A Nurse Practitioner's View

I check out many health-related websites on a daily basis. I click on links from Twitter and Linked In and see the entrepreneurial ventures of fellow health care professionals. One of the things that irks me of late is the random stock image of health care "professionals" posted throughout websites (for example see below). This woman has been featured on more websites that I can count. It's not that I doubt her professional credentials - she seems to at least have a legitimate Littman-type stethoscope and upgraded smoke finished clipboard. But is it that hard to post a picture of actual clinicians today? When we talk about patient-centered care, I believe patients deserve to see an actual image of their provider rather than the random clip-board touting, lab-coat wearing stock image that graces so many websites. I hope this woman is at least getting royalties from gracing so many sites!  So please, if you have a website and are a healthcare professional or entity, ple...

Lately, there has been increased emphasis on "preventative" care in the US now that there are some  mandates  under the Affordable Care Act. There is even the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force ( USPSTF ) which is a panel of private sector experts who recommend evidence based preventative screenings for certain conditions based on factors such as age and gender. As a family nurse practitioner, I base a large part of my practice on wellness and prevention in addition to episodic (or "sick") care. I believe in "wholistic" care - that is, care of the whole person including mental and physical states. Though lately, I question whether if "preventative" is really the best moniker for this type of care. Prevention assumes that one can completely avoid health conditions by subscribing to certain recommendations, screenings and/or tests. Is it naive or even obnoxious to think that we can prevent disease and illness? I have seen many patients follow a...

I am a huge baseball fan and my favorite team is the NY Yankees. Star third baseman Alex Rodriguez was recently diagnosed with a slight meniscus tear of his right knee. He has played through some pain over the last few weeks and was given conservative treatment by the Yankee training staff up until the point that it didn't really improve. Check out this timeline of events: Friday 7/8/2011 - MRI reveals meniscal tear. I presume the team physician recommends surgery. Sunday 7/10/2011 - A Rod gets a second opinion on SUNDAY with Dr. Lee Kaplan of Miami. Monday 7/11/2011 - A Rod has successful surgery and is expecting 4 - 6 weeks of rehabilitation. That is what I call access to care! From MRI to second opinion to surgery was a cool 72 hours (I surmise that he also needed a pre-op clearance thrown in there as well). Yes, he is arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game and is also the highest paid player but it is amazing how anyone can get a second opinion ...