September 28th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion
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It’s that time of year again. Children back at school. Football season is underway and baseball playoffs to start soon. The television networks are rolling out their new shows.
And it’s also time to think about getting flu shots. I just got mine today as I have done annually since going to medical school.
Compared to last year, there isn’t as much news about the flu or the flu vaccine. This year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gives clear guidelines that everyone aged 6 months and older should get the influenza vaccine.
This month the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all healthcare providers should be required to get the influenza vaccine.
And one fact that hasn’t gotten much attention is whether the 2009 H1N1 virus is included in the 2010-2011 vaccine: Is it? Yes, it is. This year’s vaccine will be as safe as vaccines in past years as the production process is unchanged. Inclusion of the 2009 H1N1 virus will not be a problem. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
September 25th, 2010 by JessicaBerthold in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
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A version of the following post, by Kimberly Manning, FACP, appeared on the blog “Life at Grady.”
“My blood pressure is still borderline? Man!”
“Yeah…and from looking through the chart, it was 150/96 on your admission. It’s pretty much been that since you’ve been here, give or take a few points. That’s a little more than borderline, actually.” I paused for a moment, realizing that I sounded a bit discouraging. “I don’t think this would be hard to get under control at all, sir. I mean…you’re such a motivated patient, you know?”
I studied my patient carefully. He was in his late thirties, although he could totally pass for a twenty-something all day, every day. His skin looked like someone had grabbed him by the tip of his toe and uniformly dipped him in milk chocolate — not a single blemish anywhere.
“I eat right and I exercise…in fact, I’m a health nut! I’m really kind of surprised that my pressure keeps running high.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
September 24th, 2010 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Quackery Exposed, Research
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(Guest post submitted by MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Aisles in grocery stores and pharmacies are stacked with vitamins, minerals, herbs or other plants that you take in pill, capsule, tablet or liquid form. And, many of us buy these supplements and take them regularly, hoping to lower our chances of getting cancer and other diseases.
But do supplements really work wonders? Should you take them to help prevent cancer? Our experts say beware.
“Don’t be fooled by the label on the bottle,” says Sally Scroggs, health education manager at MD Anderson’s Cancer Prevention Center. “Researchers are still unsure about whether or not supplements actually prevent cancer.” Some studies have suggested that supplements may actually increase cancer risk by tilting the balance of nutrients in the body. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
September 24th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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We think of chickenpox as a childhood disease, but there are adult cases and they tend to lead to more serious complications.
Chickenpox is caused by the varicella virus and it is extremely contagious. Most people are exposed in childhood (or they receive the chicken pox vaccine), and so adults rarely contract it. It is especially dangerous for pregnant women because the fetus can become infected. The latency period from infection exposure to disease is 10 to 21 days. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
September 23rd, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
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Last week, Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry smartphones, held a clinical collaboration summit in Boston to discuss their vision of the future of mobile device integration into healthcare IT. Several vendors and app makers attended and shared how they are implementing mobile devices into workflows with RIM claiming their superiority in security and data protection through data wiping, access control, and audit trail.
One claim that several speakers made was that hours per week could be saved by making clinical and logistical data available on smartphones and that studies have shown clinical information presented on a small screen can be used for mobile situation diagnostic ability, notably for ECG and OB data through companies like AirStrip. A few studies have backed parts of this claim, [including] a recent paper in the Journal of Hospital Medicine by Wu. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
