September 10th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Avoiding Preventive Screenings, Cervical Biopsies, Cervical Cancer Screening, Colposcopies, International Health Policy, Jade Goody, National Health Campaign, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Oncology, Pap Smears, Preventive Healthcare, Preventive Medicine, Public Health Initiative, WHO, Women's Health, World Health Organization
No Comments »
The Telegraph reports that the number of screening pap smears performed in the UK has declined after an 8 percent blip upwards in 2009 when publicity surrounding the death of Jade Goody from cervical cancer may have led more women to have this important screening test:
NHS laboratories processed 415,497 tests in 2009-2010, about 35,000 fewer than the previous year when 450,522. Miss Goody’s death in March last year prompted a 20 percent increase in the number of Scottish women taking tests. More than 122,000 were processed between April and June last year, the statistics revealed.
The irony of course, is that British reality TV star Jade Goody did have pap smears, but chose to ignore her doctor’s recommendations for treatment when her pap smears came back abnormal.
Nonetheless, the decline in pap smears has led NHS of Scotland to initiate a campaign to reach the up to 25 percent of young women who do not respond to invitations to have pap smears. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
September 10th, 2010 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research
Tags: American College of Cardiology, Athlete's Health, Athletic Screening Program, Dr. Douglas Zipes, ECG, Echocardiography, Electrocardiogram, Exercise-Induced Sudden Death, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Premature Death, Preventable Death, Preventive Medicine, Routine Cardiac Screening, Sports Medicine, Sudden Cardiac Death, The New York Times, Young Athletes
No Comments »
It’s the dog days of what seems to have been an unusually hot summer (though DrRich does not know whether it has been sufficiently warm to affect the global cooling trend we’ve been in for the past decade), and as is all too common at this time of year, we are seeing extraordinarily heartbreaking stories (like this one) about healthy, robust young athletes dying suddenly on the practice fields.
Most of these tragic sudden deaths are due to a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy often does not produce any symptoms prior to causing sudden death. But it can be easily diagnosed, before exercise-induced sudden death occurs, by screening young athletes with electocardiograms (ECGs) and echocardiography.
A couple of summers ago, the New York Times wrote about such an athletic screening program at the University of Tennessee. Based on the U of T’s results, “cardiologists and other heart experts say that the screenings could help save the lives of the 125 American athletes younger than 35 who die each year of sudden cardiac death.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
September 9th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Doctors' Pay, Family Medicine, Female Physicians, Gender Barrier In Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Salaries, Primary Care, Women In Life Sciences, Women In Medical School
No Comments »
It’s only a matter of time before female physicians outnumber men, say medical school heads who are seeing more women in their programs. Although women have broken the gender barrier in medicine, they may want to keep going into nursing, because nurse practitioner salaries grew faster than primary care physicians’ pay — nearly 5 percent compared to nearly 3 percent.
Physicians can take some comfort that their average pay is more — $191,000 compared to more than $85,000 — unless they’re women, who among all the life sciences average $13,000 less than their male counterparts in comparable positions and with similar experience. (WCSC TV, Fierce Practice Management, Academic Medicine)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
September 9th, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: Annals Of Internal Medicine, Attention To Needs Of Patients, Best Doctors, Doctors Under Time Pressure, Error-Free Care, Evan Falchuk, Failure to Individualize Care, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Less Time With Patients, Medical Errors, Not Enough Time For Patients, Patients And Time Starvation, Patients Starved For Time With The Doctor, Primary Care, Scarcity of Doctors' Time, Time Spent With Patients
No Comments »
If you’re into health care consumerism, you’ll enjoy my guest blog post at CDHC Solutions magazine. CDHC Solutions focuses on consumer-driven health plans. Consumer-driven plans are a form of “high deductible” health coverage that is more popular than ever. For whatever you want to say about these plans, one thing is clear: They don’t solve the fundamental problem of patients not having enough time with their doctors.
Here’s a taste of what I wrote:
Researchers have been trying to pinpoint the impact of this time starvation on the quality of medical care, and they’re finding disturbing results. A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that because of time pressures and related factors, doctors deliver “error-free” care as rarely as 22 percent of the time. The researchers called this a “failure to individualize care,” which is a nice way of saying the doctors just weren’t paying enough attention to the needs of their patients.
Read the whole blog post here.
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
September 9th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Defensive Medicine, Health Affairs, Health Courts, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare reform, Medical Malpractice, Medicine and Legal Issues, No-Fault Malpractice
No Comments »
Nothing polarizes the heath care debate more than defensive medicine. A recent study from Health Affairs will only add more fuel to the fire.
Here’s what I wrote a couple of years ago in USA Today: “When you consider that rampant testing is a major driver of escalating health care dollars, addressing defensive medicine should be a primary goal of cost containment.”
Is that still true? Well, yes and no. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
The Telegraph reports that the number of screening pap smears performed in the UK has declined after an 8 percent blip upwards in 2009 when publicity surrounding the death of Jade Goody from cervical cancer may have led more women to have this important screening test:
