March 12th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion
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RCentor has an interesting article on Sore Throats and Pharyngitis over at MedRants. He writes:
There is a new trend in pharyngitis that has taken hold amongst emergency physicians – the use of steroids to provide symptom relief.
I too have noticed this, and I completely agree with Dr Centor that while this is a highly effective treatment, it needs to be used with some caution. For our practice, this has been pushed by the ENTs. It has been our experience that when we see someone with a really bad sore throat or even with a peritonsillar abscess, 100% of the time the instruction from the ENTs has been to administer steroids. While the data is underwhelming (pain relief on average six hours quicker with steroids), the truth is that for a really bad case of tonsillitis, steroids work. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
March 10th, 2010 by AlanDappenMD in Primary Care Wednesdays
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Introduction: Here’s a recap of the scenario to date: Mrs. Doctor, a primary care physician is in marriage counseling to determine the fate of her marriage with Mr. Insurance. While she loves her career (medicine), dealing with Mr. Insurance’s increasingly abusive financial and administrative demands are crushing her soul. Yet leaving preferred provider protection guaranteed through the marriage would be devastating too. And Mrs. Doctor doesn’t want to lose her kids (the patients); decades of historical indicators show that 95% of kids (patients) stay with Mr. Insurance and refuse to see Mrs. Doctor ever again.
Last time, the therapist performed a therapeutic technique on Mrs. Doctor akin to psychological judo. When she claimed she was helpless under the power of Mr. Insurance’ ability to pay the bills, the therapist pointed out that Mrs. Doctor has many more powers than he does, including education and training as a doctor, the ability to order labs and meds, and the understanding and trust of each patient. Why, then, would she abandon the kids without a battle? Mr. Insurance wants nothing to do with the kids, and creates hundreds of games to reduce or eliminate his financial obligation to them.
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March 9th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Opinion
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The CDC has put out an interactive map of heart disease and stroke so you can compare your state or even county with the rest of the country. It offers data on mortality, hospitalizations and even penetration of generalist and subspecialist availability.
What I found interesting was the lack of definitive association between access to generalists or subspecialists and mortality. While rural areas with a low penetration of physicians generally had a higher mortality than urban centers, many urban centers with a high penetration of generalists and subspecialist also had a high mortality as well. One could presume that rural America has many factors separate and independent of health care that affects their mortality rate. The same could be said for urban America. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
March 7th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor
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Chaos theory – Noun – The branch of mathematics that deals with complex systems whose behavior is highly sensitive to slight changes in conditions, so that small alterations can give rise to strikingly great consequences.
Alternative definition:
Chaos theory – Noun – The branch of healthcare that deals with making the payment system increasingly complex and ever changing. This complexity and confusion impact physicians and patients in such a way that appropriate services in care of the patient are subject to rules and regulations that are deliberately complex, making alterations from the momentary rules inevitable. This exists so that even small alterations will free the insurance company from the responsibility to pay for said service.
I am no physicist, but I honestly think that a grasp and understanding of the first type of Chaos theory is more likely than that of the second. Let me give a demonstration of the second chaos theory in action: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
March 5th, 2010 by Dr. Val Jones in Audio, Expert Interviews, Interviews
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January is thyroid disease awareness month, and since an estimated 25 million people in the U.S. have various thyroid problems, I thought it would be a good idea to get an expert update on this often over-looked gland.
Victor Bernet, FACP, is Director of the National Capitol Consortium Endocrinology Fellowship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the author of MKSAP 15’s chapter on disorders of the thyroid gland. I interviewed him about why thyroid disorders go undiagnosed, what alternative treatments are available, and how primary care physicians and specialists can work together to manage thyroid disease. Please listen to the audio of our conversation or check out the written summary below.
[audio:https://getbetterhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/burnetthyroid.mp3]
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