2015

Formerly Conjoined Twins Visit Doctors 13 Years After Landmark Operation

  GILLIAN MOHNEY via http://abcnews.go.com Known as the “Las Dos Marias,” formerly conjoined twin sisters Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Alvarez arrived at the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA to bring cheer to the doctors and nurses who helped separate them more than 13 years ago. The identical twins were a …

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Long Hours, Grim Tasks: Doctors In Training Face High Risk Of Depression

By Megan Thielking via www.statnews.com Newly minted doctors embarking on the intense clinical training known as residency are at unusually high risk for depression. Nearly 29 percent of residents worldwide will experience depression during their residencies, according to a meta-analysis published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That’s four times higher …

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WHO Suggest New C-section Recommendations

Written by Yvette Brazier via www.medicalnewstoday.com Researchers propose that for optimum safety, 19% of births should be by cesarian section, according to research published in JAMA. The cesarean section (C-section) is the most commonly performed operation worldwide. Rates of cesarean delivery vary widely from country to country, ranging from 0.6% in South Sudan …

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Health Systems Built For The 1% Face Big Population Health Gaps

Dave Chase via www.Forbes.com There is no better place to generate staggeringly high bills than at a hospital. For entirely rational reasons, healthcare providers invested vast sums of money on IT systems optimized to maximize billing opportunities. Unfortunately for hospital-based health systems, this is the polar opposite of what will …

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Lower survival Rates In Women With Breast Cancer Diagnosed With Depression

King’s College London via www.sciencedaily.com Women with breast cancer who subsequently had a recorded diagnosis of depression had a 45% higher risk of death from all causes, according to a study led by King’s College London. The researchers suggest this finding could help to target and support those women most at …

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The Doctor on a Quest to Save Our Medical Devices From Hackers

Kim Zetter via www.wired.com  THE INTERNET OF Things has introduced security issues to hundreds of devices that previously were off-limits to hackers, turning innocuous appliances like refrigerators and toasters into gateways for data theft and spying. But most alarmingly, the Internet of Things has created a whole new set of security vulnerabilities with life-threatening …

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Injured firefighter gets most extensive face transplant ever

A volunteer firefighter badly burned in a 2001 blaze has received the most extensive face transplant ever, covering his skull and much of his neck, a New York hospital announced Monday. The surgery took place in August at the NYU Langone Medical Center. The patient, 41-year-old Patrick Hardison, is still undergoing physical …

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5 Things to Know About the New HIV Treatment

By Christine Blank via formularyjournal.modernmedicine.com FDA approved Genvoya, marketed by Gilead Sciences, to treat HIV-1 infection. Here are the top 5 things to know about Genvoya: The drug is a fixed-dose combination tablet containing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF). “Today’s approval of a fixed dose combination containing a new form of tenofovir …

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Turning Skilled Physicians Into Strong Leaders

By Keith L. Martin via medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com Any major change in an industry requires strong leadership. In the U.S., healthcare has undergone a significant transformation in the last decade and the evolution is far from complete. That said, among all the stakeholders involved in the medical field, physicians are the most likely candidates …

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‘Doctors for Diversity’ Moves Toward Equal Health Care

Katie Rice via www.dailytarheel.com Medical students and faculty talked about diversity’s central role in patient care at “Doctors for Diversity,” an event sponsored by the UNC School of Medicine and the Whitehead Medical Society in the Medical Biomolecular Research Building Tuesday. The event was organized by student members of the Resident Diversity Initiative and …

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Giving and Receiving: Physicians Find Fulfillment in Charitable Care

By: Katy Mena-Berkley via www.mdnews.com Religious institutions and organizations such as Doctors Without Borders have long facilitated physicians’ provision of philanthropic medical care and other services in areas impacted by disease, poverty and war. The providers come from myriad backgrounds: They are anesthesiologists, surgeons, OB/GYNs, psychiatrists and practitioners from virtually every …

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WHO: Processed meat can cause cancer; red meat probably can

www.cbsnews.com It’s official: Ham, sausage and other processed meats can lead to colon, stomach and other cancers – and red meat is probably cancer-causing, too. While doctors have long warned against eating too much meat, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency gave the most definitive response yet Monday about its relation to …

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Dramatic change to medical culture

