Health Care 2.0
June 17, 2008
You may have heard the phrase “Web 2.0.” It refers to how we are now in the second phase of the role that the Internet plays in our lives.
Originally the Web was a source of information and entertainment, written and produced by “professionals.”
In recent years, Internet users have themselves moved onto the Web - actively creating content, blogs, and new software and tools. You could say that the Internet has exploded, and is continuing to explode.
So Health 2.0, then, involves these new ways of using the Web in order to share and make use of health care information. As with Web 2.0, oftentimes this means promoting a very individualized and personal online experience.
Country Living
June 13, 2008
Most Americans live in cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas and suburbs. Around 1 in 5 Americans live in the “country” – farms as well as small towns.
When country folks get really sick or injured, they typically have to make the long trip to a city medical center to get expert help. Though 20% of America’s population is rural, only 9% of its doctors are.
A recent study suggests that special programs in medical school to train students for country caregiving could boost the numbers of doctors available.
The DNA Dilemma: Desperate for a Diagnosis?
June 11, 2008
Yesterday, we posted on last month’s passage of the Federal Government’s Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
We hope that the law will help protect Americans’ coverage and employment despite their genetic likelihood for disease. This should allow them to feel more comfortable with seeking information about their own DNA in order to better manage their health.
Prior to this legislation passing, however, patients were seeking more private ways of testing their DNA - primarily through take-home kits.
DNA, Disease, and Discrimination
June 10, 2008
Can you imagine being faced with the difficult decision of having your breasts removed - not because you have breast cancer, but because you’ve determined that you carry the genes for it? Women at risk for the disease can now find out whether they have the same DNA that killed their mothers and grandmothers.
In recent years, advances in genetic research have helped push medicine into realms once reserved for science fiction.
In the 1850s there were only 140 categories of disease, differentiated by their symptoms. By 1993, genetic mapping had allowed scientists to distinguish 12,000 categories of disease, to determine that some diseases were linked genetically despite having widely different symptoms, and to find better drugs and measures to treat or prevent these diseases.
-
Connect to WhatIfPost.com
