HealthyConcerns.com

Cool project: Diabetes365

There's a pretty robust diabetes blogging community, led, I'm happy to say, by such powerful women bloggers as Kerri from SixUntilMe and Amy from Diabetes Mine.

Through Kerri I discovered a cool project called Diabetes365. from their "About" description:

This is a group for diabetes-related pictures that you take as a 365-day project.

Basic rules: You must post a daily picture by the end of each week. Number each one consecutively and tag them with 'diabetes365'.

Each daily photo should show some aspect of daily living with diabetes and help explain what it's like to live with diabetes every day of the year.

Let's try and show the world how Diabetes is something that we work at and live with all year round.

You can watch Kerri's slideshow she made of her efforts, which is very cool, and if you click through to her own Flickr set, you can get a little story behind each shot. The S.O. and I spent quite a bit of time clicking through on various pictures and getting the background. I encourage you to do the same.

It's not you, it's me

The good news is: I'm going on a real-live (and real long) vacation next month, a photo safari in South Africa.

The bad news is: That means I'm going to have to get some immunizations.

The good news is that I can inquire about such things by using Kaiser's online message center. And they commit to get back to you within 48 hours.

The bad news is that I submitted my question last Monday and hadn't heard back at all.

The stupid news is that I discovered, when I went back online to my Member Center to fin a phone number to call, that they don't auto-email you when any of your submitted questions receive a response. No, you have to go back and check your message center proactively.

The good news is: When I actually looked my doctor's office had responded the very day I submitted the question!

The bad news is: I let a week go by waiting for an email to show up.  

And while I was stewing about the lack of responsiveness, it wasn't Kaiser; it was me.

Hate it when I'm wrong :)

Anyway, called Kaiser Travel Clinic to find out what's what, and they'll be calling me back in the morning. Nobody likes shots, and it looks like I'll have to get a bunch. Hope it's worth being a human pincushion for!

Vote: Good idea/bad idea?

I gotta ask: Will this teddy bear-shaped blood bag designed for use in pediatric wards make kids feel all comforted and cozy?

Or scare the living daylights out of them, giving them nightmares about bloodthirsty teddy bears coming to life and wanting to swallow all their blood?

I'm just asking. Is that so wrong?

Hat tip: Kevin MD.

What do you think of Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General?

Well, to answer that question, perhaps first you need to know what the Surgeon General actually does. So, for that, you might want to go read the interview Dr. Val does with the 17th Surgeon General of the US, Richard Carmona. 

Now, Dr. Val is clearly not too hep to the idea of Gupta as SG.

But not everyone is so automatically opposed. You can find people on both sides of the argument in the comment thread on this Kevin MD post.

And Robert Laszewski over at Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review actually claims Sanjay Gupta could be a great pick for Surgeon General.

But then there's recent Nobelist and current NY Times columnist Paul Krugman telling us the trouble with Sanjay Gupta.

Not to mention the Daily Green seeming to have strong feelings about it, as evidenced by the post The 6 Most Idiotic Positions of Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Gee, tell us how you really feel.

I really can't say I know what to think. I can't say I think much about the Surgeon General. The only two I can name are C. Everett Koop and Jocelyn Elders. And I can't understand exactly why Obama would expend a controversial selection on such a low-profile role?

All very odd. Your thoughts?

If you're a nurse, you are in demand...for now

One of my favorite jokes goes as follows:

A man dies and much to his surprise he is met by both the devil and God. They tell him he gets to visit both heaven and hell as a tourist and then choose where he belongs. Well, this was quite surprising to him, but pretty exciting. I mean who knew, right?

So he decides to go with a bad new first approach and visits Hell. Again, much to his surprise, Hell seems mostly to be about wine,women and song. Or maybe like Vegas, but whatever the analogy, it was actually a lot of fun.

Then he visits Heaven. Lots of people dressed in white robes sitting around, maybe playing a little harp, but otherwise...a bit of a snooze.

So, when the man returns to the waiting devil and God, it seems like a no-brainer and he chooses Hell.

The devil claps him on the back saying "I knew you were a smart man", and with a snap of his cloven hoof they are back in Hell. Only this time it was quite different...this time there was all the fire and brimstone you might expect...agony, abject fear, the works.

The guy recoils in horror and says, "Hey what is all this? This isn't at all what it was like yesterday!!"

And the devil said, "Yes, but yesterday you were a prospect. Today you are a customer."