By Merrill Matthews via www.philly.com California has joined four other states allowing physicians to write lethal prescriptions that dying patients can administer to themselves. Oregon was the first, blazing that trail in 1997. But with only five state “victories” in nearly 20 years, you can’t really call physician-assisted suicide legislation a …

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Kids More Likely to Get Mental Healthcare from Family Doctor Than Specialists

Written by Brian Krans via www.healthline.com New research shows that primary care providers are the only professionals treating mental health issues for one-third of children. More than a third of children who receive treatment for mental health issues get it from their primary care providers, such as a family doctor or …

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Physicians- Stand Tall Against Sexual Assault

Dr. Rani G. Whitfield via www.huffingtonpost.com  A doctor-patient relationship based on trust and effective communication is key to successfully managing the physical and mental health of my clients. Obtaining a thorough health history, narrowing down the possible diagnoses, ordering the correct test, stressing compliance with treatment regimens, and emphasis on follow …

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Five Ways to Increase Physician Engagement

By Jerry Shultz via healthcare-executive-insight.advanceweb.com While a great deal of attention rightfully focuses on patient engagement, many healthcare executives in both provider and payer organizations are also focusing on the impact of provider engagement on the success of effective population health management. When providers do not have access to relevant information, …

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How To Improve Doctors’ Bedside Manner

By Shefali Luthra via CNN A doctor’s training hasn’t historically focused on sensitivity. And too often, while juggling heavy workloads and high stress, they can be viewed as brusque, condescending or inconsiderate. A 2011 study, for instance, found barely more than half of recently hospitalized patients said they experienced compassion when …

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Doctors Urged To Screen Teens For Major Depression

Liz Szabo via www.usatoday.com Doctors should screen teenagers for major depression, a federal advisory group said Monday, but only if their young patients have access to mental health professionals who can diagnose them, provide treatment and monitor their progress. That’s a big “if.” Mental health services are in short supply for anyone, …

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Will Technology Replace The Physician to Diagnose and Treat Diseases?

Rajeev S Kapoor via www.linkedin.com In the past two weeks, we have delved into why physicians are now leaving their professions and taking their children with them. We have seen the negative, sobering statistics of patient-doctor relationships with healthcare reform regulations. We have noticed the move of doctors from medicine to …

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Understanding The Causes Of Sudden Death In Epilepsy: An Interview With Professor Sanjay Sisodiya

Interview conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt via www.news-medical.net What is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)? Currently, the accepted definition of SUDEP is the sudden unexpected witnessed or unwitnessed, non-traumatic and non-drowning death in people with epilepsy, with or without evidence of a seizure. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the known …

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Helpful Physicians May Be Key To Successful Weight Loss

Written by James McIntosh via Medical News Today When participating in weight-loss programs, a helpful physician can improve the chances of success for people with obesity, according to the findings of researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD. Their study, published in Patient Education and Counseling, found that obese people participating in …

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Doctor-rating Websites Offer Helpful But Limited Advice

Written by Julie Corliss originally posted on: www.health.harvard.edu If you’ve ever used the Internet to find a health care provider, chances are you’ve run across doctor rating sites like Healthgrades.com or RateMDs.com. In addition, websites that offer reviews of everything from restaurants to repairmen (such as Yelp and Angie’s List) also feature …

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Printed Pills to Model Hearts: How 3-D Printing Is Changing Health

Gillian Mohney http: abcnews.go.com Quicker and faster 3-D printers have allowed not just amazing objects to be created, seemingly out of nothing, but have started to affect how doctors and medical providers treat patients. This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the first 3-D printed pill. …

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Dr. Forrest Bird, Inventor of Medical Respirators and Ventilators, Dies at 94

By Robert D. McFadden www.nytimes.com Dr. Forrest M. Bird, an eccentric aviator and inventor who studied high-altitude breathing problems of World War II pilots and later created medical devices that saved lives and aided thousands of people with respiratory ailments, died on Sunday at his home in Sagle, Idaho. He was …

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Doctors Go Online for Medical Information, Too

AMY DOCKSER MARCUS Wall Street Journal Beyond medical literature; families’ experiences with rare conditions Doctors who treat children with rare conditions sometimes seek guidance from online chat groups where families relate their experiences with the disorders. While gleaning medical information from the Internet is often considered unreliable, doctors may find …

