"Rapid-fire visits with a rotating cast of doctors, nurses, or PAs might be fine for a sprained ankle or strep throat. But they will not replace a physician who tells you to get preventive tests and keeps tabs on your blood pressure and cholesterol — the doctor who knows your health history and has the time to figure out whether the pain in your shoulder is from your basketball game, an aneurysm, or a clogged artery in your heart."

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/lack-of-primary-care-tipping-point/

#healthcare #primarycare #MedEd

Training program focuses on #FamilyDoctors, experts call for overhaul | CTV News https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/new-medical-program-dedicated-to-producing-family-doctors-amid-shortage-1.6549757 ““is a growing sentiment among the public saying ‘what kind of a country are we that lets 20 to 25 percent of our people go without access to care?’ We wouldn't let 20 to 25 percent of our children (go) without access to public schools, we have been able to set up a public school system where everyone has access, why can't we develop systems where every #Canadian has access to #PrimaryCare?”

"Some clear warnings from it: Infants shouldn’t sleep with blankets, stuffed toys, or bumpers that 'can potentially lead to suffocation or strangulation,' said Samantha St. John, program coordinator for Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas. They also should sleep in cribs or bassinets — not on beds with siblings or in parents’ arms."

This is why I love those Finnish baby boxes.

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/safe-infant-sleep-sids-suffocation-strangulation-messaging/

#publichealth #pediatrics #primarycare #backtosleep #sleep

In counterpoint to all that’s nasty these days, returned from summer holidays to a kind letter from patients, thanking me for showing up as an ally at the #Ottawa #trans rights march on Aug 25.

I can’t wait to see my wonderful patients again today - the joy of connection in family medicine - and also back to trustee work this evening.

We can be a caring community.

#InThisTogether
#MaskUp
#transrightsarehumanrights
#primarycare
#familymedicine
#ontario
#onted

"Friday’s warning urges health-care providers to consider the bacteria as a possible cause of infected wounds, particularly if patients were exposed to warm coastal waters during hotter months. 'Extreme weather events, such as coastal floods, hurricanes, and storm surges, can force coastal waters into inland areas, putting people that are exposed to these waters' at increased risk of Vibrio wound infections, the CDC said."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/09/02/cdc-vibrio-vulnificus-bacteria/

#healthcare #primarycare #IDMastodon

Anyone use #freed.ai or other #ai tools to complete #medical notes?
Even in the simpler #DPC model, taking notes is distracting while talking to patients and finishing notes later so that they are useful to others is a time consuming chore.
No relationship to freed.ai nor any other software, just hate this task and starting to read good things from colleagues online.

#primarycare #familymedicine
#internalmedicine #pediatrics #directprimarycare

"The targeted email alert the doctors and nurses...got that day is part of a pilot project run by the nonprofit Climate Central and Harvard University’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, known as C-CHANGE.

Medical clinicians based at 12 community-based clinics in seven states — California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin — are receiving these alerts."

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/when-temps-rise-so-do-medical-risks-should-doctors-and-nurses-talk-more-about-heat/

#primarycare #publichealth #heat #climate #environment

From @STAT:
"A new paper suggests a simple fix to the primary care physician shortage"

TLDR? Have #medicare ( #CMS ) pay them more. #healthinsurance too

This has been discussed in the media and a big subject of advocacy for decades but apparently you can still publish a paper about it now.

#directprimarycare allows physicians and patients to fix #primarycare without waiting for this.
#internalmedicine #pediatrics #familymedicine #medmastodon #RUC #AMA
@missanabeem
https://www-statnews-com.ezproxy.library.tufts.edu/2023/09/01/primary-care-physician-shortage/

"The brown dog tick, one of the species that transmits Rocky Mountain spotted fever, becomes more aggressive toward humans in seeking blood meals in hotter, drier climates, such as that in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, said Backus, who led a 2021 study that found that the ticks are twice as likely to choose humans over dogs when temperatures rise."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/tick-diseases-rocky-mountain-spotted-fever

#publichealth #IDMastodon #primarycare #climate #climatechange #longread

"Some 42 million children who come from low-income families or have a disability are covered by Medicaid and the related Children's Health Insurance Program. Schools offer a convenient setting to provide health care services to many of those kids — in addition to disability services required by law — but many states haven't been taking advantage of funding that's long been available through Medicaid and CHIP."

https://www.axios.com/2023/08/29/medicaid-school-funding-mental-health

#healthcare #pediatrics #primarycare #schools #medicaid

This is a happy story about #2SLGBTQ care.
Trans #primarycare is a delight. It is an honour and joy to get to know patients in family practice over years/multiple generations. Part of our role is to support people’s gender-identity.

