Better Health: Smart Health Commentary Better Health (TM): smart health commentary

Latest Posts

WAY2GO: New Online Health Assessment For Teens

WAY2GO logo

The Wellness Assessment for Youth to Get Organized! (WAY2GO!) is an online survey for teens that asks questions about their nutrition, exercise, sexual, safety, substance use, emotional and social health, and provides an immediate individually-tailored report with resources.

The report also links teens to free Vive health coaching that teens can use to develop a personal wellness plan that includes regular messages sent to their computer or cellphone to support their health goals (e.g., remembering medication, packing a lunch, not using the computer for more than an hour at a time, etc.) Read more »

This post, WAY2GO: New Online Health Assessment For Teens, was originally published on Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..

Descriptive Charting And The Physical Exam

Our relatively new electronic medical record (EMR) product has prompts and clicks for everything imaginable. One of them, which we can use during the physical exam, is the long list of “constitutional” findings that we perceive on generally looking over the patient.

They include things like: Obviously ill, comfortable, uncomfortable, pale, well-nourished, well-hydrated, well-dressed, alert, chronically ill, contracted, emaciated — and so on.

But these descriptors don’t always cut it. I mean, people are both amazing and annoying, so why not add a few more to the list? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*

Middle Ground For Healthcare Reform

Partisan rancor was one of the signatures of the recent healthcare reform debate. Can middle ground actually be sought? That’s a question that Eric Segall asks in a recent AOL News op-ed. As is the case in Washington, both sides are to blame. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Bartering For Medical Care: A Chicken For A Checkup?

In the annals of “Things You Probably Wish You Hadn’t Said,” Sue Lowden, the Republican candidate to replace Nevada Senator Harry Reid, suggested last week that bartering for medical care was a workable substitute for the Affordable Care Act, which she is campaigning to repeal.

Surprisingly, after being called out and roundly mocked for the suggestion, she doubled down on the idea:

“You know, before we all started having healthcare, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say, ‘I’ll paint your house.'” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*

Should Doctors Retire At A Certain Age?

Many people like to make a comparison between the airline industry and the medical industry when it comes to protocols.

Is there a maximum age restriction for commercial pilots in the United States? Yes, there is. In 2007, Congress raised the age of forced retirement for commercial pilots from 60 to 65 years old.

In light of that, should physicians be forced to retire after a certain age as well? Should we trust our health to the abilities of a physician who is 70, 75, 80 years or older? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*

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…

Read more »

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…

Read more »

See all interviews »

Latest Cartoon

See all cartoons »

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…

Read more »

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…

Read more »

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…

Read more »

See all book reviews »

Commented - Most Popular Articles