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The rise of the artificial disc
Heidi DawsonA degenerative intervertebral disc is the most common diagnosis in cases of chronic lumbar pain. Constant pressure from above, coupled with shearing forces and absorbing repeated impacts causes weakening of the annulus, which may eventually lead to a herniation of the central nucleus. Pain then becomes more acute and more difficult to treat conservatively.
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Feng shui: Creating the right environment for your medical office
Jessica TaylorTake a minute to look around your office. Is it appealing to your patients? Does it promote well-being? Believe it or not, your office layout affects your work life as well as your patients; feng shui can also affect you, your patients and staff. How a space feels affects how people respond at a conscious and unconscious level, says feng shui consultant and lecturer Linda Varone, RN, MA, CFS .
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How to operate a successful urgent care center
Dorothy L. TenglerIn a growing trend, consumers are increasingly turning to walk-in clinics and urgent care centers for treatment of minor ailments and injuries instead of trying to squeeze in an appointment with a primary care provider or waiting at a crowded emergency room. Although urgent care centers are a win-win situation for owners and their communities, they are not immune from the business start-up statistics — 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first five years because of management mistakes.
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Workgroup recommends limited health IT regulation by FDA
Pamela Lewis DolanAs a general rule, health information technology should not be subject to premarket regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. But there should be exceptions for high-risk products and situations. This is according to the final recommendations for a risk-based regulatory framework for health IT adopted by the Health IT Policy Committee, a group of industry stakeholders convened to advise federal officials on a nationwide health IT infrastructure.
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The future of the air medical services workforce
Darla FerraraAir medical services are an integrated element in the emergency medical system. The practice of using aviation to transport trauma patients began with the military, but today helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft can be the best — or sometimes the only — transportation available to patients in rural areas.
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How much are you leaving on the table? Improving your practice’s…
By David B. Mandell, JD, MBA, and Carole Foos, CPAThere is truly no better time than now over the last 30 years to focus on post-tax efficiency. As you likely know, when President Obama signed the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 in early January 2013, taxes increased on high-income taxpayers like many business owners and executives – in some cases, dramatically.
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Apps that could help with ER wait times
Becky BicksThere’s a new development in the mobile world that could end up helping with that ever-present problem of the interminable emergency room wait time. Hospitals and developers across the country have started releasing emergency room wait time apps, which broadcast the average time a patient will have to wait in a specific hospital’s emergency room or in the emergency rooms of hospitals in a specific area.
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Self-care for the caregiver
Karen ChildressYour middle-aged patient is slightly overweight with blood pressure and lipid levels that are both borderline and a lifestyle that’s contributing to all three concerns. He works long hours in a stressful job, doesn't exercise enough, and rarely gets what most people would consider a full night’s sleep.
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Physician assistants and interprofessional education
Maria FrischPhysician Assistants go on to work in a variety of settings – many of which demand an ability to work with diverse sets of professionals. Those who engage in research will discover a culture of funding that necessitates working with an interdisciplinary group of professionals who bring different perspectives and approaches to a problem. Few physician assistants find a career path that limits their professional interactions to only other physician assistants.
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Plan your work and work your plan: 3 tips toward effective execution
Adam C. WrightLeading a team and getting the job done is easier said than done. In today's market-driven economy where everything is about the bottom line, executives cannot afford to waste resources on personnel who do not know how to execute.
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