May 13th, 2010 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research
Tags: Accurate, Cyberspace, Dave deBronkart, Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-Patient Connection, Doctors, E-Patients, Educate, Emotional Support, Empowered Patients, Evidence-Based Social Media, Face-To-Face, Family Medicine, Gavin O'Malley, General Medicine, Health 2.0, Healthcare Consumers, Healthcare Social Media, Informational Support, Internal Medicine, Internet, Jerome Groopman, MediaPost News, Medical Technology, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Nurses, Obsolete Doctors, Online Health Communities, Online Health Information, Pamela Hartzband, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Personal Interaction, Phased Out, Physician-Patient Bond, Primary Care, Reliable, Social Health Media, Social Media Platform, Social Media Sites, Social Networking, Spoken Conversation, Web
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A patient apologized to me for asking so many questions. “There’s no need to apologize,” I said to the patient, “It’s wonderful that you have so many questions concerning your healthcare.” I mentioned to her that she is an “empowered and engaged patient,” and that’s a good thing.
It’s no secret that health consumers are turning to the Internet for health information.
In a recent article from MediaPost News, Gavin O’Malley writes that, according to new a study by Epsilon Strategic & Analytic Consulting Group, “40% of online consumers use social media for health information — reading or posting content — while the frequency of engagement varies widely. According to the study, individuals who use healthcare social media fall into two broad groups: the 80% who are highly engaged patients, and take active roles in health management; and the 20% who lack confidence to play an active role in their own health.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
May 13th, 2010 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: Abused Science, Bind Endogenous Opiates, Biology, Bogus, Clinical Applications, Clinical Use, Cutting-Edge Science, Endorphins, Enkephalins, Evidence Based Medicine, General Medicine, Heroine, Internal Medicine, LDN, Low-Dose Naltrexone, Medical Revolution, Morphine, Narcotics, Opiate Addiction, Opiate Drugs, Opiate Receptors, Opiate Toxicity, Pharmacology, Primary Care, Pseudomedicine, Pseudoscience, Public Health, Reduce Pain, Research Claims, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Unscientific Medicine
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On SBM we have documented the many and various ways that science is abused in the pursuit of health (or making money from those who are pursuing health). One such method is to take a new, but reasonable, scientific hypothesis and run with it, long past the current state of the evidence. We see this with the many bogus stem cell therapy clinics that are popping up in parts of the world with lax regulation.
This type of medical pseudoscience is particularly challenging to deal with, because there is a scientific paper trail that seems to support many of the claims of proponents. The claims themselves may have significant plausibility, and parts of the claims may in fact be true. Efforts to educate the public about such treatments are frustrated by the mainstream media’s lazy tendency to discuss every study as if it were the definitive last word on a topic, and to site individual experts as if they represent the consensus of scientific opinion.
Recent claims made for low-dose naltrexone (LDN) fit nicely into this model –- a medical intervention with interesting research, but in a preliminary phase that does not justify clinical use. And yet proponents talk about it as if it’s a medical revolution. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
May 13th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Antigen-Presenting Cells, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Dermal Patches, Immune Response, Infectious Disease, Influenza, Internal Medicine, Mark Kendall, Microscopic Injections, Nanopatch, Needle and Syringe, Pandemic, Skin, Swine Flu, University of Queensland, Vaccination, Vaccine Delivery, Vaccine Dosage, Vaccine Efficiency, vaccine safety
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Professor Mark Kendall of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and his team have been investigating a novel way to deliver vaccines.
Their method makes use of nanopatches, which are fingernail-sized dermal patches with microscopic projections on their surface that hand vaccine off directly to the antigen-presenting cells just below the surface of the skin.
The scientists’ recent work in mice has shown that an immune response equivalent to that achievable by needle and syringe can be reached using 100 times less vaccine. Not only does the nanopatch appear to be a more effective delivery method, it’s also cheaper to produce and doesn’t require refrigeration, adjuvants or multiple doses. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
May 12th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Research
Tags: Busy, Doctor-Patient Communication, Emails, Face-To-Face, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medicare, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Patient Outreach, Physician Productivity, Physician Responsibility, Primary Care Crisis, Primary Care Doctors, Primary Care Medicine, Primary Care Shortage, Private Health Insurers, Telephone Calls, Uncompensated Care, Undocumented Tasks
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There’s been a lot of commentary on a recent article from the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing the undocumented tasks that a typical primary care physician performs.
For those who haven’t read the piece, entitled, What’s Keeping Us So Busy in Primary Care? A Snapshot from One Practice, it’s available free at the NEJM website. I highly recommend it.
To summarize, primary care doctors are responsible for much more than seeing patients in the exam room. In the cited practice, which has a fairly typical makeup, physicians were responsible for an average of over 23 telephone calls and 16 e-mails per day. Many practices don’t engage their patients over e-mail, so it’s conceivable that the number of telephone calls is lower than average here. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
May 11th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Artificial Reproductive Technology, bad baby, Columbia Medical Center, Delivering Too Early, Doctors, Early Deliveries, Family Medicine, Gestation, Infants, Medical Indication, Medical Intervention, Multiple Births, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Older Moms, Patient Safety, Physicians, Premature Baby, Preterm Births, Preventive Healthcare, Preventive Medicine, Primary Care, SMFM, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
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Babies born between the 34th and 36th week have more complications and cost the U.S. $26 billion annually. These children have more risk of death, cerebral palsy, cognitive impairment, or respiratory problems.
In the United States, nearly 13% of infants are born before they reach 37 weeks gestation. According to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), that rate is much higher than other developed nations, and physicians may be partially to blame for the early deliveries.
Some of the reasons may be older moms or the increased use of artificial reproductive technology and multiple births, but some physicians are choosing to deliver between 34 and 37 weeks even when there is no clear medical indication. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
