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Nurses Symposium Includes Social Media In Its Conference Curriculum

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You Can’t Ignore It…Social Media Networking Isn’t Going to Go Away…

Engaging in social media networking by health care professionals continues to cause hesitation.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding social media networking, nurses at Scripps Cancer Center in San Diego, CA embrace it.  They decided to educate themselves for a deeper understanding of this powerful form of real-time communication.

They are proactive and they step outside the box to gain knowledge to help them navigate through the social media networking maze.

In a recent interview with Guy Kawasaki, New York Times Best-Selling author, co-founder Alltop.com, and former chief evangelist of Apple, Kawasaki talked about the value of companies jumping the curve to excel.  (Kawasaki’s latest book, Enchantment:  The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.)

At the 31st Annual Scripps Oncology Nurses Symposium in San Diego, CA, Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*

The Dalai Lama Tweets About Health

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I follow a lot of intriguing people on Twitter. Each of them sends me noogets (a favorite slang word of mine) of information that either inspires, uplifts, informs or even amuses me.

But there’s one twitter-er that stands out. He really helps me–along with 2.6 million others.

The Dalai Lama tweets most mornings about the time I hit the deck. “What did he say this morning,” I ask myself frequently. Sometimes I pause for just a moment, but other times his words come back to me later in the day.

Now folks, I’m not going soft on you. I can’t even touch my toes, never mind do yoga. I realize that as a serious medical blogger, it’s not really accepted to let religion or politics seep into my posts.

But this very well-known quote seems to hint at the essence of our modern-day heart problems–atrial fibrillation in particular. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*

NPR Addresses Upcoming Final Decision On Avastin’s Fate

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On the NPR Shots blog, Scott Hensley addresses, “Avastin For Breast Cancer: Hope Versus False Hope.” Excerpt:

Any day now FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg is expected to make a final decision on Avastin’s fate. Women who said Avastin helped their breast cancer were out in force at a June hearing of an appeal of FDA’s proposal. At this point, it would be a big surprise if the agency let the approval, granted on an accelerated basis back in 2008, stand.

Now, one of the cancer specialists on the expert panel, which Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*

Would The Occupy Wall Street Movement Be Effective In Health Care?

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As Occupy Wall Street spread across the nation, I can’t help but wonder if the same movement could occupy health care. After all, the basic tenants of the movement involve protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government. In the “Occupy” movement, there is a feeling there’s an inside game and the game is rigged.

It would seem, then, that our new health care law, written by corporate interests and heavily influenced by lobbyists, could become a ripe target for the movement. We are beginning to see Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*

Addicted To Working: How It Can Affect Marital Relationships

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“I doubt that all the philosophy in this world can eradicate slavery; at best it will change its name. I can imagine worse forms of servitude than our own, more insidious forms, that will foster in men an appetite for work as rabid as the passion for war among barbarian races, either by turning people into stupid and content machines that believe in their freedom whilst fully enslaved, or by suppressing any human leisure. I prefer our physical slavery to this subjection of the spirit”.

– ‘Memoirs of Hadrian’– Marguerite Yourcenar

Nobody considers himself to be addicted to work. But we should go over how many times a day we check our e-mail or call our office while on holidays, even when we must do it almost secretly. No doubt iPads, iPhones or Blackberrys make it easier to fall into temptation, and we fool ourselves by saying we’re getting the device just to check the weather.

We tend to think workaholism is a synonym for working many hours, but this is a narrow view that ignores the addictive nature of that condition. An average workaholic has a strong inward motivation to work every minute, anywhere, not really for the money, or the promotion, or because of a lack of social life. Just for the sake of it.

Scott points out two traits to define this addiction: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Diario Medico*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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