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.
Diabetes: Drugs, Diet and Data
May 27, 2008
Picnic season is upon us – a time for cookouts and gatherings around the grill or at the park. This means burgers and hot dogs, potato salad and chips, ice cream and lemonade. This means we’ll be tempted to pack on pounds even as we’re trying to cram ourselves into shorts and bikinis.
For those Americans with diabetes, all the starch and sugar that come with summertime meals and outings are a serious hazard not just for their waistline but also for their health.
New WhatIf Content on CT Scans
May 19, 2008
How many times in the past year have you or a loved one had a CT scan? At the time, did the doctor ordering the scan have a conversation with you about its radiation risks compared to that of a typical x-ray? What about other kinds of x-ray based scans - like a mammogram? Or the kind that trace contrast materials through your GI tract or your heart?
Our newest piece To Scan or Not To Scan makes the case that it’s time we start having these discussions with our doctors.
And maybe our doctors need to be getting more informed as well.
The Benefits of Telehealth
March 11, 2008
If necessity is the mother of invention, then it should be no surprise the innovative world of computer science and technology is being harnessed to help bring down health care costs.
Telehealth - or remote patient monitoring - refers to when medical experts use a digital network (like the internet or telephone lines) to provide automated monitoring and treatment delivery to a patient who is in a different physical location. This can range from email messages of basic care instructions to remote robotic surgery.
Nurses Prefer Contact to Computers
January 9, 2008
Picture yourself in a hospital bed. Unpleasant, for sure. But aside from family and maybe friends and a super-competent doctor, what’s the most reassuring presence? A nurse. Nurses are often the lifeblood of hospital care - performing the doctors instructions, making sure you’re as comfortable as possible, administering the pain meds and fetching an extra blanket. But the question is now becoming: would you rather have a nurse hovering over you or hovering over a computer? As hospitals move to adopt new technology to help insure quality of care and to reduce medical errors, nurses find they’re getting more and more face-time with a computer screen than with their patients.
Microsoft Launches HealthVault
November 26, 2007
Microsoft has done it again. While Americans have been hearing inklings of the progress being made on digitizing their health records for a decade, that day may be fast approaching. Banks and retailers have long known how to provide account access to consumers through the internet. But a large majority of doctors’ offices and hospitals use paper records only. While there have always been privacy concerns about storing a patient’s medical history online, the benefits of doing so are compelling.
- What if you could access your cholesterol levels or immunizations online, without having to call your doctor?
Collaboration Saves Lives
October 29, 2007
USA Today has an article, Atlanta becomes a template for improving EMS, about the city-wide collaboration to improve emergency response. The results are pretty impressive.
“Since September 2005, the survival rate for such patients in Atlanta has jumped from less than 3% to 15%. That’s well above the 6% to 10% survival rate for most cities that was identified in a 2003 analysis by USA TODAY.”
It is impressive that the Mayor of Atlanta took the initiative to improve the city’s emergency response. The program involves using technology to better coordinate data between EMS, 911 call centers and hospitals to better track success rates.
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