Guest Post By Alan Greene, MD Participatory Medicine and the e-Patient Right before our eyes there’s a dark hole in what we see. Not only don’t we see some of what’s right in front of our face, but we don’t even notice the gap. Our illusion of a seamless visual world is so strong that scientists used to think that the spot where our optic nerve enters the back of each eye gave us our…
Read More...How the Nursing Shortage Affects YOU
Tips on how to help yourself, and our hardworking nurses Guest Post by Deborah O’Leary As the health care reform debate ebbs and flows, and then ebbs some more, you may not be thinking very much about the nursing shortage, and how it could possibly affect you. In fact, in the current economic climate, when unemployment seems high and many hospitals seem to actually to be cutting back, you may not have realized that there…
Read More...Make the Most of the 15 Minute Office Visit with Your Doctor
Part 1 By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Kevin Pho, MD, primary care physician in Nashua, N.H., blogs at KevinMD.com, member of USA TODAY’S board of contributors and a guest to the Health in 30® Radio Show, writes about the importance of doctors engaging in social media to communicate with patients. He writes in an op-ed in USA TODAY “Doctors ignore Internet at their own peril” on January 27, 2010: “Raise your hand if you’ve…
Read More...How to be an Empowered Health Consumer
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Empowered health consumers know how to take charge of their health and are proactive in their care. Whether they’re surfing the web for health information, visiting their doctor or health care professional, or a patient in the hospital; empowered health consumers know how to question and communicate. This blog is a continuation of the “He Said, She Said” post where I promised to give you tips about how to…
Read More...H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Follow-up: Our Reader Writes…
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA — Ms. Parker writes: “Thank you again for your answers, you have been so very helpful in my decision to get vaccinated against swine flu. I am proud to say I received the vaccine a few days ago and everything was absolutely fine, I had no side effects at all. I am otherwise very healthy other than asthma but being vaccinated has given me peace of mind and will…
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