Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Myths About Health Care Around the World
From the Washington Post, 5 Myths About Health Care Around the World http://bit.ly/2kHpEbHave a look at some somewhat surprising facts below:
Germans can sign up for any of the nation's 200 private health insurance plans - a broader choice than any American has.
In Austria & Germany, if a doctor diagnoses a person as "stressed," medical insurance pays for weekends at a health spa.
In Japan, waiting times are so short that most patients don't bother to make an appointment.
U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; 20 c per $ for nonmedical costs.
Japanese go to the doctor 15 times a year, three times the U.S. rate. They have twice as many MRI scans and X-rays.
In the United States, an MRI scan of the neck costs about $1,500. In Japan, the identical scan costs $98.
"Foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit."
700,000 Americans go into bankruptcy/year because of medical bills. Number of medical bankruptcies = zero in France, Britain, Japan, Germany.
Comments from Twitter:
mariawolters @DrVes rich public insurers help finance those with many high risk, poor clients. Related:
U.S. Life Expectancy Shorter Than 41 Countries
Image source: Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.
Health News of the Day
Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:Darusentan, an endothelin-receptor antagonist, is a new drug for high blood pressure. Darusentan reduces blood pressure in patients who have not attained treatment goal with 3 or more antihypertensives http://bit.ly/153pdqMedical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.
Antivirals did not provide added benefit compared with steroids alone in patients with Bell’s palsy http://bit.ly/2dm6Q
Only 13% of doctors would choose to disclose mental illness to another health professional http://bit.ly/FYjeN
What doctors earn in the UK: 7 doctors at different stages in their careers talk candidly about their income http://bit.ly/EUzNe
University of Chicago researcher dies from infection possibly caused by plague he was studying http://bit.ly/Wht9e
Social networking sites: a novel portal for communication http://bit.ly/18VTdc - The authors made some too optimistic conclusions.
Growing number of drug makers are offering coupons that help reduce the out-of-pocket costs of some prescription drugs http://bit.ly/1fPVJ0
A patient chronicles their anaphylactic reaction to a wasp sting on Flickr http://bit.ly/fne4G - Not safe and definitely not a recommended thing to do.
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Social Media Related Tweets and Insights
From my Twitter account:Twitter Etiquette, Top 10 Dos and Don'ts of Twitter - http://bit.ly/N6XtJTweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.
What level of Twitter user are you? http://bit.ly/2fYVml
"How to Turn Your Camera Phone into a Police-Style Dash Cam" http://bit.ly/qdj8N
Sydney international food festival: food flag ads http://bit.ly/WEjKW
Dan Brown's 20 Worst Sentences" http://bit.ly/1w9Qz
Bent Objects Promo Video http://bit.ly/G8a9C
"The eGFR Consult" - PCP refers an elderly patient to a nephrologist based solely on an eGFR determined to be abnormal http://bit.ly/3WQQS
RT @scanman "Medicolegalspeak Reports http://bit.ly/Vt2Xc My reports aren't like this. Malpractice litigation is almost non-existent here"
Scripps Clinic: What are the goals of your social media program? Is there a particular Social Network that you prefer for your hospital program? http://bit.ly/1cFdiE
Quick primer on the proper way to interact at conferences http://bit.ly/YpgJZ
A family portrait http://bit.ly/1kVDwL
Simple solution to polyuria from China Daily http://bit.ly/33ybV4
An example of a false scientific conclusion... :) http://bit.ly/wmrbG
ePatient Dave: "Give patients (that’s you) access to all their (your) data – so they can help" http://bit.ly/25CDPq
RT @Pogue: "1 million followers today. A little scary: that's more than read the Times, more than watch CNBC, more than read my books..."
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Texting while driving increases crash risk 23 times
From the NY Times:Texting while driving Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin, far surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions. When the drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.
36 states do not ban texting while driving; 14 do, including Alaska, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.
95% of drivers said that texting was unacceptable behavior. Yet 21% had recently texted or e-mailed while driving.
50% of drivers 16 to 24 said they had texted while driving, compared with 22% of drivers 35 to 44.
Related:
CNN: Boston trolley driver was texting at time of crash which injured 20 people http://bit.ly/11vRN6
Stay Alive, Don't Text and Drive
Americans turning their cars into wired offices claiming efficiency far outweigh the risk of a wreck. http://bit.ly/h7PdH
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Video: How to Interview for Medical School
The videos below were created by Nova Southeastern University - College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-COM) to help medical school applicants prepare for their interview at any medical school.
How to Interview for Medical School Part 1
How to Interview for Medical School Part 2
This video is not from NSU-COM:
How to Interview for Medical School: The three A's. ARRIVE on time; your APPEARANCE; your ATTITUDE. It's the biggest day of your working life; do it RIGHT. Prepare.
How to Interview for Medical School Part 1
How to Interview for Medical School Part 2
This video is not from NSU-COM:
How to Interview for Medical School: The three A's. ARRIVE on time; your APPEARANCE; your ATTITUDE. It's the biggest day of your working life; do it RIGHT. Prepare.
Health News of the Day
Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:Touching your nose, mouth, or eyes with your unwashed hand gives you a 31% chance at getting sick with the flu. Having a person sick with the flu cough directly into your face gives you more than a 50% chance of getting sick. Inhaling the tiny particles in the air from a flu-infected person's cough or sneeze gives you a 17% chance of infection http://bit.ly/1YU9E
Medical Editors Push for Ghostwriting Crackdown - called "ghostbusting" http://bit.ly/4hmUmb
A 50-year-old smoker with high blood pressure and high cholesterol can expect to die a decade earlier. 3 major risk factors (smoking, HTN, HLP) recorded on a single occasion in middle aged men = 10 years shorter life http://bit.ly/5o2HM
Inhaled Utensil Removed From the Lung of a Patient. The source: Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers http://bit.ly/1KTfk4
Caring for aging parents can quickly put the savings of adult children in jeopardy. NYT http://bit.ly/2sjirn
Farm waste is the biggest polluter of American rivers and is largely unregulated http://bit.ly/3I8NZF
Photos of boxers before and after fight http://bit.ly/2JyATN
Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.
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