Category Archives: medicine

Watch the video of a retrospective of The Cochrane Collaboration’s beginnings and achievements of the past two decades.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a collection of more than 17 million items and their new book, Hidden Treasure, showcases a collection of rare and surprising pieces found in the collection. Michael Sappol is the editor of this fascinating collection and a curator-historian at NLM. Among [...]

UpToDate is now available both on and off campus.  Health practitioners are encouraged to register to gain continuing education (CME/CE/CPD ) credit and other benefits. However, users can skip registration and use UpToDate anonymously. NOTE:  uptodate.com/online continues to work from devices connected to the university network and  does not prompt for user registration. NOTE to Mobile [...]

“A free source of evidence-based information for health care professionals and for researchers studying liver injury associated with prescription and over-the-counter drugs, herbals, and dietary supplements … LIVERTOX also includes a case registry that will enable scientific analysis and better characterization of the clinical patterns of liver injury.” NIH news release.

Discussion of health literacy in relation to patient-physician communication, encouraging healthy behavior, and the complexity of our healthcare system.

Summary of review of new blood glucose monitoring app using iPhone.

Turkish researchers find the accuracy of ECG interpretations from images sent by cellphone camera show no statistical difference from those read in person by the ER physician. This could enhance medical services in remote areas at low cost.

Patients can ask 3 simple questions to improve doctor-patient communication. And doctors need encouragement and compensation for taking time to assure their patients understand healthcare issues and instructions.

As mentioned previously, health literacy is “the ability to get information, understand it, and use information to lower risk and better health.” People “with low health literacy are more likely to report poor health, have an incomplete understanding of their health problems and treatment, and are at greater risk of hospitalization” (Pawlak, 2005). Many organizations, [...]

The Doctor’s Toolbag is an evidence-based clinical decision support app for iPhone and iPod touch. iMedicalApps offers a good review of its strengths and weaknesses.