This joke ran through my mind when reading this article about the nursing shortage and the desperate measures some organizations are taking to recruit nurses.

Of course at least one blogger thinks fancy recruiting strategies are pretty useless, if ongoing working conditions suck. Retention is the ultimate recruitment, in other words. Makes sense to me. 

I'm hiring for a key position at my company right now, and I've been struck by how all the second round candidates have told me about how impressed they've been to meet the other members of our team during that second round (they met only me for a first round) and see their passion and commitment. Meeting our team was, I believe, a big plus and will help me in my recruitment.

I wonder if these institutions are able to use their current staff as recruitment tools? If not, it's no wonder they're in trouble.

Hat tip: Kevin MD.

Healthy Concerns still somewhat unusual

Or at least, I think it must be, because how else can I explain being honored with inclusion in this 100 Best Health Care Policy Blogs list from the Radiology Technician Schools site?

It used to be unusual that I was a layperson blogging about health at all. But now there are lots of "PatientBloggers".  However, most of them blog about a particular condition from which they suffer...whether chronic or acute.

I blog randomly about my random thoughts about health care, coverage, politics etc.

And in that, I think, I am still unusual :)

Thanks RT folks!

Where my MedBloggers at when it comes to Steve Jobs?

So Steve Jobs, reluctantly and begrudgingly, posted an open letter about his health today.

In it he states:

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

So, I have been scanning my MedBlogger folder in my RSS reader, waitig for the speculation and commentary on what he may be suffering from, and what the referred to treatment might be.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. 

OK, I only follow about a dozen these days, but still...some of the top ones there are.

Where my MedBloggers at?

Bucking the trend and praising the U.S. health care system?

Recently the Obama transition team asked Americans to get together, talk about health care in America and report back the thoughts, ideas and suggestions from such meetings. You can read more about the questions the Obama campaign suggested as discussion points here, but they range from defining the biggest current problem in our system to questions about how each group thinks public policy can actually help to questions delving into what kind of care people had gotten, and how they had health insurance to begin with.

Dr. Val Jones from Better Health held one such group, and her report on it is interesting, mostly because she seems to feel that most of us take a glass half empty approach to looking at our health care system, while she definitely sees the glass half full

She says: "Although we had been instructed to compile a list of compelling stories about system failures – instead we decided to be rebellious and discuss “what’s right with the healthcare system” and compile a list of best practices" 

But reading the suggestion question list (again, excerpted here) sounds like they weren't exactly the crazy rebels they wanted to paint themselves as. Yes, there were questions asking to illustrate a system gone wrong, but mostly the question guide seems to want to delve into finding out what people want and what they would consider best practices to be. As an employer I found it particularly interesting that the Obama team wanted to know if people in the room knew how much their employers paid for the health care benefits they, as employees, received. I'm betting most have no idea whatsoever. 

Anyway, Val goes on to list 10 good things. She mentions Kaiser Permanente a few times, which interested me, since they're my provider. I'm actually quite satisfied with the care and coverage I've received as a long-time Kaiser customer, but let's be clear that I (knock on wood) haven't taxed them too hard.

A couple of the items on the list have nothing to do with the American health care system per se. I wouldn't consider #4-Social Media, for example, an American health care system feature or innovation, those same apps (and people participating on them) are available worldwide. 

And one other big blind spot about the list is that some of the positives listed are only available if you already have insurance. Which is awesome, but I think it's a given that most of us consider the number of Americans who do not have insurance to be one of the biggest problems and burdens on the system. I find it unintentionally ironic (or maybe I mean oxymoronic) to refer to "democratic" accessibility, which just happens to be limited to those already with coverage.

I think most of us who are looking at our system as glass half empty are doing so because it seems un-American to be satisfied with being able to make a list such as Val's, knowing it doesn't even apply to so many people. 

Here's my analogy: Would you go to a Club Med resort in the middle of an impoverished region (as many of them are) and tout the availability of fresh, potable water within the resort's confines as one of the things that country's government was doing really well...while people died every day outside its walls from the lack of clean drinking water? I don't think so...the pride about providing for resort-goers might be mitigated just a bit by shame over being unable to take care of the rest of your countrymen and women.

So, what I would have liked to see close out Val's list was at least one idea, from what sounds like an esteemed group gathered at her house, about how to truly democratize those great things happening in our health care system. And how to improve accessibility for those uncovered and level of coverage to those under-covered.

Isn't THAT the biggest challenge the Obama administration faces?

Val: How about a sequel? :)