As a dental professional, you’re probably well aware that patients don’t always prioritize keeping up with their appointments. Busy schedules, negative past experiences and even dental phobia can cause people to put off the visits that keep you in business. Setting your dental practice apart from the competition can help you create a loyal patient base […]
Like many acute care facilities around the country, the Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas, Texas sees a lot of patients with heart-related ailments. Following a cardiac event, the practices of follow-up monitoring, ensuring medication adherence, and identifying high-risk patient populations are all instrumental in reducing readmission risk. A study from December 2013 examined the […]
Bryan Vartabedian, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist practicing in the Woodlands, Texas, has a bone to pick with eosinophils. A type of white blood cell that can be elevated in patients with inflammatory bowel conditions like milk allergies or Crohn’s, Vartabedian has found himself repeatedly explaining to anxious parents who have Googled test results that their […]
Robert was the picture of health. He had run eight marathons and finished countless 5K and 10K races. He tracked everything from sleep to food intake, logging his exercise parameters religiously. A seven minute mile was a routine workout for Robert. But over the course of a few days, he noticed that he felt more winded during his run. One morning, when he awoke and checked his heart rate variability (HRV), it revealed a unusual drop. His VO2 max had also fallen considerably. So Robert sent an email to his physician, sharing his data and concerns. His doctor was also a runner, and loved when his patients armed him with data that enabled him to treat them. Read more...
Back in medical school, I always heard how hard it was for patients to get in to see a doctor in dermatology, my chosen field. It was a refrain I often found a little difficult to believe, considering how many newly minted dermatologists graduate each year, not to mention how this specialty usually can see…
Recent news stories have catapulted the value of providing “mindfulness” and the health community is paying attention. Clinically introduced by Dr. John Kabat-Zinn in 1979, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) brings together mindfulness meditation, body scanning and simple yoga postures over an eight-week training program. Participants are taught that they can decrease their response to stress through “moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness.” Compelling research studies published in 2015 show MBSR is effective for veterans with PTSD, relief of depression and anxiety among patients with cancer, a better quality of life for individuals living with inflammatory bowel disease, treatment of insomnia, alleviation of depression in the elderly living in nursing homes, and decreasing chronic low back pain. Read more...
I was at a dinner meeting for our hospital last week, and before everyone went in to sit at their tables and hear the evening’s speeches, there was some time for the usual networking over wine in the reception room. I got chatting with an established local primary care physician. A respected member of the hospital staff who has been in practice for over 30 years. He’s quite a presence and a great clinician, someone who still finds himself coming into the hospital to work on various administrative duties. I expect every hospital in the country has characters like him wandering around. Read more...
To any physician, the fact that patients aren’t always entirely honest about their health concerns will come as no surprise. Health issues are tremendously personal, and we all know how challenging they can be to discuss. Yet the more detailed and accurate the doctor-patient relationship becomes, the better equipped both parties are for success. Read more...