Analyzing Trends in Dollars Spent for Back & Neck Conditions

April 1, 2013

The costs associated with providing medical care for back and neck conditions are increasing, particularly with regard to medical specialist care. Preparing physicians for this growing economic burden and managing these conditions is paramount.

Total Knee Arthroplasty Among Medicare Beneficiaries

February 19, 2013

While hospital length of stay for total knee arthroplasty is decreasing, hospital readmission rates and infectious complication rates appear to be increasing.

Updated Guidelines for RA Treatment

February 11, 2013

The ACR update re-emphasizes the importance of aggressive treatment in early RA. In addition to better outcomes, early intensive treatment can help patients maintain physical function and quality of life.

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Updated Guidelines for RA Treatment

The ACR update re-emphasizes the importance of aggressive treatment in early RA. In addition to better outcomes, early intensive treatment can help patients maintain physical function and quality of life.

Updating Osteoarthritis Treatment Recommendations

December 26, 2012

New therapies for osteoarthritis and additional information on the safety and acceptability of existing therapies for patients with the condition have emerged.

Acute Pain Management in the ED

June 26, 2012

Research has shown that ED physicians often fail to provide adequate analgesia to their patients. Pain management, particularly acute pain, is a subject not often taught within most medical school programs.

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BLOG

Are You Afraid To Be Wrong?

May 31, 2012

Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal, wrote a thoughtful essay offering guidance for new medical students. (Full text here.) Although it was published in 2003, someone just brought it to my attention via Twitter.

Dr. Smith lists many pearls of wisdom in a scholarly and lightly humorous way.…

Most Americans Using Alternative Therapies: Consumer Reports

August 5, 2011

A Consumer Reports survey found that while most Americans would choose prescription drugs to treat 12 common conditions, roughly 75% partake in alternative therapies, such as yoga and acupuncture.…

5 Strategies for Changing Anesthesia Providers

July 16, 2011

For hospitals grappling with the question of whether it’s time to find a new anesthesia provider, a white paper published July 12 by Somnia Anesthesia highlights the “best practices” for those looking to make the switch. The paper also reviews signs that indicate a change may be due and explores how to identify and bring a new anesthesia provider onboard.…

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NEWS BRIEFS

Assessing Self-Management for Lower Back Pain

January 17, 2013

Self-management of lower back pain appears to have only small effects on pain and disability, according to findings from a systematic review. Analyses of 13 trials found little improvement in pain and disability, suggesting that treatment guidelines that endorse self-management strategies should be reassessed.…

Migraine Prevalence, Celiac Disease, & IBD

January 3, 2013

When compared with healthy controls, patients with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity (GS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) appear to have a higher prevalence of migraine. Investigators from New York noted that migraine was graded as severe by 72% of patients with celiac disease, compared with 60% for those with GS and 30% for those with IBD.…

Evaluating Online Scoliosis Info

December 6, 2012

An exploration of the top 100 websites from searches of “scoliosis” using the five most commonly used search engines suggests that the overall quality of information on the condition appears to be poor despite exponential growth in the number of available sites in recent years.…

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