Fight Health Worries|Healthy Living Techniques

Sometimes you cant win for losing as this video shows what happened in Texas, the ER docs were instructed to bring up admissions if they could on marginal cases, so they did, and the reward was getting fired when the business intelligence software said some were not necessary, so this is a double edge sword we have going here and whos going to be the Monday morning quarterbacks?  BD 

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This is sad and outrageous. Imagine wrestling with the decision to place mom or dad in a nursing home. You want to take care of them yourself but with your job demands and kids, its impossible. So, you look around for a clean, well-run nursing home that is located close enough to visit on a regular basis.

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There has been considerable coverage of the remarkable hearings by the US Senate Special Committee on Aging on industry funded continuing medical education (CME). See reporting by Dr Daniel Carlat on the Carlat Psychiatry Blog, and by the Prescription Project on their Postscript Blog. See also the comments by Dr Howard Brody on the Hooked: Ethics, Medicine and Pharma blog. Some key points were that the Senators failed to see why physicians cannot afford to pay for their own CME, and therefore must depend on corporate funding to support; and the Senators failed to buy the argument that medical progress vitally depends on health care corporations paying for and influencing the education physicians get. Read the rest of this entry »

In California hospitals need to retrofitted to meet earthquake standards by the years 2013 and 1015 and most surveyed felt they were not going to be able to meet the deadline, which could in time force more closures.  In Pennsylvania more hospitals are sliding into the red, big jump of over 20% with an erosion retaining staff and health IT initiatives being put on hold.  Also worth noting is the situation in Arizona where the capitol buildings may need to be sold and leased back as funds are running out.  BD   

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The internet, social media, web 2.0 etc have changed how important health care issues are discussed. So, it is not surprising that big health care organizations are trying to use these new media to promote their messages. New media, however, are no more immune from the effects of conflicts of interest than are old media.

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We all know the symbol and recently an anonymous group proposed that we consider the image below to reflect our current situation here in the US with the healthcare debate and reform in progress.  (grin). 

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The treatment requires more than just eating M & Ms and drinking Gatorade, it needs to be delivered through an IV, and the side effects may temporarily turn you blue for a while until it fades and goes away.  The study involved injecting rats with the BBG dye and the results compared to those who did not have any injections were quite different, with the treated rats making a better and even full recovery.  I guess we could call this Code Blue.  BD 

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Elderly nursing home patients often have difficulty swallowing. Technically, its called “dysphagia” and provides the resident with the sensation that food is stuck in the throat or upper chest. The causes are many and include blockages caused by cervical spine disease and tumors, to nerve and muscle problems.

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Dr Daniel Carlat is live-blogging the US Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on conflicts of interest and continuing medical education. Read the rest of this entry »

I did my share and sent my request, the process is easy and automated and included the hash marks too.  BD

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