June 16th, 2010 by SteveSimmonsMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
2 Comments »
I believe that those controlling the purse strings are steering modern medicine towards the practice of seeing patients more as the sum of their medical problems than as individual people. Patients have become streams of data as opposed to real human lives.
Consider the dynamics of a family: a wife may worry about her husband while their child adores a father she instinctively knows to be irreplaceable. Modern medicine, however, may only see a diabetic with hypertension and a cholesterol-level running too high. The computers programmed for those advocating the power of data to revolutionize medicine would boil this man down to his “meaningful” essence — numbers, for the above imaginary man: 250.00, 401.0, and 272.0. Read more »
June 15th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
1 Comment »
This week the FDA will vote on flibanserin, the much-talked-about drug for women with the condition called hypoactive sexual desire disorder or — because everything in sexual health needs an acronym like ED or PE — HSDD.
On the eve of the FDA vote, CBS last week ran still another story about flibanserin. This drug has received so much news coverage, you’d think it cures cancer.
And CBS did little more than promote the hype even more, saying FDA approval “could translate into a $2 billion market in this country alone” and then failing to challenge the disease-mongering estimate of “10 percent to 30 percent of women” with this condition. It all just goes along with the drug company’s efforts to build a demand before the drug is even approved. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
June 15th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
No Comments »
In the continuing effort to make surgery less invasive, physicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital are operating on the brain through a tiny incision in one of the eyelids instead of lifting a large piece of the skull.
Named transpalpebral orbitofrontal craniotomy, the procedure allows for access to the middle and front regions of the brain. The cranial cavity is reached through a hole created by removing a small, half-inch to one-inch-square section of skull bone right above the eyebrow. Endoscopic surgery can then be performed with help of previously obtained CT and MRI data. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
June 15th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
Quiz: What does the term “meaningful use” mean?
A. Using something in a way that gives life purpose and leads to carefree days of glee.
B. It depends on your definition of the word “term.”
C. It’s not mean. It’s really nice.
D. A large number of rules created by the government to assess a practice’s use of electronic medical records (EMRs) so that they can spur adoption, give criteria for incentive rewards, and have physicians in a place where care can be measured.
E. Job security for those making money off of health IT.
The answer, of course, is D and E. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
June 15th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
No Comments »
I “preach” sunscreen use to my family, friends, and patients. I do this because sunscreen helps prevent skin cancers, but in light of the recent President’s Cancer Panel report on Cancers from Environment ‘Grossly Underestimated’ and concerns by the group Friends of the Environment, I thought perhaps I should look at the safety of the active chemicals/nanoparticles in sunscreens.
You need both UVA and UVB protection. It is the UVA rays that are most responsible for wrinkling and aging the skin. It is the UVB rays that are the most responsible for the sunburn and skin cancer formation.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), sunscreens should ideally be water-resistant, so they cannot be easily removed by sweating or swimming, and should have an SPF of 30 or higher that provides broad-spectrum coverage against both UVA and UVB light. I think it is not worthwhile to purchase any sunscreen with an SPF higher than 55. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
