November 17th, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy
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By Rahul Parikh, MD
There is plenty to criticize in our bungling trek toward health reform. Leaders on the right, left and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have sidestepped the crucial conversation of controlling the cost of care, in favor of partisan rhetoric about “death panels” and “rationing care.” Worse, the entire focus of reform has centered on spending billions of dollars on technology solutions that will only make marginal changes in the cost and quality of care Americans get.
I want to refocus the debate on what matters most: relationships. Let’s reinvest in the sitting down with, listening to, empathizing with and touching patients. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
November 15th, 2009 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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As a parent, sometimes it is hard to know how our teens perceive us. We all want to be there for our children and have a great relationship with each of them, but sometimes they might not perceive our actions the same way we intend them to, so here is what a group of teens have to say about the perfect relationship with a parent. Just food for thought.
The perfect parent would …
- Male, age 18: Listen. Everything else hinges upon listening.
- Female, age 17: Be open to talk and understand me.
- Male, age 17: Talk, express what they want and show affection, not think affection is understood, or a given. Read more »
This post, Teens Describe Their Ideal Realtionship With A Parent, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
November 14th, 2009 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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I opened a fortune cookie the other day, expecting it to say something relatively nonsensical or meaningless, only to have it read:
“Money is not everything. You can buy a doctor but not heath.”
This fortune tells the story of more people than most of us can count, including ourselves at times. All too often we fall into trap of thinking that the more we spend on health the healthier we will become. Not true. In fact, good health is a state of mind and need not cost more than time for exercise, time to give ourselves the R&R we need to nurture our souls, the price of food to eat for proper weight and overall good health, and the occasional co-pay for our primary care physician and needed prescriptions.
We can toss money at vitamins, pricey health clubs, personal trainers, diets, alternative health treatments, doctors, second opinions, medications, prescription and nonprescription, as many people do, but those things can’t get us healthy. More times than not, they only produce the facade of good health. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr Gwenn Is In*
November 13th, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
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French and German scientists decided to analyze the crying of newborns from the two countries for differences in intonation. Turns out that German babies have a different “accent” to their cry compared with those from France, which implies that language learning perhaps begins even in the womb.
The analysis of crying conducted under the supervision of the psychologist Kathleen Wermke from the ZWES showed that the newborns tended to produce the intonation pattern most typical for their respective mother tongue. The crying patterns of the German infants mostly began loud and high and followed a falling curve while the French infants more often cried with a rising tone. This early sensitivity to features of intonation may later help the infants learn their mother tongue, the researchers say. “When they begin to form their first sounds, they can build on melodic patterns that are already familiar and, in this way, don’t have to start from scratch”, says the neuropsychologist. The evolutionary roots of this behaviour are older than the emergence of spoken language, the researchers believe. “The imitation of melodic patterns developed over millions of years and contributes to the mother-child bond” says Friederici.
Press release: Babies with an accent …
Abstract in Current Biology: Newborns’ Cry Melody Is Shaped by Their Native Language…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
November 13th, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
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What’s the deal with hospital stickers these days? I found this sticker laying around in Happy’s emergency department the other day. Should we be encouraging children to come to the emergency room and feeling happy and excited about the sticker they get? I’m not sure putting a happy robot on a sticker and proclaiming ones exciting visit to the emergency is the best public health policy. Perhaps we need to take a different course of action before another entire generation of citizens feel obliged to use the emergency department as their sole source of medical care. Perhaps instead of a hospital sticker, children in the emergency room would all get a saline injection in their shoulder. Now that’s the kind of memory you want kids to have of their emergency room visit. They should fear the hospital and do everything in their power to stay healthy as adults. Not feel giddy about happy robots on hospital stickers.
Do children get hospital stickers at your facility?
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
