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Baby Boomers Are Bypassing Primary Care

Office-based practices are focusing increasingly on patients 45 and older, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2008, those 45 and older accounted for 57 percent of all office visits, compared to 49 percent in 1998. Prescriptions, scans and time spent with the doctor also became increasingly concentrated on those middle aged and older, according to data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Also, physician visits increasingly concentrated on medical and surgical specialists and less on care provided by primary care practitioners for those ages 45 and older. Furthermore, for patients ages 65 and older, the percentage of visits to primary care specialists decreased from 62 percent to 45 percent from 1978 to 2008, while the percentage of visits to physicians with a medical or surgical specialty increased from 37 percent to 55 percent. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*

Glucose Monitor: From On The Belt To In The Belly?

Researchers led by bioengineering professor David Gough at the University of California-San Diego have reported, in a paper in Science Translational Medicine, that they implanted a wireless telemetry continuous glucose monitor (CGM) in two pigs (222 and 520 days, respectively) and the device was successfully reporting glucose levels to an external receiver.

Following human testing and FDA approval, devices such as these could replace similar systems that are external to the body with a needle attachment that pierces the skin to take measures. Combined with potential transdermal or intranasal insulin administration, this technology could lead to less sticking and poking of people with diabetes. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

A Doctor’s Letter To Patients With Chronic Disease

Dear Patients:

You have it very hard — much harder than most people understand. Having sat for 16 years listening to the stories, seeing the tiredness in your eyes, hearing you try to describe the indescribable, I have come to understand that I, too, can’t understand what your lives are like. How do you answer the question, “How do you feel?” when you’ve forgotten what “normal” feels like? How do you deal with all of the people who think you are exaggerating your pain, your emotions, your fatigue? How do you decide when to believe them or when to trust your own body? How do you cope with living a life that won’t let you forget about your frailty, your limits, your mortality?

I can’t imagine.

But I do bring something to the table that you may not know. I do have information that you can’t really understand because of your unique perspective, your battered world. There is something that you need to understand that, while it won’t undo your pain, make your fatigue go away, or lift your emotions, it will help you. It’s information without which you bring yourself more pain than you need suffer. It’s a truth that is a key to getting the help you need much easier than you have in the past. It may not seem important, but trust me — it is. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*

In Their Own Words: Diabeticons By Kids

Some of the most inspiring moments from the “Friends for Life” International Children With Diabetes conference were found in the expo hall, where kids were creating their own diabeticons. These are two that I absolutely loved:


“Let the sun rise on a cure, let the sun set on diabetes.”


“Love your life with or without diabetes.”

Now I need to figure out how to use that Bamboo so I can doctor up my own diabeticons at home. (Siah has asked for one that says “I love pump tubing!” Because oh, does she. She loves that chewy, Band-Aid taste.)

[Animas disclosure]

*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*

Fake Cures For Diabetes

KERRI walks to the center of the living room and sits down on the couch, across from SIAH, who is sitting in the corner, staring aimlessly at the wall.

KERRI

Oh Siah, I just received an email!  About a chocolate shake with glucose-reducing powers!  And how, if I purchase the family pack of chocolate powder mix, I’ll get a free personal blender and I will also be cured of my diabetes!

SIAH

(blinks)  Meow?

KERRI

I know!  Diabetes cures apparently are everywhere.  Even in my spice rack, because it seems that just a spoonful of cinnamon, added to every meal and smeared on my face like Noxema, will help me achieve good blood sugar control.  Man, if only I had known that these diabetes cures were there the whole time!

Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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