When do you really need antibiotics for that sinus infection?
It was February, and clinic was teeming with respiratory infections of all kinds: mostly the common cold, but also bronchitis, pneumonia, and sinus infections. The first patient on my schedule was a healthcare provider with “sinus infection” written down as her main issue.* She’d had about two weeks of nasal and sinus congestion which she blamed on a viral upper respiratory infection (URI, also known as the common cold). Her two young kids had been sick with colds all winter, so she wasn’t surprised to have these symptoms, along with endless postnasal drip and a cough.
Her congestion had improved a bit at one point...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - September 26, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Asthma and Allergies Cold and Flu Drugs and Supplements Infectious diseases sinus infection Source Type: blogs
Policy-Makers Should Boost Digital Health
Healthcare systems can become more sustainable with the help of disruptive health technologies through changing the building-blocks of the system: the patients and the doctors. Such a bottom-up method should also be facilitated by policy-makers.
Healthcare is unsustainable.
That simple, but powerful statement is true in many countries around the globe.
According to OECD projections, in Europe, public expenditure on health and long-term care in OECD countries is set to increase from around 6% of GDP today to almost 9% of GDP in 2030 and as much as 14% by 2060, unless governments can contain costs. The international organi...
Source: The Medical Futurist - September 8, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Healthcare Design future gc4 healthcare policy healthcare systems Innovation Medicine policy-making Source Type: blogs
Through the One-Inch Picture Frame
I am in the middle of listening to the book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. So far, I can say it is the most inspirational book on creativity I’ve come across in my life.
This post is not solely about creativity, so please keep reading even if that doesn’t appeal to you.
She addresses feeling blocked or stuck as a writer, and sitting at her desk, mind wandering, nerves all a-glow, when she reaches for her one-inch picture frame. She tells herself she only has to write what she sees through the one-inch picture frame.
Just the scene on the porch…
Just the setting in the town…
Jus...
Source: World of Psychology - September 7, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ilissa Ducoat, LPC, FT Tags: Brain and Behavior Creativity General Habits Inspiration & Hope Motivation and Inspiration Personal Psychology Self-Help Anne Lamott Compartmentalizing Habit Change Source Type: blogs
Tips for IM Attendings – Chapter 16 – Why I like table rounds before bedside rounds
In a previous chapter, I noted that various styles can work well. Adopting a style and perfecting it are hallmarks of highly ranked and desired attending physicians. For 35 years I have developed a style that works. When other attendings try this style, it may or may not work. My learners often mention how valuable they find this style. Their feedback has helped my develop the key features of the style.
Any teaching style should develop from clearly defined goals. My teaching style directly follows from these principles:
We want each learner to understand each patient, their diagnoses and treatments.
We want t...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - August 29, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Tips for IM Attendings – Chapter 15 – Teaching the HPI
Students (and interns and residents) provide important insights into their skills and understanding with their oral presentation of the history of present illness (HPI). The history of present illness provides the key to diagnosis in a great majority of patients. A recitation of the history of present illness shows us how the learner has thought through the patient’s problem and their skill at asking the best followup questions.
Several years ago I heard this great description of the process of reporting the HPI. The first paragraph recounts the patient’s story in depth. This includes the patient’s chief comp...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - August 14, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
The Summer that Melted My ADHD Brain (and the Eight Ways I Beat the Heat!)
My favorite times of the year are Spring and Fall. Then I can emerge from my protective cocoon, spread my wings, and go outside without dying. In the Winter, the cold moisture gives me bronchitis. Just ONE cold can linger for weeks, so I curtail my beloved walks and slog on a treadmill instead. But the Summer! Wow! The Summer melts my brain. At least in the Winter I can still think and function, but the heat reduces my brain to a gelatinous goo that prevents coherent thought. I used to hide inside for months, but over the years the boredom of the shut-in life drove me outside out of sheer desperation. Unfortunately, if I s...
Source: The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey - June 30, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Tags: ADHD Goodreads Source Type: blogs
The Mischief and the Good In Precision Medicine
By MERCEDITAS VILLANUEVA, MD
When The White House announced their Precision Medicine Initiative last year, they referred to precision medicine as “a new era of medicine,” signaling a shift in focus from a “one-size-fits-all-approach” to individualized care based on the specific characteristics that distinguish one patient from another. While there continues to be immense excitement about its game-changing impact in terms of early diagnoses and targeting specific treatment options, the advancements in technology, which underlie this approach, may not always yield the best medical results. In some cases, low cost ap...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 22, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Gene Expert Precision Medicine Initiative tuberculosis Source Type: blogs
How Does Vaccinated Children’s Health Compare to Unvaccinated Children?
Conclusion
While government groups maintain that no studies have been done to compare the health of vaccinated to unvaccinated, the reality is that several comparative studies have been completed by independent researchers in the US and in other countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refuses to conduct such studies, claiming they would be unethical to perform. In reality, these studies could easily be performed, since many educated parents choose to not vaccinate their children.
