December 31st, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
No Comments »
#1 Doctor: Resolve to let patients speak without interruption and describe their symptoms.
Patient: Resolve to focus on the problem I am seeing the doctor about and not come with a list of 10 complaints for a 15-minute office visit.
#2 Doctor: Resolve to keep a pleasant tone of voice when answering night and weekend phone calls from the answering service, patients, or nurses.
Patient: Resolve to get my prescriptions filled during office hours, not forget my medications while traveling, and to use night and weekend phone calls for emergencies only.
#3 Doctor: Resolve to exercise a minimum of four times a week for better health.
Patient: Ditto.
#4 Doctor: Resolve to train my staff and model excellent customer service for patients.
Patient: Resolve to understand that getting an instant referral, prescription, note for jury duty, or letter to my insurance company from my doctor is not my God-given right and I will stop [complaining] if it doesn’t happen the day I request it. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
December 26th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
No Comments »
We now have another condition that may be prevented by eating a healthy diet, exercising, and abstaining from smoking: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Macular degeneration causes a loss of central vision and makes it difficult to recognize faces and read small print. The macula degenerates with age and severe macular degeneration causes blindness. Treatment is costly and doesn’t work very well.
A new study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology looked at 1,313 women aged 55 to 74 years. They reviewed their diet and exercise habits. Eating a “healthy diet” meant 3.5 servings of fruit and vegetables, 2.3 servings of dairy, 2.7 ounces of meet and 3.5 servings of grain a day. Exercise habits and smoking history were also monitored. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
December 12th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
1 Comment »
The Oregon Health and Science University has published its fifth report card since 2000. It grades and ranks the United States on 26 health-status indicators for women. In 2010, not one state received an overall “satisfactory” grade for women’s health, and just two states — Vermont and Massachusetts — received a “satisfactory-minus” grade. Overall, the nation is so far from meeting the goals set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that it receives an overall grade of “unsatisfactory.”
The national report card uses status indicators to assess women’s health:
Women’s access to healthcare services (medically under-served area, no abortion provider, no health insurance and first trimester prenatal care)
Wellness (screening mammograms, colorectal cancer, pap smears, cholesterol)
Prevention (leisure time physical activity, obesity, eating five fruits and veggies/day, binge drinking, annual dental visits, smoking)
Key conditions (coronary heart disease death rate, lung cancer death, stroke death, breast cancer death)
Chronic conditions (high blood pressure, diabetes, AIDS, arthritis, osteoporosis)
Reproductive health (chlamydia, maternal mortality, unintended pregnancies)
Mental health
Violence against women
Infant mortality rate
Life expectancy
Poverty
High school completion
Wage gap
The score on these varied status indicators fluctuated depending upon which state a woman lives. California and New Jersey ranked highest on state health policies, while Idaho and South Dakota ranked last on policies. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
December 1st, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
No Comments »
You can’t do anything about your genes, but here’s a formula for good health — simplified:
0 Cigarettes
5 Servings of fruits and vegetables a day
10 Minutes of silence or relaxation a day
30 Body mass index (BMI) below
150 Minutes of exercise a week
You knew this already, but are you really doing it?
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
November 24th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
No Comments »
New clinical trials and published research are giving us information on how to improve health in elderly patients. Here are some brief points from the Cleveland Journal of Medicine that were surprising to me:
— Each year 30 percent of people age 65 or older fall and sustain serious injuries so preventing falls and fractures is important. Vitamin D prevents both falls and fractures, but mega doses of Vitamin D (50,000 mg) might cause more falls. A better dose is 1,000mg a day in people who consume a low-calcium diet.
— Exercise boosts the effect of influenza vaccine.
— The benefits of dialysis in older patients is uncertain, as it does not improve function in people over age 80. We don’t even know if it improves survival. Older patients who receive dialysis for kidney failure had a decline in function (eating, bed mobility, ambulation, toileting, hygiene, and dressing) after starting treatment.
— Colinesterase inhibitors (Aricept, Razadyne and Exelon) are commonly used to treat Alzheimer disease, but they all can have serious side effects. Syncope (fainting), hip fractures, slow heart rate, and the need for permanent pacemaker insertion were more frequent in people taking these drugs. The benefits of these drugs on cognition is modest.
— A new drug called Pradaxa (dabigatran) will likely prove to be safer than Coumadin (warfarin). Over two million adults have atrial fibrillation and the median age is 75. The blood thinner warfarin is critical for prevention of strokes but it caries a high risk of bleeding and drug levels have to be monitored frequently. Dabigatran will probably replace warfarin, but it will probably also be a lot more expensive.
As I often say, medicine and science are constantly changing and evolving. As new evidence comes forth, physicians and patients need to re-evaluate they way we do things.
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
