June 26th, 2010 by AndrewSchorr in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Andrew Schorr, Apps, Books on the Internet, Electronic Books, Empowering Patients, Health-Conscious Consumers, Healthcare Consumers, iPhone IV, Multi-Format, Multi-Media, New York Publishing World, Non-Fiction, Online Books, Online Health World, Patient Empowerment, Patient Power, Print Publishing, Smartphones, Technology Gap, The Web Savvy Patient, Web-Based Publishing
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The book publishing world, largely based in New York City, is in trouble. The fragmentation of the market by electronics large and small has chopped former readers into so many pieces. How can a publisher make a blockbuster buck anymore? The answer may come in translations of Swedish fiction from a newly-found novelist, now dead, to non-fiction ghostwritten for a face everyone knows from the evening news.
In a whirlwind face-to-face series of meeting with publishers on a very recent sunny Tuesday in Manhattan, I got a glimpse of their angst and did my best to convince them that a book — yes, even all sorts of electronic versions and in-the-palm-of-your-hand “apps” — could make them boatloads of money and do the right thing for America’s healthcare consumer (just maybe such a work could be translated into Swedish and do good there in a return of the favor literary effort). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
June 26th, 2010 by Jeffrey Benabio, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
Tags: beach, Dermatology, DermDoc, Dr. Jeff Benabio, Equator, High Altitude, Limiting Sun Exposure, Mirrored Lake, Mountains, Outdoor Medicine, Skin Cancer Prevention, Sun's Intensity, Sun's Rays, Sunburn, Sunlight, Ultraviolet Light, Ultraviolet Radiation, UV Exposure
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While vacationing in Idaho and Montana last week (blissfully off the grid), I experienced something beautiful: altitude. At 6,260 feet Stanley, Idaho is a mile higher than my home in San Diego. The skies there were a brilliant blue. There was daylight well after 10PM. The mornings were a chilly 35 degrees. And I got sunburned.
How can this be? Montana is over 1,000 miles north of San Diego. Shouldn’t the sun be stronger down here? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Dermatology Blog*
June 24th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: Chronic Pain, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Emergency Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pain Crisis, Pain Killers, Pain Medication, Pain Relief, Pain Scale, Pain-O-Meter, Primary Care, Rational Science, Science Based Medicine, Science In Medicine, Treatment of Pain
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Every day in the emergency department I am confronted by pain. In fact, the treatment of pain is one of the most important skills emergency physicians, indeed all physicians, possess.
For instance, I recently cared for a child with sickle cell disease who was having a pain crisis which involved severe leg pain. His life is one of frequent, intense pain. I gently, and repeatedly, treated his pain with morphine until he had relief. I see hip fractures; all broken bones hurt. I am thrilled to alleviate that discomfort. Pain is one of the things I can fix, if only temporarily. It makes me happy to see the relaxed face of a man or woman with a kidney stone or migraine, who suddenly smiles and says “thanks!”
But pain is also the source of so much subterfuge. Emergency department are full of individuals who use controlled substances for recreation. I know because they have pain that is entirely unverifiable. They have terrible right flank pain with no gall-bladder, no pancreatitis, no kidney stone (documented by CT), no pneumonia or rash. They have nothing to cause the pain. And yet, dose after dose of narcotic later, snoring in their ER stretcher, they look up at me with hazy eyes and say, thickly, “Cann I gettt somethinn elsss for paaiin…it hurtssss so…bad. zzzz. Itzzz a tennn.”
So I began to wonder about science and the pain scale. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
June 23rd, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-Patient Encounter, Encouraging Medical Students, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Less Is More In Medicine, Medicare Cut, Patient-Doctor Relationship, Primary Care, Too Much Medicine, Unnecessary Procedures
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He came in for his regular blood pressure and cholesterol check. On the review of systems sheet he circled “depression.”
“I see you circled depression,” I said after dealing with his routine problems. “What’s up?”
“I don’t think I am actually clinically depressed, but I’ve just been finding it harder to get going recently,” he responded. “I can force myself to do things, but I’ve never have had to force myself.”
“I noticed that you retired recently. Do you think that has something to do with your depression?” I asked.
“I’m not really sure. I don’t feel like it makes me depressed. I was definitely happy to stop going to work.”
I have taken care of him for many years, and know him to be a solid guy. “I have seen this in a lot in men who retire. They think it’s going to be good to rest, and it is for the first few months. But after a while, the novelty wears off and they feel directionless. They don’t want to spend the rest of their lives entertaining themselves or completing the ‘honey do’ list, but they don’t want to go back to work either.”
He looked up and me, “Yeah, I guess that sounds like me.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
June 23rd, 2010 by AlanDappenMD in Better Health Network, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
Tags: DocTalker Family Medicine, Dr. Alan Dappen, House Calls, Medicine and Religion, Primary Care Wednesdays
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A few weeks back, I had introduced a patient who was willing to let her religious beliefs stand in the way of receiving the proper medical treatment she needed to stay alive. I want to revisit with you this dying patient, who hadn’t known me or any doctor for over 30 years.
As the rest of the family, who were not as committed to a religious path, stood by her expectantly, I said to her: “I had a brother who was a true believer in the power of God and that faith could heal all things or be called God’s will. Like you, he was a competent adult in charge of his decisions. He wouldn’t listen to anyone else — not his wife, father, mother, children, brother — not even me, the doctor. He died two years ago, leaving behind 10 children and a wife who depended on him. We all believe he died unnecessarily.
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