Reading is a healthy habit. There is a strong association between education and health status.Kindles, electronic library devices, are selling hot. Why should anyone be interested in this if they are interested in health? Because these devices are one more way to find reliable health or medical information. Books are holding their own but the real news about Kindle is that it is friendly to all ages, can deliver you a book at 2 a.m. in seconds and is doctor’s waiting room friendly.

Topics: Communication Technology

There is a new project underway to test whether it is helpful or hurtful if patients can read their doctors’ notes. In addition to technical information, records include observations about the patient’s mood, worries or other personal information. The question is whether the cost of transparency is a loss of it. Doctors could start putting less in the record, making it less valuable to other care-givers. The fear of litigation also could make doctors more guarded about their notes. This is not an easy call, even for people who believe patients should know the truth.

Topics: How To Speak Doctor

Although this story says this a second FDA advisory panel’s endorsement of the diabetes drug, Avandia, it remains one which is controversial among doctors. Avandia is associated with a higher heart disease risk.
Seventeen of 20 panel members wanted tougher labeling, warnings, for the drug.
Assess your risks with your doctor based on this latest discussion and [...]

Topics: You, the Patient

Everyone agrees bad doctors should be stopped. The hard part is figuring out how best to do that. In a JAMA study, researchers found that 64% of doctors participating supported the profession’s commitment to police itself. That number should be much higher. On the other hand, 69% said that they were ready to deal with impaired physicians in their own practices, the medical equivalent of home. That is a much more encouraging number, almost 70%. Reporting bad doctors—sick or unskilled—is essential to safe, quality care. It is not possible to pay too much attention to this topic. Read here about what patients can do when they feel they have seen a doctor with serious problems.

Topics: How To Speak Doctor

Generations of parents have had to work out how to talk to their kids about sex.
Starting with the those who came of age in the 1960s, they also have had to work out how to talk to their kids about illegal drugs they may have used.
This column, 18 and Under, is by Perri Klass, M.D., [...]

Topics: Friends & Families

Is contraception basic preventive care? Women’s advocates say yes and argue that it should be among those preventive services the new health bill will require to be provided free.

Topics: You, the Patient

CDC Vital Signs
Colorectal Cancer

Colon Cancer
22 million adults ages 50-75 still need to be tested
Colorectal cancer screening prevents cancer and saves lives.

Colorectal cancer is cancer of the colon or rectum, and is often called simply “colon cancer.” It is the #2 cause of cancer deaths in the United States and kills more [...]

Topics: You, the Patient

There always is a protest when a school considers starting later for older kids, not little ones.
That doesn’t sound like it makes any sense. They are little. They take longer. The weather could be worse.
However, there is a sound basis for concluding that adolescents really do need more sleep. One school system which experimented with [...]

Topics: Friends & Families

What do exercise scientists know about women? Not that much, says an expert in the field, Dr. David Rowlands, a senior lecturer with the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Massey University in New Zealand.

Topics: You, the Patient

Talk therapy has fallen out of favor in many places because medications have become the mainstay of many psychiatric patients’ treatment. Health plan reimbursement favors pills over talk. However, talk therapy has an important place in treatment. It’s faster than medication, as you will read about here, when the patient is in real difficulty.

Topics: How To Speak Doctor