Patients don’t choose the days they get sick.

There are several studies, specifically dealing with heart attacks, showing that the mortality rate increases when a patient visits the hospital during the weekend.

It appears that the same goes for upper GI bleeding. MedPage Today discusses a recent study showing that “patients with nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage had a 22% increased mortality risk on weekends, and (more…)

According to a recent study looking at the Medicare population, the answer appears to be yes.

MedPage Today reports a study showing that elderly white patients had colon cancer screening rates ranging from 39 to 47 percent, compared to 29 to 38 percent in blacks and 23 to 33 percent in Hispanics.

First off, all those rates are dismally low. There should be no reason that colon cancer screening rates are below 50 percent.
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The answer is cost.

Because the costly treatment isn’t often covered by insurance, doctors are sometimes pressured by patients to implant more than one embryo per cycle.

Since a single cycle can cost as much as $12,000, and those who aren’t successful often keep on trying, the cost of having a baby can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As this reproductive endocrinologist recounts, one woman pressured (more…)

In a time of change, this is the time to boost the numbers of minority physicians. According to a 2004 survey from the American Association of Medical Colleges, only 3.5% of U.S. physicians are black, while blacks make up 12.3% of the U.S. population. There is also a similar gap among Hispanic doctors and the Hispanic population in the United States. In 1975, the proportion of medical school (more…)

I thought I will throw this in as we prepare for our Christmas dinners. Sandy Procter, a nutrition specialist at Kansas State Research and Extension-ShawneeCounty, said: “Children who eat with the family are likely to eat more nutritiously than those who don’t.” Which means that after the Holidays, make sure we eat with our children most of the nights, regardless of work schedules. She further added: “Children really (more…)

At least my job is secure.

Stanford’s Spyros Andreopoulos writes an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle chronicling the primary care shortage. Nothing new for regular readers here, just this tidbit mentioning that “Obama’s health plan will increase the workload of existing primary care physicians by 29 percent between now and the next 15 years.”

For doctors already seeing 30 patients a day, that means an additional 9 office (more…)

I don’t know about you, but I have always enjoyed a handful of nuts here and there, especially when I need something to tide me over to the next meal. In a study, appearing Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Spanish researchers report that adding nuts performed better than boosting the olive oil in a typical Mediterranean diet. However, they indicated that both diet types reduced the heart risks known as metabolic (more…)

You probably have heard this before, and yes new studies indicate that it is good for you, especially those that are obese. Australian researchers found that higher-protein meals may help overweight and obese people burn more fat by adjusting the their fat-burning deficit.

Dr. Marijka Batterham, of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, said: “Our research suggests that people with higher body fat burn fat better after (more…)

You probably have heard this before, and yes new studies indicate that it is good for you, especially those that are obese. Australian researchers found that higher-protein meals may help overweight and obese people burn more fat by adjusting the their fat-burning deficit.

Dr. Marijka Batterham, of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, said: “Our research suggests that people with higher body fat burn fat better after (more…)