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Preventing chronic pain in lab mice
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareIn the U.S., chronic pain affects more people than cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes combined. When pain is chronic, signaling persists over time and can lead to biochemical changes in the nervous system. Options for treating chronic pain include oral and topical therapies. Other options include physical therapy, exercise, acupuncture, relaxation techniques, and psychological counseling. Effective drugs against chronic pain are not necessarily forthcoming. However, researchers have recently identified a protein as a future potential target for medicinal drugs.
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How you can provide a healing environment at your workplace
Lisa Cole Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWhen I think about a healing environment, rest, beauty and love instantly come to mind. Yet, how often do we encounter any of these three qualities in a typical healthcare encounter? Or in any workplace? Kate Strasburg and Traci Teraoka, co-founders of Healing Environments, spent 15 years creating environments conducive to healing. Let's take up their torch and put on our thinking caps.
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If you’re too much of a people-pleaser, here’s how to fix it
Victoria Fann Mental HealthcareAre you a people-pleaser? Do you have a difficult time saying no? Do you put others' needs first and yours second? Do you have a difficult time being honest about what you want or need? You're not alone. We all do it to some degree. Because we are part of a family, a community and a culture, there is a lot of pressure to fit in, conform and not rock the boat. This can become a pattern, and it can feel daunting to change it because it feels normal, even if it’s also harmful. These simple steps can help you move in a new direction.
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Is your nursing career close to sunset?
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareAs the baby boomer generation ages into retirement or semi-retirement, many aging nurses are facing the potential sunset of their nursing career. Having potentially worked decades in the healthcare arena, leaving the work that has held so much meaning for you as a professional can be a painful crisis of identity. But what if your career as a nurse didn’t have to completely end and you could simply change channels and enter an entirely new iteration of what it means to be you?
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5 ways to help your patients follow a home healthcare plan
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareAs a physician, you know how important it is for your patients to follow your instructions when it comes to carrying out health recommendations on their own — and you also know a lot of folks simply don't do it right. Whether they ignore your instructions, follow a care plan incorrectly, or lose motivation to keep up with their meds or healthy practices, you have more control than you think when it comes to making your orders clear and keeping your patients motivated. How? Follow this advice.
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Auto-generated email messages from EHRs can contribute to physician burnout
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationThe time physicians spend on desktop medicine appears to be increasing compared to the amount of time they can spend with patients. The cause of this switch is the obvious current enemy of healthcare: electronic health record (EHR) documentation. In particular, it’s the emails generated by EHRs that are the problem. According to a new study, physicians' EHR inboxes are stuffed with system-generated messages on behalf of the electronic health records they are operating within their organizations, which can lead to job dissatisfaction and even burnout, Health Affairs reported.
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Study: Cannabis use may help consumers avoid opioids
Sheilamary Koch PharmaceuticalCannabis use for symptom relief among recreational users may help diminish opioid consumption, promise results of a study published recently in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. A staggering 88% of adults who had been taking opioids for pain relief reported that they had reduced or completely eliminated opioid use in favor of cannabis. The research was based on an anonymous survey of 1,000 adult-use-only cannabis dispensary customers conducted as part of a customer feedback program at two retail outlets of a Colorado cannabis dispensary organization.
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Teachable moments through death
Lisa Cole Medical & Allied Healthcare"So how can we possibly incorporate some of the contemplative care practices we learned at ‘Being With Dying’ into real-life clinical practice? There's absolutely no time," he bemoaned. He was the director of medical education at a large teaching hospital. He also worked there as an attending MD — with outstanding teaching accolades. I had given him a call after attending one of the earlier iterations of this professional training program for clinicians. "Let's see," I said as he challenged me with an invite to participate in ICU rounds.
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Simple tips to refresh, refocus your mind before returning to school
Sheilamary Koch EducationWhether summer break for you includes travel or just a change in routine, you can increase your enjoyment of it with these simple mindfulness practices. Beyond a multitude of health benefits associated with mindfulness, it is basically an attitudinal shift that promotes greater satisfaction with life. The objective of any mindfulness technique is to maintain a state of alert, focused relaxation by deliberately paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment.
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Trump administration makes another healthcare price transparency push with…
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationThe Trump administration thorn may be officially piercing the side of hospital administrators. As a result of a recent executive order by President Donald Trump, they will be required to make information concerning their negotiated rates with insurers public. Providers and payers will be ordered to give patients estimates for out-of-pocket costs for procedures in advance of the procedure, according to the order. Trump signed the order June 24. The idea is that if people can shop around, market forces may drive down costs.
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