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World’s First Mobile APP to Prevent Physician Burnout

Dike Drummond MD www.prnewswire.com “The epidemic of physician burnout must stop. We’ve packed 1547 hours of one-on-one physician coaching experience into the “Burnout Proof” Mobile APP, so the videos, audios and handouts inside are available to any physician 24/7. This is everything we should have learned in residency about stress …

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The 2015 Immunization Schedule for Adults

David K. Kim, MD www.physiciansweekly.com The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently approved the most up-to-date recommendations for adult immunizations. ACIP’s schedule provides a summary of the organization’s key recommendations for using vaccines routinely. Based on three changes in the area of adult immunizations that occurred recently, the CDC’s …

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Blood Test For Early Stage Pancreatic Cancer Looks Promising

Catharine Paddock PhD www.medicalnewstoday.com A study that successfully differentiated patients with pancreatic cancer from those with another pancreatic disease using a new biomarker, could lead to a blood test that detects pancreatic cancer early enough for curative surgery to be feasible. Pancreatic cancer has a very poor survival rate and ranks …

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Physicians Have Responsibility To Help Families Make End-Of-Life Decisions

www.news-medical.net Contributor: Marissa Garey According to the Ambulatory Surgical Center of America (ASCOA), more than 60% of Americans would like their end-of-life preferences to be followed. Yet, granting this wish is difficult when the patient is unresponsive. While this topic is quite controversial, surrogates tend to seek guidance from a …

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Physician, Nurse Practitioner Jobs Lead Healthcare Surge

By Zack Budryk Contributor: Marissa Garey Through the year 2022, employment is predicted to augment, particularly in the healthcare industry. Health-support occupations, such as nurse practitioners and physicians, will be in constant demand, consequently improving job security. The recovery of the country’s labor market brought about 217,000 job opportunities by May …

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Coded Talk About Assisted Suicide Can Leave Families Confused

APRIL DEMBOSKY www.npr.org Physician-assisted suicide is illegal in most states in the U.S. But there are gray areas where doctors can help suffering patients hasten their death. The problem is nobody can talk about it directly. This can lead to bizarre, veiled conversations between medical professionals and overwhelmed families. Doctors …

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Carotid Artery Stenting Outcomes Vary Widely by Hospital

Salynn Boyles www.healthleadersmedia.com In-hospital outcomes among patients undergoing CAS in the US varied fourfold after adjusting for differences in patient risk factors in an analysis of data from a large, nationwide stenting registry. From MedPage Today. In-hospital outcomes among patients undergoing carotid artery stenting (CAS) in the U.S. varied fourfold after …

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U.S. Introduces New DNA Standard for Ensuring Accuracy of Genetic Tests

By ROBERT PEAR www.nytimes.com WASHINGTON — The federal government opened the door to a new era of genetic medicine on Thursday by introducing a standard way to ensure the accuracy of DNA tests used to tailor treatments for individual patients. Scientists have identified hundreds of genetic mutations that appear to increase …

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Physician Burnout Heavily Influenced by Leadership Behaviors

Alexandra Wilson Pecci http://healthleadersmedia.com Researchers find a “very strong relationship between [physician] satisfaction and burnout and the leadership behaviors of physician supervisors” in large healthcare organizations. Physician burnout is prevalent throughout the U.S. healthcare system—experienced by nearly half (46%) of physicians, according to data published in JAMA last year. But effective leadership …

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The prognosis for U.S. healthcare? Better than you think.

  Erika Fry fortune.com Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive of Kaiser Permanente—the $56 billion non-profit health insurer and hospital operator—is more optimistic about America’s healthcare system than he’s ever been. That’s saying something, given that the fate of the Affordable Care Act hangs in the balance pending a …

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One Doctor’s Quest to Save the World With Data

DANIELLE VENTON www.wired.com IN RWANDA, PEOPLE have to deal with all kinds of threats to their health: malaria, HIV/AIDS, severe diarrhea. But in late 2012, Agnes Binagwaho, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, realized her country’s key health enemy was  something far more innocuous. The thing causing the most harm to her people, the leading …

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Admitted to Your Bedroom: Some Hospitals Try Treating Patients at Home

By DANIELA J. LAMAS, M.D. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com When Martin Fernandez came into Mount Sinai Hospital’s emergency room one recent afternoon, with high fever and excruciating abdominal pain, he and his family were asked an unexpected question. Mr. Fernandez, 82, would have to be officially admitted to receive intravenous antibiotics for his urinary …

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Would Doctors Be Better If They Didn’t Have To Memorize?

