June 2012
13 posts
7 tags
What does PPACA do to the Emergency Department?
As a physician-in-training, specializing in Emergency Medicine — I thought I’d chime in on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). First off, this “mandate” everyone is talking about basically says if you can afford insurance but do not get it, you will be charged a fee — or in other words, taxed.
For some healthcare organizations, physicians, and...
7 tags
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
I currently have a patient who’s father is doing everything possible to avoid his children from being vaccinated? The father has never allowed the children to have ANY vaccinations of any kind, and claims to have legal documents stating his children are exempt due to religious reasons, as well as so he can avoid them from “being shot up with mercury and synthetic garbage only to be...
7 tags
Do not get sick in July, you might die..
Dear Patients,
Please do not get sick in July. Why you ask? Well, you might die. No, we’re not suffering from heat strokes..
In a recent study published by the Journal of General Internal Medicine, there was a 10% spike in teaching hospital deaths during the month of July due to medical errors.
This spike, is referred to as “The July Effect” and it’s attributed to...
9 tags
Coffee May Ward Off Progression to Dementia
Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be able to avoid developing dementia by drinking several cups of coffee a day, the results of a new study suggest.
The study showed that patients with MCI who have a plasma caffeine level of 1200 ng/mL avoided progression to dementia over the following 2 to 4 years.
These patients exhibited a plasma cytokine profile that was exactly the same...
3 tags
Diabetes in Our Children
The Western lifestyle and average American diet pave a smooth road for developing various illnesses and diseases. Over the years, food has become more processed, less natural, and filled with even greater amounts of toxic additives and ingredients than in the past. The overall lifestyle changes over the years are leading a large number of adults and children alike to experience the onset of many...
8 tags
Surgery 101: The Survival Guide
As I have currently been completing one of my final surgery rotations — I think it’s time I introduce my audience to the real side of surgery, not what you see in Grey’s Anatomy, or House MD. Let me start by saying, this will be one of your most memorable experiences in your clinical years — it may be the only chance you will ever have to see a liver transplant, an...
6 tags
I’m the Doctor, that's why!
This is the age of intellectual democracy. In a frightening departure from millennia of human tradition, everyone is now an expert in everything. Turn on the television or surf the Internet. We somehow believe that polls of individuals are useful for guiding policy, in everything from international politics to morals and religion. Legislators and marketing experts trust this information, as if...
4 tags
Treating a Nation of Anxious Wimps
We’ve become a nation of hypochondriacs. Every sneeze is swine flu, every headache a tumor. And at great expense, we deliver fantastically prompt, thorough and largely unnecessary care. There is tremendous financial pressure on physicians to keep patients happy. But unlike business, in medicine the customer isn’t always right. Sometimes a doctor needs to show tough love and deny patients the...
9 tags
Choose Wisely: Many Medical Tests Not Always...
Major medical and consumer groups are coming together to question the carte blanche use of many commonly ordered tests and procedures, including MRI for low back pain and exercise EKG tests in people with no symptoms and low risk for heart disease.
Sometimes these tests can be lifesavers. Other times they are unlikely to do anything except increase costs and anxiety and expose people to...
7 tags
Library access ceases at graduation?
At graduations across the country, students are walking across the stage, receiving their diplomas and beginning the next chapter of their lives. These graduates are equipped with a wealth of new tools. However, nearly all are forced to leave behind one of the most important: their library card.
Students’ library cards are a passport to the specialized knowledge found in academic journal...
7 tags
Chicago = War Zone
Did you know that if Chicago was a war zone, it would be a deadlier one for Americans than Afghanistan. As a Chicagoland resident training to be an Emergency Physician, I am quite perplexed with the current homicide rate in Chicago. Current data, puts Chicago’s homicide rate higher than that of a war zone. In fact, according to the latest data, the number of Chicagoans murdered is two and...
5 tags
Heard Around The Hospital
Have you ever heard, or seen something funny in medicine that just cracks you up?
Here’s some actual unedited notes written by fellow physicians, on patients medical charts.
Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
Exam of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
The patient stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until she got a divorce.
I...
6 tags
The Most Important Skill in Medicine
Medical students are used to being at the bottom of the totem pole. However, there is one area in which they surpass residents and attending physicians: the art of communication.
Unfortunately, as you gain training and experience in medicine, your communication skills may worsen. Although there are obvious reasons why this occurs (eg, time constraints curtail communication), the trend can be...
