June 1st, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Childhood Diseases, Children, Childrens Healthcare, E-Patients, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Health 2.0, In A Bubble, Individual Empowerment, Internal Medicine, Internet, kids, Online Health Information, Online Reverbosphere Of Opinion, Patient Empowerment, Pediatrics, Personal Health Decisions, Primary Care, Social Health, Social Health Activities, World Wide Web
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I regularly talk to my patients’ parents about social health. What parents do, what they think, and how they socially experience their child’s health problems has become an interest of mine.
I can hear it now: “Of course patients won’t discuss their social health activities with you, you’re a doctor.” Perhaps, but I don’t think so. Actually, I’ve had some very interesting open dialog with a few of my long-term patient-parents. Many have children suffering with chronic diseases such as Crohn’s disease, eosinophilic enteropathy, and the like. The relationships I cultivate are open, and the nature of my dialog has been just as consistently open as other aspects of our relationship.
Interestingly, while nearly all have used online search to understand their disease, most have never connected with other disease sufferers in the online space. The concept of crowdsourcing is met with puzzled looks. Sure they’re e-patients, but I would characterize most of my patients as e-patients. The question is: What does that really mean? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
May 31st, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Book Reviews, True Stories
Tags: Army Nurse, Army Reservist, Army Surgeon, Battle-Zone Care, Col. Susan Luz, Combat Medicine, Dr. Dave Hnida, Family Medicine, Family Physician, Iraq, MASH, Paradise General, The Nightingale of Mosul, Wall Street Journal, Wartime Medicine
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When Americans think about wartime medicine, “MASH” reruns and the comic antics of Hot Lips Houlihan and Hawkeye Pierce are likely to come to mind. A decidedly more authentic view can be found in “Paradise General” and “The Nightingale of Mosul,” books by a real-life Army surgeon, Dr. Dave Hnida, and an Army nurse, Col. Susan Luz. Both authors served in Iraq during some of the bloodiest days of the war in 2006 and 2007.
At an age when people often retire from the military, 48-year-old Dr. Hnida, a family physician in Littleton, Colo., volunteered for service, answering the Army’s call for doctors. Col. Luz was a 56-year-old Army reservist—her previous tours had included delivering babies for military families stationed in Germany and bringing humanitarian aid to South America—when she was deployed to active duty in the bloody urban 
battleground of Mosul.
— via Book Review: Paradise General; The Nightingale of Mosul – WSJ.com.
So, my summer book list is set.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
May 29th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Announcements, Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: ABEM, ACEP, American Board of Emergency Medicine, American College of Emergency Physicians, Cardiac Procedure, Cardiology, Clinician, Dr. Carol Rivers, Dr. Pam Bensen, ED, Educator, Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Room Doctors, ER, Founder, Medical Board Exams, Passed Away, Ventral Septal Myomectomy
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To those who haven’t heard, an icon of emergency medicine has passed away.
Carol Rivers, M.D. died last week following a cardiac procedure. Carol was an outstanding clinician and educator, and one of the founders of modern emergency medicine as we’re fortunate to know it today.
Carol was perhaps best known for her board preparation guides, which helped many a terrified physician to navigate his or her emergency medicine board exams. I know her expertise helped me when I took my first American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) exam. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 29th, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Advice For Parents, Andy Rooney, Career Choice, Career Path, CBS News, Childhood, College Education, College Students, College Years, Family Medicine, High School Graduates, High School Seniors, High Schoolers, Life Choice, Life Transition, Life's Amibitions, New Independence, Parenting, Parenting Behavior, Personal Choices, Quality Education, Rite Of Passage, Teenagers, teens, Young Adults
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It’s here again: High school graduation season — that annual rite of passage for high schoolers coast to coast to embark upon that much-anticipated journey from home to that first true independent step outside the safety net of their childhood communities.
What always amazes me is the pressure high school kids feel as they embark upon this journey and how often I hear these kids express anxiety over not knowing what they want to be “when they grow up.” And, let’s not forget that we are still talking about kids — these are still teenagers, still developing and maturing. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
May 29th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
Tags: Blood Sugar Check, Breastfeeding, Dexcom, Diabetes, Diabetic Mommy, Endocrinology, Glucose Control, Glucose Management, Glucose Meter, Glucose Tablets, Insulin Pump, Newborn, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Pediatrics, Test Strips
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You know you’re a diabetic mommy when…
- The bottle of glucose tabs is just as important as the bottle of breast milk in the diaper bag.
- You have already started wondering how you’re going to explain juice as “medicine” to the kiddo.
- When you wake up for 3am feedings and they double as a 3am blood sugar check.
- You start cooing sweetly at your meter when it gives you a result of 100 mg/dl. (“Oooh, what a good meter you are! Yes you are!”)
- Your baby ends up with a dot of blood on the back of her pajamas from your middle-of-the-night blood sugar check that didn’t stop bleeding right away.
- When you talk about “the pump,” you need to clarify “the insulin one, not the boob one.”
- Sometimes you have to draw numbers to see who gets to feed the baby. And by “draw” we mean blood samples.
- Nothing makes you happier than a full baby with a clean diaper and a full pump with a full battery.
- You need a diaper bag just for diabetes supplies.
- Your bedside table has just as many burp clothes as used test strips gathered at its base.
And when the Dexcom starts to “BEEEEEEEP!” you wonder if it needs a diaper change.
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