The evidence is overwhelming. Studies completed in New Zealand, Germany, Africa, Great Britain and the United States have come ...
Source: vactruth.com - June 3, 2016 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Michelle Goldstein Tags: Logical Michelle Goldstein Top Picks Top Stories truth about vaccines vaccinated vs. unvaccinated Source Type: blogs
How Does Vaccinated Children ’s Health Compare to Unvaccinated Children?
Conclusion
While government groups maintain that no studies have been done to compare the health of vaccinated to unvaccinated, the reality is that several comparative studies have been completed by independent researchers in the US and in other countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refuses to conduct such studies, claiming they would be unethical to perform. In reality, these studies could easily be performed, since many educated parents choose to not vaccinate their children.
The evidence is overwhelming. Studies completed in New Zealand, Germany, Africa, Great Britain and the United States have come ...
Source: vactruth.com - June 3, 2016 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Michelle Goldstein Tags: Logical Michelle Goldstein Top Picks Top Stories truth about vaccines vaccinated vs. unvaccinated Source Type: blogs
A sick doctor must show up to work. That’s wrong.
A few weeks ago, I woke up feeling under the weather. It was day one of seven consecutive shifts. I looked into the mirror. A sullen face with sunken eyes stared back. As I was getting dressed, I felt fatigue trying to triumph over my body. Next came a nagging and rude cough that kept interrupting my sentences. I started to feel feverish, and sure enough, I measured a temperature of 101 degrees Fahrenheit. My husband, who is also a physician, made me some hot tea and gave me a cocktail of medications. We contemplated that I call in sick but instantly felt guilty about the thought and dismissed the inclination. I may have f...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 30, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Neha Sharma, DO Tags: Physician Hospital Source Type: blogs
The Quality of Virtual Visits
By JOE KVEDAR, MD
Virtual visits are increasingly the rage amongst forward-thinking healthcare providers that want to jump on the telehealth band wagon. Extending the office visit across distance, using the same technology we use to keep in touch with loved ones (videoconferencing such as Skype and FaceTime), is a safe and logical way for providers to venture into a new tech-enabled world that may still be scary for some.
One way to think of this trend is to consider virtual visits an extension of the brick and mortar care model made famous a decade ago by companies like Minute Clinic. Offer convenient access to a care...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 17, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Kvedar Quality measurement Virtual Visits Source Type: blogs
FDA warns that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause damage to muscles and nerves
The FDA updated boxed warning will inform patients that the serious side effects of the drugs generally outweigh the benefits for patients with sinusitis, bronchitis and uncomplicated urinary tract infections - if patients have other treatment options. However, why would you prescribe these antibiotics if there are other treatment options? The practical implication of this recommendation is somewhat unclear.The side effects can involve damage to tendons, muscles, joints, nerves and the central nervous system (CNS). There was an association between fluoroquinolone antibiotic use and disabling peripheral neuropathy in a 2013...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - May 14, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Medications Source Type: blogs
“Yannis Pitsiladis traveled to the Dead Sea for the same...
"Yannis Pitsiladis traveled to the Dead Sea for the same reason that pilgrims wheezing with bronchitis and emphysema head to this low-altitude divide between Israel and Jordan. Yannis went in search of oxygen. A quarter-mile below sea level at the #DeadSea, where the barometric pressure is high, there's about 5 percent more oxygen to breathe. The naturally enriched air has been shown to increase exercise capacity in those with chronic lung disease. What Yannis — a scientist and provocateur — wanted to know was whether it could do the same thing for distance runners. While on assignment for @nytimessports in February, @...
Source: Kidney Notes - May 13, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Pleasantly surprised by the National Microbiome Initiative
So I got this email a few weeks ago inviting me to the White House. Not every day that I get invited to the White House. And I thought I was probably on their shit list after removing my name from the "Unified Microbiome Initiative" paper due to it being non open access. So I asked a colleague if she could teach in my large introductory biology class for me on May 13 and she said yes. So I RSVP to the meeting and told my mom I would be coming to the DC area (where I grew up). And I told everyone, proudly "I am going to the White House".I realized I had a tight schedule for flying in and out since I ...
Source: The Tree of Life - May 12, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Oncologists teach and comfort. Patients need both.
I was at a meeting in 2014, called the REV Forum; its objective was to rethink cancer care delivery by gathering patients, advocates, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs. Even now I am struck by some of the things I learned that day. One that stays in mind is when a woman who looked like she was in her late 30s stood up and told us, “I had ovarian cancer. And even now, I don’t remember anyone telling me what I was going to go through. I had no one guiding me; it was as if I taught myself. I learned how to be a patient with ovarian cancer.”
That thought came to me recently after a woman presented with a persistent coug...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 28, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Don S. Dizon, MD Tags: Conditions Cancer Source Type: blogs
