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Some thoughts on where we are with Covid-19
I hesitated to show you this graphic because it might lead to unwarranted complacency, but I ' ll show it to get it over with and then discuss. (Source:Worldometer)  Basically, the death rate has held pretty steady since last April, at around 400 a day. That ' s obviously well below the previous peaks, but I don ' t think people would tolerate it from any other readily preventable cause. However, deaths are a lagging indicator and the CDC is reporting a widespread increase in cases around the country.  Again, not a major spike like last March but we don ' t know where it ' s going yet. New strains are h...
Source: Stayin' Alive - January 19, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

State of health visiting, UK survey report: a vital safety net under pressure
This report details the findings from a UK survey of frontline health visitors working with families across the United Kingdom. It finds health visitors reporting epidemic levels of poverty, with more parents struggling with the cost-of-living crisis that is forcing them to turn to food banks to feed their children. Alongside this, more parents are living with mental health problems, domestic abuse and adversity, that pose risks to the health and wellbeing of babies and young children. The report makes various policy recommendations including a shift towards prevention and early intervention, equity of access to support an...
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - January 18, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Social care Source Type: blogs

Milwaukee County Addresses Health Equity with Data and GIS Technology
Milwaukee County is at the forefront of addressing racial inequity. During the COVID-19 pandemic they cross referenced vaccination rates with the CDC’s social vulnerability index and plotted the results using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Armed with this powerful insight, the County was able to increase vaccinations in populations that needed them the most and by doing so increased the safety of the entire County. They are now incorporating an equity lens into other areas of public health. Healthcare IT Today had the opportunity recently to sit down with Zachary Swingen, Lead GIS Coordinator at Milwauke...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - January 12, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Colin Hung Tags: Analytics/Big Data Clinical Communication and Patient Experience Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System CDC vulnerability index COVID-19 Vaccination GIS for Health GIS technology Health Equity Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Manag Source Type: blogs

Telehealth and RPM – 2023 Health IT Predictions
As we head into 2023, we wanted to kick off the new year with a series of 2023 Health IT predictions.  We asked the Healthcare IT Today community to submit their predictions and we received a wide ranging set of responses that we grouped into a number of themes.  Check out our communities predictions below and be sure to add your own thoughts and/or places you disagree with these predictions in the comments and on social media. Check out our community’s telehealth and RPM (Remote Patient Monitoring) predictions. Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi, Chief Medical Officer at BrainCheck Digitally-enabled care is the future of tel...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - January 6, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: John Lynn Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring 2023 Health IT Predictions Ankit Gupta Bicycle Health BrainCheck Carlene MacMillan Chris Sullivan Dan Trigub David Feldman Epicore Biosystems MedArrive Medisafe Source Type: blogs

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' In response to a rather complicated question from a reader . . . I ' m not a real doctor, I ' m a doctor of philosophy, and I ' m not an expert on the technical ins and outs of Covid-19 mutations and immunity thereto. But the message you need to hear is very simple: the boosters out there right now, today, are very effective at preventing severe disease, even with the newest mutants. So if you don ' t want to go to the hospital and you don ' t want to die, get the shot.They aren ' t as effective at preventing infection against new variants, and hence less effective at preventing transmission, but the big problem the...
Source: Stayin' Alive - January 4, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

A Change Of Heart: " For The Children "
Last night, I archived everything on the blog except " Why Pediatrics " .  More and more, it ' s become a question rather than a statement of purpose.  In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, where the entire US system shifted on its axis to shut down community Pediatrics services and " feed " children ' s hospitals (to free up resources for sick adults), the situation for those of us practicing inpatient Pediatrics (as " Pediatric Hospitalists " ) really went to hell.  You could not find/beg a job in the community setting during the pandemic.  Actually, jumping through the ABP ' s hoops to do a...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - December 24, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

When doctors develop [patient] portal hypertension [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “Physicians today are confronting yet another epidemic, one that affects doctors directly and is not caused by a virus. It is the result of the ‘patient portal’ through which patients send typed messages directly to their physicians. Though the portal has benefits, anecdotal experience Read more… When doctors develop [patient] portal hypertension [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 20, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Podcast Primary Care Source Type: blogs

