By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA

Social media networking is in its infancy which causes hesitation for some doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and organizations.
Social media networking is not just for marketing and product placement.  It’s a place to champion your cause, raise awareness of health issues and help educate patients and health care consumers [...]

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA

Thanks to Laura Landro for shining light on unsafe injections in her WSJ blog, “Unsafe Injection Practices Persist Despite Education Efforts.”
Landro writes:
“A new push is underway to eliminate unsafe injection practices, which remain a persistent safety problem despite years of efforts to educate clinicians about the risks of re-using needles, [...]

Guest post by Miriam E. Tucker
Just as physicians use abbreviations and terminology that sound like a foreign language to outsiders, patients who talk to each other on the Internet (and elsewhere) have developed their own quirky code words and phrases.
Here’s some of the lingo used by those with diabetes:
D-anything – Placing a “d” in front [...]

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA

Information circulating about the dangers of plastic containers has created fear and confusion.
Are plastic containers toxic?  Do harmful chemicals leach out into its contents?   Do we need to discard all plastic containers?
Recently, I interacted in a live health chat on MedHelp about the safety of plastics.  Scientist, Joe Schwarcz, PhD, [...]

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA
Latest egg recall update
Health officials urge consumers to throw away contaminated eggs or return them to the retailer.
Salmonella, the name of a group of bacteria, is the most common cause of food poisoning in the United States. Usually, symptoms last 4-7 days and most people get better without treatment. But, [...]