JOHN HENNING SCHUMANN www.npr.org  Poor old Dr. Krebs. His painstaking Nobel-winning work on cellular metabolism, called the Krebs cycle, has made him the symbol for what’s ailing medical education. “Why do I need to know this stuff?” medical students ask me. “How many times have you used the Krebs Cycle lately?” senior doctors jokingly …

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Do Wearable Devices in Hospitals Pose Security Threats?

By Aleksandr Peterso www.physiciansnews.com Wearable tech has painted itself as the future of innovation for many different industries, but perhaps most notably for healthcare. Even now, wearable devices are seeing increased use at care facilities to track patient status, reduce response times, and improve care coordination. But wearable technology is still …

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FDA Ponders Putting Homeopathy To A Tougher Test

ROB STEIN www.npr.org It’s another busy morning at Dr. Anthony Aurigemma’s homeopathy practice in Bethesda, Md. Wendy Resnick, 58, is here because she’s suffering from a nasty bout of laryngitis. “I don’t feel great,” she says. “I don’t feel myself.” Resnick, who lives in Millersville, Md., has been seeing Aurigemma for years …

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Epic, Other EHR Vendors Agree To Waive Record-Sharing Fees

By Joseph Conn www.modernhealthcare.com After years of saddling their customers and outside firms with substantial fees for interfaces and other costs for interoperability, vendors of electronic health-record systems are now engaged in what looks like an interoperability price war. The federal government probably had something to do with it, after firing …

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Doctors See Benefits and Risks in Medicare Changes

By KATIE THOMAS and REED ABELSON www.nytimes.com Dr. Robert Wergin, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, made little effort to contain his glee Wednesday over the news that Congress had voted to end a reviled payment system for doctors, simultaneously averting a 21 percent physician pay cut and overhauling the way Medicare will pay doctors in …

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5 Recruiting Tips To Fight The Looming Physician Shortage

By Sean West www.fiercehealthcare.com Increased demand for services will only exacerbate the problems expected by the shortage of close to 90,000 physicians in the next 10 years, according to a new survey that examines 2015 trends in healthcare recruitment. Despite the factors behind the shortage–including the millions of newly insured consumers under the Affordable …

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Hospital Diversity Improvement Plans, Goals: 16 Things To Know

Written by Shannon Barnet www.beckershospitalreview.com While job areas related to patient care have experienced a long history of diversification, the same cannot be said of healthcare jobs in upper management, according to a report from the NAACP. Some hospitals and health systems have created programs to monitor diversity procurement but, overall, diversity …

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Time To Announce UV Tanning ‘Causes’ Skin Cancer, Doctors Urge

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD www.medicalnewstoday.com Doctors and researchers writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine argue it is time to push the message that UV tanning causes – as opposed to merely being associated with – skin cancer. They note that when the US Surgeon General finally announced that smoking causes lung …

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Thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon Potion Kills MRSA Superbug

By Nick Thompson and Laura Smith-Spark www.cnn.com It might sound like a really old wives’ tale, but a thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon potion for eye infections may hold the key to wiping out the modern-day superbug MRSA, according to new research. The 10th-century “eyesalve” remedy was discovered at the British Library in a leather-bound volume of Bald’s Leechbook, widely …

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Oldest Evidence Of Breast Cancer Found In Egyptian Skeleton

Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad; editing by John Stonestreet http://news.yahoo.com A team from a Spanish university has discovered what Egyptian authorities are calling the world’s oldest evidence of breast cancer in the 4,200-year-old skeleton of an adult woman. Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said the bones of the woman, who lived at …

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Increasing Use Of Minimally Invasive Surgery ‘Would Avert Thousands Of Post-op Complications’

Written by Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com A new study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine claims that health care costs and the number of postoperative complications across the US could be significantly reduced if hospitals were to increase their use of minimally invasive surgery for some common procedures. Lead researcher Dr. …

