July 16th, 2011 by Medgadget in News
No Comments »
Clinicians at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden are reporting that they successfully performed the world’s first implantation of a synthetic trachea. The organ was created from a biocompatible scaffold that was seeded with the 36 year old patient’s own stem cells inside a Harvard Bioscience bioreactor.
The patient had been suffering from late stage tracheal cancer. Despite maximum treatment with radiation therapy, the tumor had reached approximately 6 cm in length and was extending to the main bronchus. It was progressing and almost completely blocked the trachea. Since no suitable donor windpipe was available, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
July 16th, 2011 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
Every day in the news, you hear about the United States federal budget and the potential political complications if something is done or if nothing is done. And every day in the news you hear about possible cuts in Medicare. What you don’t know is that some cuts in Medicare can significantly impact the training of future Family Physicians. What do I mean by this? Well, did you know that residency programs are paid Medicare funds (called Graduate Medical Education funds) going to hospitals? Check out this great article about how residency programs are funded.
So, let’s play this out with its potential complications for Family Medicine. If GME funds are cut as they are proposed, then many hospitals with only one residency program (usually a Family Medicine program), may be forced to close the program – thereby decreasing the number of Family Physicians being trained. In those hospitals with multispecialty programs (like large university hospitals), cuts in GME funding would force hospitals to cut their Family Medicine residency slots in favor of more specialty residency slots, which are more lucrative for hospitals. Again, this would decrease the number of Family Physicians being trained.
With GME funding being cut, there are two other disturbing possibilities that may happen. First, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Family Medicine Rocks Blog - Mike Sevilla, MD*
July 16th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Opinion
No Comments »
Come on people… you know what I am talking about. Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor… after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up. Yes the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. But you aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high satisfaction scores. After all who wants to upset their doctor? But admit it; you have wondered if there isn’t a doctor out there that would be a better fit with you. I know I have.
Doctors probably feel the same way about many of their patients. It can’t be easy everyday trying to help patients that don’t seem to want to help themselves… or who want a quick fix from a bottle of pills. Not to mention patients who habitually miss their appointments and are generally non-compliant.
How Would Changing Doctor’s Help? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
July 16th, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Opinion
No Comments »
Dr. Maureen Goldman talks about self-disclosure for psychiatrists and brings the topic up in the context of Marsha Linehan’s recent announcement that she was treated for a psychiatric disorder as a teenager.
In Clinical Psychiatry News, Dr. Goldman notes:
Psychiatric care and psychotherapy are different from the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship, where the mutual sharing of personal experience is an integral part of helping people maintain sobriety. I believe that there is middle ground between disclosing personal information and presenting myself as a blank slate. In my practice, I show myself to be a real person. I make mistakes and admit them. I joke about my poor bookkeeping skills and inferior technological skills. I look things up during sessions if necessary, and I tell patients when I need to do research or consult with a colleague. I treat them as real people, too, not just as patients.
I do not, however, share my own story. Mostly, I think that I can help people feel heard, understood, and known, and create a therapeutic plan without personal disclosure. I communicate that “I get it” without being clear that “I really get it.”
I cannot speculate about the motivation behind Dr. Linehan’s decision to allow her mental health history to be chronicled in the New York Times. The story was a very public disclosure, and in that way quite different from a disclosure made in the context of a one-on-one, doctor-patient therapeutic relationship.
We’ve talked in detail about self-disclosure before, and specifically about whether psychiatrists should tell their patients if they’ve suffered from a psychiatric disorder. See Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
July 15th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
No Comments »
If you live in New Hampshire, or some other state that is withdrawing Planned Parenthood funding, you may need to find an alternate source of affordable birth control, at least until the states get their heads screwed back on straight. In the meantime, please, don’t stop your birth control because you think you can’t afford it – the costs of not using it are much, much higher.
But what can you do to make the choice to use birth control even more cost effective?
Birth Control Pills
- Buy them cheap locally. Walmart, Target and Kroger sell very low priced birth control pills – only $4 to $9 a pack. It’s only a few brands (Trinessa, Sprintec and Trisprintec), but ask your doctor if it makes sense to switch if cost is a barrier for you.
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