Weekly Roundup – December 17, 2022
Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week. MedAware’s Mission: Medical Alerts That Make Sense. Alert fatigue is so pervasive because it’s a symptom of bas design, John Lynn learned in his conversation with Dr. Gidi Stein at MedAware. That’s why the company focuses on optimizing alerts by analyzing data from relevant patient records and medical devices to ensure alerts are releva...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - December 17, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Brian Eastwood Tags: Healthcare IT Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup Source Type: blogs

Overcoming the epidemic of loneliness
As I drove home from work and turned right onto the familiar street that would eventually wind around like a smile to my home, I briefly closed my eyes and tilted my face to the sky, enjoying the butterscotch sunlight still peeking through the leaves framing the street. I noticed with contentment the various groups Read more… Overcoming the epidemic of loneliness originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 17, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Psychiatry Source Type: blogs

Department of artifact : Normal “ wall motion defect ” in echocardiography
(This post is about some basics in echocardiography meant for fellows, and echocardiographers. Others can skip please )  This is a 27-year-old woman who was referred for routine* cardiac evaluation. What do you see? What is the diagnosis? This echo clip is from a woman who is 8 months pregnant. What you are seeing is perfectly physiologically and normal. On lying down there is a mechanical push of the diaphragm altering the LV shape and contraction. In the short axis, the left ventricle is contracting well, but the shape is not spherical in systole implying some desynchrony. Further, the  IVS arena is contract...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - December 14, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Cardiology -Hemodynamics Echocardiography -Normal measurement Echocardiography-hemodynamics Teaching points cardiology research topic non ischemic wall motion defect in echocardiography wall motion defect in ers wall motion defect in lbbb Source Type: blogs

Reimagining Pain in the Wake of the Opioid Epidemic
The following is a guest article by Vijay Yanamadala, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Sword Health and System Medical Director of Spine Quality at Hartford Healthcare. In 2017, after years of over prescribing opioids to treat pain, leading to opioid addiction for millions of Americans, opioid dependency was declared a public health emergency. Since then, the opioid epidemic has only worsened. The COVID-19 pandemic, and its impact on people’s mental and physical health, has greatly contributed to a rise in opioid-related deaths. When I was a medical student in the early 2000s, pain was viewed as a vital sign, like heart rate...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - December 13, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Guest Author Tags: Communication and Patient Experience Healthcare IT Chronic Pain Hartford HealthCare MSK Musculoskeletal Care opioid crisis Opioid Epidemic Pain Management Patient Care Patient Compliance Physical Therapy PT Reimagining Pain Swo Source Type: blogs

Technical report on the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK
Department of Health and Social Care -This is a technical report on some of the scientific, public health and clinical aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the four nations of the UK. This is from the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs), Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA), UK deputy CMOs most closely engaged in the Covid-19 response, NHS England National Medical Director, and the UK Health Security Agency Chief Executive. It is written for a specific audience: future CMOs, GCSAs, National Medical Directors and UK public health leaders facing a new pandemic or major epidemic in the UK and who were not part of the public...
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - December 1, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Covid-19 Public health and health inequalities Source Type: blogs

Think twice before prescribing opioids as a first-line treatment for pain
Everyone knows the terrible toll the opioid epidemic takes on our society. It doesn’t matter where you live and how wealthy or educated you are, no one is immune. I watched as a colleague tried to help a child struggling with addiction, spending countless hours of worry and thousands of dollars, only to have the Read more… Think twice before prescribing opioids as a first-line treatment for pain originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 22, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Meds Medications Pain Management Source Type: blogs

The environmental impact of the diabetes epidemic
The superior doctor prevents sickness. The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness. The inferior doctor treats actual sickness.” – Chinese Proverb The management of diabetes today requires an understanding of the concept of the circular economy in eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials at their highest level, and regenerating nature. Today, we saw Read more… The environmental impact of the diabetes epidemic originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 14, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors:

Fight Aging! Newsletter, November 7th 2022
In conclusion, the national prevalence of dementia and MCI in 2016 found in this cross-sectional study was similar to that of other US-based studies. Clearing Microglia Reverses Age-Related Disruption of Sleeping Patterns in Mice https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2022/11/clearing-microglia-reverses-age-related-disruption-of-sleeping-patterns-in-mice/ Microglia are innate immune cells of the central nervous system. They are analogous to macrophages in the rest of the body, but undertake additional duties relating to the function of neurons and in brain tissue. Microglia become overly active and inflamm...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 6, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs