Fear sells healthcareIn our predominately for-profit healthcare system, fear sells products.
Every day I read an article or listen to a news story about cancer. Breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, liver cancer, mouth cancer, ovarian cancer…I often feel like a ticking time bomb!
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the grim statistics being tossed around by marketers. Then we live in fear, become anxious and … read on
Fast treatment can save a lifeLast weekend I spent a day in the emergency room, sitting with a friend who suffered a heart attack.
Thankfully, he survived to tell his story. And after talking to him, and listening to what the doctor said about the severity of the heart attack, I know he was a very lucky man.
Lucky because shortly after he started having heart attack symptoms, someone … read on
I have always been fascinated by the history of medicine and disease. I minored in medical history in college and have probably read dozens of books on the subject.
If you’re interested but don’t have that kind of time to invest, I just ran across a couple of short (very short!) videos on YouTube that I found to be remarkably good overviews of a complex topic.
The … read on
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just released a warning about keeping hand sanitizers out of the reach of small children. Because more people use hand sanitizers during cold and flu season, there are more reports of children being poisoned by the main ingredient, either isopropyl alcohol or ethanol. About 90% of these poisonings were in children younger than five.
Anyway, here is a re-post about preventing childhood poisonings in … read on
♥It’s Valentine’s Day!♥ In honor of that I thought I would re-post about learning CPR. It’s a great skill to have! FN
Here’s a feel-good story about a young man who saved a life because he knew how to perform CPR—and wasn’t afraid to use it!
CPR delivered: “I left a pizza boy and came back a pizza man”
CPR is a great skill to know. It’s not going to … read on
I just found this great game, Guts and Bolts, while I was surfing around on the internet last weekend!
It’s not new, just new to me 🙂
It’s a creation of BrainPOP, which features all kinds of cool educational games and tools.
The game is kind of a Dr. Frankenstein meets Joe the Plumber as you are introduced to different body parts and organs and learn how they … read on
Last week I posted that you should always ask for a copy of your medical reports.
One of the downsides, of course, is that those reports are often written in medical language that can be confusing or alarming.
But in response to a more savvy patient population, the College of American Pathologists has made a video to explain how the system works and to encourage patients to be involved … read on
Even toddlers seem to be playing with smartphone and tablet apps, so why not make it educational as well as fun?
Obesity among children is still a major public health problem. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) hopes their new app, Dining Decisions, will help teach young children how to make healthy food choices.
The app was just released last month, and it’s only available for iPhones and iPads… read on
May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) want you to be aware of the most common stroke symptoms, and know what to do if you see them.
The five most common symptoms, which tend to come on suddenly, are:
Shared decision-making makes better informed patients, and better informed patients use less health care.
…as many as 20% of patients who participate in shared decision making choose less invasive surgical options and more conservative treatment than do patients who do not use decision aids.
Which lowers health care costs.
… read on…a 2012 study…showed that providing decision aids to patients eligible for hip and knee replacements substantially reduced both surgery rates