When I started family practice, there were only a handful of MDs in the #Ottawa area who provided gender-affirming care. People travelled to Toronto/Montreal.

Today there are many more MDs, RNs, NPs across Ontario and we mentor others.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights

“The #CMA should focus on modern solutions to improve our health care system. #TeamBased #PrimaryCare for everyone in Canada, #UniversalPharmacare, single entry specialist referrals and improving work conditions are just a few #EvidencedBased policy reforms to help.”

"Respiratory syncytial virus is the leading reason for hospitalization among infants in the United States. Between 58,000 and 80,000 children under the age of five, the majority of whom are less than a year old, are hospitalized for it every year.

R.S.V. also results in 60,000 to 160,000 hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths annually in Americans over the age of 65."

https://www.nytimes.com/article/rsv-vaccine.html

#publichealth #vaccines #immunizations #rsv #primarycare

@brianvastag
There are apparently a couple of #directprimarycare or #dpc practices on two of the islands. None listed on Kauai but sometimes these maps and listings aren't up to date so it might be worth calling one listed to see if they have colleagues on your island now.
DPC is a simpler, more affordable way of making the $$ work in primary care (typically about 1/5 of your old doc's new price)

https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com
#primarycare

"Some families facing a diaper crisis can get help from federal assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Women, Infants and Children (WIC), but more families fall in a precarious and often invisible gap: Like Montero, they make 'too much' to qualify for federal aid, but they don’t make enough to meet their children’s basic needs, including diapers."

https://harvardpublichealth.org/equity/america-has-a-diaper-crisis-heres-what-policymakers-can-do/

#publichealth #diapers #pediatrics #primarycare

Signe du double contour…
C’est donc une crise de goutte qui explique ce genou gonflé !!! Vive l’échographie clinique !!!
#pocus #pocusfirst #echographie #medecinegenerale #MastoMed #goat #goutte #primarycare

"Just 34 percent of Americans diagnosed with...hepatitis C — are being cured of the liver infection...The report notes that the current cure rate falls far short of the national goal of at least 80 percent by 2030. That gap exists despite the presence, for nearly a decade, of medication (direct-acting antiviral tablets) that the report describes as 'highly effective hepatitis C treatments.'”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/07/31/hepatitis-low-cure-rate/

#publichealth #IDMastodon #primarycare

Embracing the rich tapestry of primary care: a physician's journey fueled by passion and purpose

#PrimaryCare #PassionAndPurpose #FaithInMedicine #SupportiveFriends #FindingBalance #GardeningTherapy #TravelLove #FamilyTime #BeachLover #LiteratureEnthus

Earl Stewart, Jr. is an internal medicine physician

https://youtube.com/shorts/mV4NJQ7IDos?feature=share

Listen here: https://kevinmd.com/podcast

Navigating burnout: a journey of self-discovery in primary care

#BurnoutJourney #SelfDiscovery #PrimaryCare #MentalHealth #OvercomingChallenges #Autonomy #PhysicianWellbeing #NavigatingBurnout #PersonalGrowth #WorkLifeBalance

Amna Shabbir is an internal medicine physician.

https://youtube.com/shorts/fX5Y5pHkEmw

Listen here: https://kevinmd.com/podcast

Sen. #BernieSanders, I-Vt., has introduced legislation that would fund the expansion of community #health centers and train #primarycare providers as a way to improve access for tens of millions of #Americans who, he says, can’t find a #doctor.
Research suggests that 70 million to 100 million Americans could be unable to find a doctor if they want or need one, figures well within #senSanders’ claim of "tens of millions."
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/jul/28/bernie-sanders/sen-bernie-sanders-says-millions-of-people-cant-fi/