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Physicians, Patients Overestimate Risk of Death From Acute Coronary Syndrome

www.sciencedaily.com Both physicians and patients overestimate the risk of heart attack or death for possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS) as well as the potential benefit of hospital admission for possible ACS. A survey of patient and physician communication and risk assessment, along with an editorial, were published online last week …

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Doctors as Journalists: Conflict of Interest?

www.physiciansweekly.com On Gary Schwitzer’s website healthnewsreview.org, a debate about the role of physicians who work as journalists took place. It was sparked by an NBC News report on the changing of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to its new name—Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID). The report featured commentary by Dr. Natalie Azar, …

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FDA Approves CPR Devices That May Increase Chance Of Surviving Cardiac Arrest

www.fda.gov The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the ResQCPR System, a system of two devices for first responders to use while performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on people whose hearts stop beating (cardiac arrest). The devices may improve the patient’s chances of surviving cardiac arrest. The Centers for Disease Control …

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Psychedelic Drug Use ‘Does Not Increase Risk For Mental Health Problems’

David McNamee www.medicalnewstoday.com An analysis of data provided by 135,000 randomly selected participants – including 19,000 people who had used drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms – finds that use of psychedelics does not increase risk of developing mental health problems. The results are published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. …

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Schools Reconsidering How Med School Applicants Are Evaluated

www.ama-assn.org The medical education overhaul continues—and not just with undergraduate med ed. Changes being launched now in medical schools are touching graduate medical education and pre-medical education, seeking to better prepare doctors for a health care system that is constantly changing. Academic physicians covered these innovations in an online video panel Tuesday …

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Childhood Sleep Disorders: How Do They Affect Health And Well-being?

Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com Although around 25-40% of children and adolescents in the US experience some form of sleep disorder, such conditions are often overlooked, with a lack of realization of just how important a good night’s sleep is for a child’s present and later-life health. In line with National Sleep …

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Can Patients Chew Gum Immediately Before Surgery?

www.physiciansweekly.com A study presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) meeting in October of last year found that patients who chew gum in the immediate preoperative period may safely undergo surgery. The authors, based at the University of Pennsylvania, found that gum chewing increases saliva production and the volume of …

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Doctors Perceived As More Compassionate When Giving Patients More Optimistic News

Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com When receiving information about treatment options and prognosis, advanced cancer patients favor doctors who provide more optimistic information and perceive them to be more compassionate when delivering it. This is according to a new study published in JAMA Oncology. The study was conducted by researchers from the University …

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Alzheimer’s Protein ‘Can Accumulate In Young People’s Brains’

Catharine Paddock PhD www.medicalnewstoday.com Brains of older people with Alzheimer’s disease show characteristic abnormal clusters of faulty protein called amyloid. Now, for the first time, scientists have discovered amyloid can begin to accumulate in the brains of people as young as 20. The finding is surprising because it was thought …

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Can Family Secrets Make You Sick?

LAURA STARECHESKI www.npr.org In the 1980s, Dr. Vincent Felitti, now director of the California Institute of Preventive Medicine in San Diego, discovered something potentially revolutionary about the ripple effects of child sexual abuse. He discovered it while trying to solve a very different health problem: helping severely obese people lose weight. Felitti, …

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These Doctors Want To Tell You You’re Stupid If You Don’t Vaccinate Your Kids [VIDEO]

Jonathan Harris whatstrending.com Jimmy Kimmel made a good point. If you don’t believe what a doctor tells you about vaccines, why would you believe him about anything else? If he’s likely to intentionally poison your children so that he can line the pockets of GlaxoSmithKline, why would you go there …

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Woman Becomes Obese After Fecal Transplantation From Overweight Donor

Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com A new case report published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases reveals that a woman who was treated for a recurrent Clostridium difficile infection with the gut bacteria of an overweight donor quickly and unexpectedly gained weight herself following the procedure. The authors say the case suggests doctors should avoid …

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Most Doctors Give In to Requests by Parents to Alter Vaccine Schedules

CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS www.nytimes.com A wide majority of pediatricians and family physicians acquiesce to parents who wish to delay vaccinating their children, even though the doctors feel these decisions put children at risk for measles, whooping cough and other ailments, a new survey has found. Physicians who reluctantly agreed said they did so …

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