general, news & gossip

The Wellsphere Blogging Controversy

You may have heard of the Wellsphere blogging controversy (if not, here’s one take on the issue, and here’s another from a different perspective). In a nutshell, Wellsphere went to bloggers in the health world and asked them if they could syndicate their blog entries on the Wellsphere website. In exchange, Wellsphere promised no cash, [...]

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found on the net, positive patterns, trends & principles

Computers reduce odds of in-hospital deaths

This reinforces my repeated assertion that healthcare is far, far behind ordinary enterprise in adoption of practices that work: “When computers replace paper, patient mortality rates drop 15% during hospitalization, among other metrics, according to a study of 41 Texas hospitals by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers published in the Archives of Internal [...]

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chapter reviews

The e-patient white paper: Seven Preliminary Conclusions

One year ago today I finished reading e-Patients: How they can help us heal healthcare, the e-patient white paper. It turned my head around because although I’d experienced excellent care in almost all ways, it showed that I as a patient have far more to contribute than I ever would have imagined. The people who [...]

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found on the net, understanding statistics

Clinical trials: Unfavorable results often go unpublished (Science Blog)

E-Patient Dave spotted an informative post on the Science Blog about an inherent shortcoming of the publication process: failed trials don’t get published, so others don’t have the chance to learn from them. His post about it here. (Where did he learn about it? In his patient-to-patient peer community, on ACOR. E-patients on the hoof!)

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e-patient stories, e-pts resources, general, hc's problem list, news & gossip, policy issues, positive patterns, reforming hc, trends & principles

Moving from “medicine as individual heroism” to “medicine as a team sport”

This topic isn’t directly in our wheelhouse here in the e-patient movement (“empowered, engaged, equipped and enabled”), but as I continue one patient’s odyssey in learning about healthcare, a discussion on Paul Levy’s blog has taught me a lot. So I’m posting it for other interested patients. It’s on his post What does it take? [...]

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e-pts resources, hc's problem list, news & gossip, policy issues, reforming hc, trends & principles

An e-patient call to arms

E-patients, this is a call to action. Now. I want you to go express yourself on Paul Levy’s blog. Most readers of health policy blogs know what a costly, inefficient mess healthcare in America has become. Paul Levy would like the people in his business to work together to fix that. Wouldn’t that be nice? [...]

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found on the net

Health Care Law Slides

Bob Coffield’s slide set, Consumer Driven Health Care: The Impact of Social Media and Health 2.0, is a lawyer’s eye view of the current market. Plus he included a couple neat Wordles.

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e-patient stories, hc's problem list

In the Spin III: The Smart Resident

My quest for a second qualified opinion on an abnormal mammogram (microcalcifications) began in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Two days before the end of the year, a sharp surgical resident put an end to the spin. The solution was simple – and not high tech. She got on the phone and spoke to the [...]

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general

FDA Gives Light Scrutiny to Investigators’ Financial Ties

Via Twitter, from the Wall Street Journal Health Blog: “The FDA should do a lot more to police potential conflicts of interest among researchers conducting clinical trials of experimental drugs and medical devices, a government watchdog says. Read the report, out today from the office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and [...]

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found on the net

Teens, Sex and Technology

Our own John Grohol has an interesting article up on PsychCentral about teens, sex, technology, and the online disinhibition effect (comments are also open on Well). For us: Does online disinhibition play a role in everyone’s use of online health resources?

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