Medical

Choosing a new doctor is never easy. You need to know about convenience factors, such as office location, available appointment times, and accepted insurance plans. You will probably also consider background information, such as education, board certifications, and licenses. But the most important question you likely have involves results: Is this doctor any good? Unfortunately, there just isn’t a single, perfect way to measure the quality of individual doctors. No matter how we approach the issue, we will always be looking at just one slice of overall physician performance. To see what I mean, let’s examine some ways to think about evaluating quality. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.

Got questions about navigating life with diabetes? Welcome to our weekly advice column, Ask D’Mine – the place to get some colorful answers from veteran type 1, diabetes author and educator, Wil Dubois. This week, Wil takes a look at…The post Ask D’Mine: The $471 Billion Dollar Question appeared first on DiabetesMine: the all things diabetes blog.

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 45-year-old man is admitted to the hospital for a 2-day history of fever and abdominal pain. His medical history is notable for cirrhosis due to chronic hepatitis C, esophageal varices, ascites, and minimal hepatic encephalopathy. His medications are furosemide, spironolactone, nadolol, lactulose, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin D. On physical examination, temperature is 36.5 °C (97.7 °F), blood pressure is 100/50 mm Hg, pulse rate is 84/min, and respiration rate is 20/min. BMI is 28. Abdominal examination discloses distention consistent with ascites. The abdomen is nontender to palpation. Laboratory studies Hemoglobin 10 g/dL (100 g/L) Leukocyte count 3500/µL (3.5 × 109/L) Platelet count 70,000/µL (70 × 109/L) INR 1.5 (normal range, 0.8-1.2) Albumin 2.5 g/dL (25 g/L) Alkaline phosphatase 220 units/L Alanine aminotransferase 30 units/L Aspartate aminotransferase 40 units/L Total bilirubin 4 mg/dL (68.4 µmol/L) Creatinine 1.8 mg/dL (159 µmol/L) Urinalysis Normal Abdominal ultrasound discloses cirrhosis, splenomegaly, and ascites. The portal and hepatic veins are patent, and there is no hydronephrosis. Diagnostic paracentesis discloses a cell count of 2000/µL with 20% neutrophils, a total protein level of 1 g/dL (10 g/L), and an albumin level of 0.7 g/dL (7 g/L), consistent with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Which of the following is the most appropriate treatment? A: Cefotaxime B: Cefotaxime and albumin C: Furosemide and spironolactone D: Large-volume paracentesis Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.

For the past fifteen years, I have had an incurable form of leukemia. Such diseases used to be called terminal illnesses, but we don’t hear that term as much anymore. With all the new drugs and treatments available, doctors have become more reluctant to refer to diseases they can’t cure yet as “terminal.” In the years just after my diagnosis, when friends and family would ask what could be done for it, I used to say that nothing could be done, adding: “It’s terminal.” Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.

Steven Miller, MS Program Director, Information Management Practitioner Marketing Team IBM

NEW YORK, October 3, 2012 – OneMedPlace has announced programming themes for its 6th Annual OneMedForum, taking place January 7-9th, 2013, at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco.

Stanford engineers have developed a nanoparticle that could lead to a new way to purify water. In a press release, writer Andrew Myers provides details on the work – which involves the use of magnetism to clear the synthetic “nanoscavenger” from the water – and describes researchers’ hope to “create a ‘one-pot solution’ that tackles water afflicted by a diverse mixture of contaminants.” Given that 1.6 million people die each year from diarrheal diseases stemming from lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, such purification technology could have big public-health implications. Previously: Waste not, want not, say global sanitation innovators

I am a physician, an anesthesiologist. I care for the sickest of the sick every day – struggling NICU babies born only hours earlier, victims of major traumatic accidents, and critically ill patients with life threatening illness. In this job, I must both connect with the patient, but also maintain a distance from them at the same time. Dealing with life threatening situations each day requires me to remain unattached emotionally. No matter the outcome with one patient, there will always be another sick patient who needs my focus and technical abilities. While many years of medical training made me an effective professional caregiver, I was completely unprepared to assume this role in my personal life. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.