April 23rd, 2011 by Steven Roy Daviss, M.D. in Research
Tags: Misleading, Mojtabai, NYT, Olfson, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Statistics
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This month’s Psychiatric Times continues the discussion [registration required š ] about the NY Times article on psychotherapy that Dinah and readers discussed on April 9. This time, our colleague, Ron Pies MD, authored this article which deconstructs the myths perpetrated in the NYT article, which interviewed a med check doctor who found it “sad” that his patients found him to be important to them in their lives (read the article for the full flavor).
I’m glad that Ron pointed out (as we have) that the 2008 Mojtabai and Olfson article — which implied that only 11% of US outpatient psychiatrists provide psychotherapy — was a misleading statistic. Why? Because they did not consider brief psychotherapy sessions (30 minutes or less) to be classified as “psychotherapy” for their session. Thus, a 90807 (45-50 min) is considered psychotherapy, but a 90805 (20-30 min) would not be considered so, even though the AMA’s CPT manual defines it as psychotherapy. Also, brief and supportive forms of psychotherapy are often given even when only a “med check” is billed. Nonetheless, the sound bite from that article has been: “Only 11% of psychiatrists do psychotherapy”. It just ain’t true. As Mark Twain said,Ā “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.“—–
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
April 22nd, 2011 by Jennifer Wider, M.D. in Health Policy, Research
Tags: Abuse, Domestic Violence, Injury, Sexual Violence, STDs, United States, Violence Against Women, Women's Health
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Domestic violence knows no boundaries: cultural, socio-economic, religious, level of education, gender or age. It can occur in any relationship and to anyone, but especially to women. In fact, roughly 25 percent of women will become a victim at one time or another during her lifetime.
Abuse is defined as any act used to gain power and control over another person, which can take on many forms. It can include physical, sexual, emotional, economic, coercion, threats, isolation and/or intimidation.
Domestic violence is abuse that occurs within interpersonal relationships and has become one of the top public health issues facing women in the United States. It is a leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 14 and 44 in this country.
There are risk factors that may increase the likelihood that a person becomes a victim to domestic violence. These can include: history of violence or abuse in a past relationship, physical or mental disability, unemployment, poor living situation, substance abuse, unplanned pregnancy, recently separated or divorced, social isolation and witnessed abuse as a child. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR)*
April 20th, 2011 by IsisTheScientist in Research
Tags: 1600, Blood Flow, Cardiology, History, History of Medicine, Physiology, William Harvey
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These last several weeks I have been absolutely overwhelmed with science, meetings, writing, and reviews. I might complain, but I should also be flattered that I am as busy as I am. Mama is in demand, little muffin. Still, things are beginning to slow down to a tolerable level on my end, which means I will be back to blogging.
Today I was working on some writing when I had cause to review some historical texts. It gives me pause to stop and consider things that we take for granted. For example, think about how blood flows through the heart and lungs…
Figure 1: Blood flows from right to left, across the lungs.
I can’t tell you how many times a day I look at a heart andĀ take for granted that blood should flow from the venous circulation, into the right side of the heart, across the lungs, back to the left side of the heart, and out to the arterial circulation.Ā When all is right with the world, such is the way it should be.
But, we didn’t always know that. Ā Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess*
April 18th, 2011 by Medgadget in Research
Tags: Cardiology, Heart disease risk, Internal Medicine, Medicine, Micro-oximeter, Pulse Oximeter, Sleep, SOMNOcheck, Technology
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A study published in journal Chest has shown that novel intra-sleep pulse oxymetry can be an effective modality in identifying cardiovascular disease risk in patients. In the study, a modified version of Weinmann‘s SOMNOcheck micro oximeter was used to observe pulse wave attenuation, heart rate acceleration, pulse propagation times, as well as respiration-related pulse oscillations and oxygen desaturation episodes. All the collected data was analyzed by an algorithm, and the prognostic results were checked against European Society of Hypertension/European Society of Cardiology (ESH/ESC) risk factor matrix.
Some details from the study abstract: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
April 18th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
Tags: Choices, decision-making, Ethics, Patient Communication, Patient Information, Physicians As Patients
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Physicians recommend treatments with higher survival rates for their patients, but they make more mental mistakes when they are the patient and have to choose for themselves.
Psychologists know that when people make decisions for others, they are dispassionate enough to be less swayed by extraneous factors. Even toddlers make less impulsive decisions for others than they do for themselves.
Researchers surveyed general internists and family medicine specialists about two scenarios, each with two treatment alternatives. Both outcomes involved a choice between surviving a fatal illness but with sometimes crippling outcomes. Physicians were randomized to groups in which they imagined themselves as the patient facing the decision, or in which they were recommending an option to a patient. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
