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Healthcare professionals, take time to transition
Lisa Cole Medical & Allied HealthcareWhether we work on the floor, in a cubicle or in the executive corner office, most of us in healthcare run, run, run all day long. And then, many of us press on and push ourselves at this pace into the wee hours, attending to household and childcare duties on our "second shift." How realistic, given that we're not robots, is it to continually go from "on" to more "on?" Remember that Dunkin’ Donuts ad, "Time to Make the Donuts?" How healthy is that? Healthcare providers, take heed! We need to take time to transition.
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Podcast: A cash practice fueled by Instagram
Jarod Carter MarketingWith over 75,000 followers, Leon Knight gets at least one patient a week directly from Instagram. For a small solo cash practice … that’s huge, especially since he currently does zero paid social media advertising! In this episode, Knight shares with us how he grew such a following, the kind of content that brings in local patients, and what he does with his social media to show that his practice is all about the patient.
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The psychic compost of your healthcare career
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareDoes your healthcare, medical, or nursing career result in psychic, mental, emotional, or spiritual compost that can be used to feed your career and help it come to complete fruition? When a gardener looks at compost, she doesn’t just see dirt, worms, and slimy rotting veggies. Rather, the gardener sees the potential of that compost to become new soil that can nourish her garden and continue the cycle of growth and blossoming. The same can be said of your healthcare career: you can consciously choose for your gains, losses, and stories to feed your career, provide inspiration, and continue to clarify your personal and professional mission.
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The wonder of the vagus nerve and how it impacts your well-being
Victoria Fann Mental HealthcareWhat is the vagus nerve? A 2013 article in Frontiers in Psychiatry describes it this way, "The vagus nerve represents the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, which oversees a vast array of crucial bodily functions, including control of mood, immune response, digestion, and heart rate. It establishes one of the connections between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract and sends information about the state of the inner organs to the brain via afferent fibers." What does this have to do with stress? Everything.
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Study: Teaching hospitals are no more expensive than nonteaching ones
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationWhile the perception may be otherwise, the facts tell us something different: Major teaching hospitals are less expensive compared with nonteaching hospitals over the course of an entire episode of care and the costs incurred at 30 days, researchers found. This the major finding after researchers analyzed 1.2 million Medicare hospitalizations for common medical and surgical conditions. Researchers said that when they expanded the "time window" to 90 days into the episode of care for a surgical procedure and subsequent treatment, spending at major teaching hospitals was actually lower on post-acute care and readmissions than nonteaching hospitals. Initial hospitalizations were more expensive, however.
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Dental professionals support raising legal age for purchasing tobacco to…
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareThe American Dental Association (ADA) recently announced its support for a new bill that would raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21. The ADA praised lawmakers for introducing Senate Bill 1541, the Tobacco-Free Youth Act. "Preventing oral cancer and other tobacco-related diseases has been a longstanding priority for the ADA," said ADA President Jeffrey M. Cole and Executive Director Kathleen T. O’Loughlin.
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5 questions you should always ask your doctor
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareYou want to be as proactive about your health as you possibly can. But did you know that certain questions you never knew you should ask your doctor can actually help he or she diagnose you or provide clearer and more effective treatment options? Whether you're seeing a specialist for the very first time or have concerns you're bringing to the attention of your longtime PCP, there are certain key questions it's good to be curious about — asking them shows you're responsible and want to be fully informed about your own health situation.
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HHS’ ONC division wants streamlined prior authorization, better price…
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationThe United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is having a busy time. In addition to its effort to provide clarity for its interoperability rule, the department announced that it’s looking for ways electronic prior authorization can be improved. Don Rucker, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, said at Academy Health's annual research conference in Washington, D.C., in early June that the current state of prior authorization, including the requirement that providers obtain approval from a patient's insurance before prescribing medication or therapy, is a "non-computerized kabuki of payment" that "needs to get rethought."
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Wellness experts think Twitter CEO’s wellness habits can be harmful,…
Terri Williams Medical & Allied HealthcareOn a recent podcast, billionaire Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, shared several of his wellness habits, including how he only eats one meal per weekday, fasts all weekend, and alternates between saunas and ice baths several times each day. However, wellness experts Addie Greco-Sanchez and Lynne Everatt, co-authors of "The 5-Minute Recharge," believe that some of Dorsey’s habits may be harmful and isolating.
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Pharmacists’ role in promoting patient safety through deprescribing
Sheilamary Koch PharmaceuticalPharmacists are obviously key players in prescribing medications. Now, as medication-related harm impacts aging populations, these same pharmacists are being called to take on an equally crucial role in the deprescribing process. Deprescribing is the planned and supervised identification and reduction or discontinuation of unnecessary, inappropriate or ineffective medications. It is a viable route to consider for patients who are suffering from a number of maladies, including polypharmacy, adverse drug reactions, ineffective treatment, falls, or when the goals of treatment have changed, note medical researchers from the Centre for Education and Research on Ageing at the University of Sydney.
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