August 19th, 2011 by Davis Liu, M.D. in News, Opinion
Tags: Atul Gawande, Cleveland Clinic, Colonoscopy, Harmful Health Care, Heart Disease, Letting Doctors Make Tough Decisions, medicaid, Medicare, Misinformation, National Committee for Quality Assurance, NCQA, New York Times, Newsweek, Pauline Chen, Prostate Cancer, State of Health Care Quality, Unnecessary Testing, Unnecessary Treatment, Useless Health Care, Vaccinations
No Comments »
Newsweek has a very provocative and yet incredibly too simplistic piece for the public and patients on its cover story – One Word Can Save Your Life: No! – New research shows how some common tests and procedures aren’t just expensive, but can do more harm than good.
The piece is actually well written and highlights facts that have been apparent for some time. More intervention and treatment isn’t necessarily better. Having a cardiac catheterization or open heart surgery for patients with stable heart disease and mild chest pain isn’t better than diet, exercise, and the prescription medication treatment. PSA, the blood test previously suggested by many professional organizations, isn’t helpful to screen for prostate cancer, even though the value of the test was questioned years ago. Antibiotics for sinus infection? Usually not helpful.
Certainly doctors do bear part of the blame. If patients are Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
August 18th, 2011 by AndrewSchorr in Opinion, Research
Tags: Cancer, Cancer Drugs, Chemotherapy, Dr. Lowy, Hot Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy, Jennifer Ambrose, New York Times, Oncology, Powerful Patient, Powerful Patients, Web-Savvy Patient
No Comments »
You heard about it first on Patient Power when, a couple of years ago, we interviewed Dr. Andrew Lowy, oncology surgeon at UC San Diego Medical Center. He explained how some patients with advanced cancer spread in their abdomen could benefit from an open surgery – perhaps as much as nine hours long – where, after snipping out visible cancer – the organs are bathed in heated chemotherapy for 90 minutes. You may recall the story of Jennifer Ambrose, a young mom from suburban Chicago, who developed cancer of the appendix. She tracked down Dr. Lowy after spotting him on the Internet. She traveled to San Diego, had the “hot chemo” procedure, recovered and then went on to have a second child – her “miracle baby.” Today Jennifer remains fine and her story is featured in my book, The Web-Savvy Patient.
Jennifer Ambrose’s Powerful Patient Video
Today Andrew Pollack, reporter for The New York Times, wrote a front page story about Dr. Lowy, hot chemo, and how other medical centers are now picking up on it for other advanced cancers including colon and ovarian. They are even advertising it as one last bit of hope when often there is virtually none. Now, some of the big names in GI cancers are suggesting this approach has merit and may offer longer survival then some super expensive drugs. There’s a debate going on. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
August 18th, 2011 by DrWes in Opinion
Tags: American Society of Anesthesiologists, Cardiac Devices, Defibrillator, Electromagnetic Interference, EMI, Heart Rhythm Society, Implantable Defibrillators, Medical Devices, Medical Technology, Pacemaker
No Comments »
With the explosion of medical devices to treat various medical ailments in medicine, we have seen significant improvements in quality and quantity of life. An underappreciated consequence of all of these electronic device therapies, however, has been the manpower and expertise required to manage these implanted electronic medical devices long-term.
Problems with electromagnetic interference (EMI) with medical devices are real. Innovations in medicine have come from various portions of the electromagnetic spectrum including analog and digital wireless technology, diagnostic and therapeutic radiation therapy and magnetic resonance imaging. The effects of these technologies on implanted electronic medical devices can vary and specialty physicians, ancillary health care providers, and medical device manufacturers expend significant man-hours managing these potential interference sources and their affects on devices without a single prospective randomized trial to guide us. The sheer number of devices and the many ways that EMI can interfere with these complex devices makes constructing an all-inclusive trial with sufficient number of “events” to compare difficult or nearly impossible. As a result, most of our management recommendations and hospital policies in this regard have been based from literature case reports or personal experience and expertise.
To date, recommendations for minimizing EMI with cardiac implantable electronic devices has Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
August 17th, 2011 by Jessie Gruman, Ph.D. in Opinion
Tags: Bias, Customer Satisfaction, David Rovner, Doctor Choices, Doctor Ratings, Jessie Gruman, Jim Jaffe, LinkedIn, Media messages, Paul Levy, Physician Rating, Rating System, The Right Doctor, Top Doctors, U.S. News, Yelp
No Comments »
“Most physicians are competent and able to take care of most of the problems patients present with. The standards for getting into medical school are high and for getting out are higher. I think this call for patients to become experts in picking their doctors is overstated.” – David Rovner, MD, Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University
Most? What does “most” mean? Can most doctors treat me for the flu? How about pancreatic cancer? Must I conduct the same type of research to choose a doctor to set my broken arm that I do to find one to treat my mom’s congestive heart failure? Is the same level and type of research necessary to find a good surgeon as for a primary care clinician? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
August 17th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Opinion
Tags: Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Allergic Disease, Allergy, Food Allergies, Latex, Latex Allergy, Latex Gloves, Medicine, Natural Rubber Latex, NRL, Patient Safety, Spina Bifida, Surgery, Synthetic Gloves, Ves Dimov
2 Comments »
A couple of nice articles recently on latex allergy have crossed my path – one in a journal I subscribe to (Aesthetic Surgery Journal) and the other via twitter and @Allergy (Ves Dimov, M.D., blogs at Allergy Notes). I’ve put both full references below.
Latex allergy became widely recognized in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The increase in latex allergies cases is felt to be associated with the increase use of latex gloves and implementation of universal precautions (now known as standard precautions) in the 1980s.
Management of possible or confirmed latex allergic patients begin with history and suspicion:
All patients who present for surgical procedures or exams which require latex gloves (pelvic exam, dental exams, etc) should be questioned about possible latex allergy.
Patients at highest risk include those who Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
