Just for the fun of it I Googled (why is the verb still marked as misspelled?!) "Hot topics in medicine" to see what the buzz was. Here are the results: mental health, vaccines, antibiotic use, should providers educate patients via social media (!!!!), is parental smoking child abuse, should you advise patients to drink coffee, do you honor a DNR tattoo (Do Not Resuscitate), is it time to modernize medical organizations (uh....YES!), the Paleo diet being healthier for postmenopausal, overweight women, poly-pharmacy, and legal marijuana.
This year we will explore some of these and more! What do you want to hear about? Meds? Conditions? Lifestyle? Let me know!
Obviously the social media one caught my eye so I clicked the link. There was a 2-question survey asking the following questions: Should doctors and scientists take a more active role in educating the public about medicine and health via social media? and Are you concerned that using social media to educate the public is a professional liability?
The results were what I expected; 85% of respondents said YES! We should take a more active role in educating our patients via social media and 61% said yes, they were concerned about liability. Liability is a major concern; which is why I remind you to follow up with your PCP if anything I have mentioned encourages or concerns you!
An informal poll on the Total Patient Facebook group showed 100% of all 7 voters enjoyed discussing health/wellness/medicine topics! Great! So, what do you want to talk about? Any topics I mentioned above that resonated with you? Anything specific you want to discuss?
Let me know!
Because I read the word coffee, I now need coffee... so I think I am headed there now...
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn your thoughts in modern medical organizations and health care. I would also love to know your thoughts on poverty as it relates to long term health care and urgent/emergency care. Lastly, I would love to know why doctors are often more likely to prescribe steroid ointment for a rash that could be from an allergy, or muscle relaxers for a “possible pulled muscle” that actually turns out to be a misaligned vetabrae pulling on the patients’ back and hip. (These two actually happened in our family and so I just wonder.) Thanks!
Noted!
ReplyDeleteAs far as the personal situations; since I don't know specifics (how long the rash was around, what it looked like, history, etc)I would imagine they were trying to see if it responded to a steroid cream. If it does, great! If not, you move to step 2 and so on. An allergy is completely reasonable and is usually asked about in the visit (any new food/lotion/soap/detergent/recent travel/new clothes/etc).
For the 'misaligned vertebra' (again, without knowing specifics), muscles are tricky. Muscle relaxers are often used and usually the problems resolve. Once the problem doesn't respond, then more investigation (Xrays, MRI, physical therapy, etc) may be necessary.
What I'm getting at is that medicine is often step therapy. Do this first, if it doesn't work, come back and then we'll do step 2. If that doesn't work, then we'll do 3-5; pending insurance. Another BIG component in healthcare these days is insurance. Will they cover it? Even though we know you need an MRI, the insurance will not cover the MRI until steps 1-3 have been met. It's exhausting and frustrating for you (and us). They are essentially telling us what we can and cannot do for our patients.