Many people with arthritis also have depression; this has been known for many years. Now it has been established that anxiety is even more common than depression among arthritis patients. Dr. Elizabeth Lin discusses why and how the mental health problem as well as the physical symptoms need to be addressed and resolved.
ACG 2011 American College of Gastroenterology Highlights of key presentations at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, DC are available here.
MGMA 2011 Medical Group Management Association Updates, policy news, and advice on practice management from the MGMA Annual Conference.
ACC 2011 American College of Cardiology News, resources, and updates from the ACC's 60th Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans are available here.
A 92-year-old woman presented with a 6-month history of progressively worsening fatigue, weight loss, generalized bone pain, and dyspnea on exertion. Click here for the laboratory results. Read more
A middle-age man presents to the ED with intermittent right shoulder pain. A check of his finger strength reveals abnormal looking fingernails. Click here to see how chronic shoulder pain and recent onset of fingernail clubbing relate.Read More
A 58-year-old man presented for care when he noticed a flat, dark area on his left upper arm. The lesion was set against a background of fairly severe photodamage. Family history was positive for melanoma (mother and 1 of 4 sisters).
Ted Rosen, MD, Professor of Dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine, offers bite-size pieces of useful clinical information on the “Top 10” skin disorders you see in your daily practice.
A 50-year-old woman presented with a 5-day history of dull, achy right upper quadrant abdominal pain; it was initially mild but constant and worsened when she ate. Current medications: NuvaRing, fluticasone inhaler, and albuterol inhaler.
A 53-year-old man became concerned when ever-increasing numbers of painful oral lesions developed on the buccal mucosa and tongue. Eating a bland diet did not help.
Anxiety is even more common than depression among people who have arthritis, a new study has shown. Here to discuss the implications for diagnosis and treatment is Eilzabeth Lin MD, a family medicine physician who is a longstanding researcher in the field of depression and pain.
A 76-year-old African American woman presented with complaints of left-sided chest heaviness, dyspnea, and fatigue. The symptoms started the previous day after she used a shovel to kill a snake found on her front porch, which required significant exertion.
Physical Activity and Arthritis Featuring Leigh Callahan, MD, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gout
A Primary Care Primer Featuring Joseph A. Lieberman III, MD, MPH, Professor of Family Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
Your receptionists, telephone operators, schedulers and other staff members – historically called “the front office” – are critical to your practice’s success. Here, practice management advisor Elizabeth Woodcock says it might be time to think about these critical employees in a new light--as directors of high-profile, business-critical functions. Find out why.
Collecting from patients at the time of service can be stressful to medical practice staff. Historically, asking for money seemed almost inappropriate, if not distasteful –a job for the business office, not the front office. Fortunately, staff can learn to take collections more seriously.
Physician Performance Goals Are Great, But Balance Is More Realistic Jennifer Frank, MD, May 15, 2012 Performance measurements for physicians are well-intentioned and get me to rethink how I practice. But in the end I won't make the goals, so I'll have to go with balance over perfection.
Designing the Perfect Business Card for Your Medical Practice C. Noel Henley, MD, May 11, 2012 Does your business card say anything substantive about the valuable work you do in your practice? Here’s how to re-design your next business card for maximum impact and engagement.
Registered Nurses an Ideal Fit for Primary Care Practices Audrey "Christie" McLaughlin, RN, May 10, 2012 Here are four good reasons to hire a registered nurse for your primary care practice …maybe even instead of a medical assistant.
The Five Biggest Medical Practice Marketing Mistakes James Doulgeris, May 10, 2012 There are best practices to marketing your practice, but often, success is more about knowing what not to do. Here are the five most common pitfalls …and how to avoid them.
Can You Practice Medicine and Manage Your Practice? Rosemarie Nelson, May 9, 2012 Whether you practice alone, or in a group, if you're trying to see patients in this pay-for-volume environment and also run the business of your practice, you may be missing out on important opportunities.
Posted by AmmaMD: Oh, yes, I can't believe I didn't have this part in my initial post: congratulations!!!!!!!!!Overwhelmed and scared and happy and everything in between sounds about right. Just like parenting - and medicine - themselves. It'll be great!
Posted by rock_see: My kids were 4 and 2 when I started medical school. Now they are 8, 6, and 3. I don't feel like I missed too much - yes, I missed things, but the sacrifice is worth it overall I think. Granted, I was never someone who wanted to be PTA president. ;) I don't need to be involved in every little thing in my kids' classrooms.1st and 2nd year at my school had a lot of flexibility so I really could have been at most big things for my kids. 3rd year was tough - you will miss important things tha
Posted by tr_: [quote=Apop201X]Perhaps this IS a career choice thing. Of all the women MD/PhD's I know actually using both degrees ie have careers in research as well as clinical duties, only 1 has more than 2 kids. Most have either one or none and given what I've seen of life in academia, I understand it completely.Now that I think about, most of the women I know doing research have only one kid.[/quote]Oh well, I'll raise my hand as an MD-PhD with 2 kids and still hanging on to research by my fingern
Posted by PharmDtoMD: I will be 34 this year -- I typed that wondering if it was correct...and will take the MCAT next Spring.It is NEVER too late until you give up. I figure I will turn 45 regardless,I can be in the same unsatifying career or doing what I truly feel a calling for.check out the oldpremeds.org website also for inspiration...there are people there in the mid-40's starting the journey.
Posted by PharmDtoMD: Last year I thought the same thing (2 boys age 8 & 14 and was trying again)...now I am back--just registered for TPR.If is [i]truly[/i] what you want and dream of or what you have always wanted to do, do it. I am a pharmacist because I had a baby young, now 15 years later and pregnant again, I won't give up my dream. Anyone telling you to try another profession is trying to help, but if you really have a calling to medicine, you will probably regret not doing it and resent your career. I
A 58-year-old man presented for care when he noticed a flat, dark area on his left upper arm. The lesion was set against a background of fairly severe photodamage. Family history was positive for melanoma (mother and 1 of 4 sisters).
Eczema: how to keep patients disease-free after steroids.
This itchy, scaly rash extending from the underarm onto the upper arm was tinea corporis.
The tense bullae shown here and the chronicity of the disease should suggest the diagnosis of bullous pemphigoid.
Ted Rosen, MD, Professor of Dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine, offers bite-size pieces of useful clinical information on the “Top 10” skin disorders you see in your daily practice.
A 50-year-old woman presented with a 5-day history of dull, achy right upper quadrant abdominal pain; it was initially mild but constant and worsened when she ate. Current medications: NuvaRing, fluticasone inhaler, and albuterol inhaler.
A 53-year-old man became concerned when ever-increasing numbers of painful oral lesions developed on the buccal mucosa and tongue. Eating a bland diet did not help.
A 76-year-old African American woman presented with complaints of left-sided chest heaviness, dyspnea, and fatigue. The symptoms started the previous day after she used a shovel to kill a snake found on her front porch, which required significant exertion. 
Your receptionists, telephone operators, schedulers and other staff members – historically called “the front office” – are critical to your practice’s success. Here, practice management advisor Elizabeth Woodcock says it might be time to think about these critical employees in a new light--as directors of high-profile, business-critical functions. Find out why.
There are some special properties of methadone about which prescribers need to be aware to ensure its efficacy and avoid adverse events.
