression are drawn to certain fields? Artists are listed, with the statement that those who chose to work in the field “found it depressing.”
And everyone kind of gets it: Doctors, nurses, social workers, lawyers, artists, janitors, food service people, finance folks, and nursing home and childcare workers. What’s left? What’s the depression rate among bloggers?
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
August 7th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Annals Of Internal Medicine, Doctors' Diagnosis, Failure to Individualize Care, Family Medicine, Fixing Primary Care, General Medicine, Medical Diagnosis, Patient Disclosure, Patient Loads, Patient Social Factors, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Pay Doctors By The Hour, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Economics, Saul Weiner, Social Situations of Patients, Socioeconomics, Underlie a Patient's Symptoms
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A recent study from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that doctors often discounted a patient’s social situation when making a medical diagnosis.
Lead researcher Saul Weiner “arranged to send actors playing patients into physicians’ offices and discovered that errors occurred in 78 percent of cases when socioeconomic concerns were a significant factor.”
Evan Falchuk, commenting on the results, provides some context:
It’s hard to expect even the most gifted clinician, trying to make it through yet another week of a hundred or more patient encounters, to get these difficult decisions right. Too much of the context of a patient’s care gets lost in the endless churn of patient visits that the health care system imposes on doctors.I suspect this is enormously frustrating for doctors, although it’s worse for patients. What the researchers call a failure to “individualize care,” a patient might call “not being paid attention to.” It’s a dynamic that anyone who’s been ill has probably seen firsthand.
These findings are entirely unsurprising. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
