Tagcloud

abortion, absenteeism, addiction, advocacy, ageing, AIDS, alcohol, allergy, alternative medicine, Alzheimer's disease, ambulance, An Bord Pleanála, anaesthetist, arthritis, assaults, asthma, autism, bacteria, beds, bedside manner, Bertie Ahern, biomedicine, blogs, Boston v Berlin, breast cancer, Brendan Drumm, Brian Cowen, budget, bureaucracy, cance, cancer, cannabis, capacity, cardiovascular, castration, Central Statistics Office (CSO), cervical cancer, charity, chemotherapy, children, children's hospice, Chlamydia, chronic disease management, chronic fatigue syndrome, Cigarettes, clinical trials, Clostridium difficile, co-location, colon cancer, colorectal surgery, community care, Competence Assurance, condoms, consent, consultants, contraception, contract negotiations, contracts, cosmetic surgery, courts, Crohn's disease, Crumlin Hospital, CSO, cystic fibrosis, data, death, dementia, denial, dentists, Department of Health, depression, developers, diabetes, diagnosis, diet, disability, doctors, Down's Syndrome, drugs, Drumm, Dáil, EDs, education, elderly, election, elective surgery, electronic patient record, embryo, emergency medicine, Enda Kenny, erectile dysfunction, ethics, euthanasia, evolution, exercise, FDA, fertility, Fertility, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Freedom of Information, fun, funding, GAA, gastrointestinal surgery, genetics, golf, GPs, haematology, health, health & safety, health boards, health insurance, Health Service Executive, health tourism, healthcare, heart, hepatitis, hiccups, HIQA, HIV/AIDS, holistic, homicide, hospital, hospitals, HPSC, HPV, hse, HSE, hygiene, ICGP, ICT, IHCA, immunisation, IMO, industrial action, influenza, insomnia, intensive care, Irish Healthcare Awards, IT, IVD, IVF, JAMA, James Reilly, kidney, Labour Party, laparoscopy, Lisbon Treaty, lung cancer, management, Mary Harney, ME, media, Medical Council, medical press, medical profession, medicine, medico-legal, men's health, meningitis, mental health, mind, Minister for Finance, miscarriage, mortality, MRI, MRSA, MS, MSF, National Cancer Control Programme, NCCP, NCHDs, neonatal care, neuroscience, New England Journal of Medicine, NHS, nicotine, Nobel Prize, non-EU, Northeast, northern ireland, nurses, nursing, nursing homes, obesity, obstetrics, Oireachtas, oncology, ophthalmology, organs, orgasm, osteoporosis, Padraig Harrington, paediatics, pain relief, palliative care, pandemic, paramedic, pathology, patients, PCRS, PDs, personalised medicine, PET, pharmaceuticals, pharmacists, physicians, placebo, plastic surgery, politicians, politics, PPARS, PPR, PR, PR speak, pregnancy, premature birth, prescribing, press releases, prevention, primary care, primary care teams, privatisation, Professional Practice Review, Progressive Democrats, prostate cancer, psychiatry, psychology, Public Accounts Committee, public health, radiology, radiotherapy, RCPI, RCSI, recession, recruitment, regulation, research, risk equalisation, RTAs, RTE, safety, screening, SDLP, self-harm, sex, sexual assault, sick notes, Sinn Féin, Six Counties, sleep, smoking, Spinal injury, sport, stem cells, STI, stress, strike, stroke, subvention, suicide, sun, sunblock, sunburn, surgeon general, surgery, swine flu update, Taoiseach, tenders, testicles, the Greens, The Irish News, Tim O'Malley, tobacco, trade unions, traffic accidents, transplantation, trivia, UCC, UK, Ulster, underweight, urology, US, vaccine, Vhi, viagra, Vincent Sheridan, virology, virus, vodka, waiting lists, Well Woman centre, whiskey, wine, women

The Irish Medical Times Blog: June 2008

NHS hospitals go Big Brother

Patients in the UK won't get to completely eliminate hospitals, but now their votes will mean fines and pay rewards, following the publication of a report, Higher Quality for All, by the Health Minister, Lord Darzi. “For the first time,... Read more

UK moves to one-egg IVF strategy

Fertility experts in the UK have recommended that a one-egg approach to IVF be used in order to reduce multiple births, the BBC is reporting.... Read more

Medical myths: some you never heard of

Something to distract you on the weekend. Did you know: Intelligence and myopia go together because the growth of both the brain and the eyes has a common genetic base. Crucially, the genes responsible for myopia have to be turned... Read more

Why won't the HSE accept its own figures?

There were 1,236 fewer people in possession of a full medical card in Co Donegal on June 1 this year compared to a month earlier. That is a fact. The Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) said so. It should know,... Read more

How much do you know about sexual health?

Did you know, for instance, that a pilot must wait four hours after taking Viagra before flying a plane? Take the Discover Health Sexual Health Quiz and learn what percentage of married women have sex two or more times a... Read more

'The market has failed pregnant women'

The creation of new drugs for pregnant women must not be left to the free market, the editors of PLOS Medicine write. An "analysis of the drug pipeline for obstetric disease between 1980 and 2007 found just 17 new drugs... Read more

How to make your kids eat vegetables

Don't hide healthy vegetables (like pureed spinach, broccoli, etc) in kid-friendly foods like peanut butter in order to get children to eat healthier. It could make them less likely to eat greens as an adult.... Read more

Doctors opt not to use electronic patient records

Even though doctors in the US who use electronic patient records say it has huge benefits for patients, less than one in five have switched from paper, according to a new study published online by the New England Journal of... Read more

Why your dreams are weird

When you dream, your brain retrieves images from the neocortex, not the hippocampus, a new study involving amnesiacs and the computer game Tetris has found. "When the brain is filing away the memories it needs to keep, it has to... Read more

Idiocy and beaver cod

According to my computer's built-in dictionary (I was seeking synonyms for idiocy to moderate an attack on the competency of some hospital managers), "a seventeenth-century antidote to idiocy was to rub the forehead with beaver testicles." I subsequently discovered... Read more

CUH responds to allegations of crisis

Here is the CUH response to the Irish Examiner story in full: Cork University Hospital Refutes Allegations In Staff Email Leaked To Media Cork University Hospital has categorically refuted the allegations made in a news item published on the front... Read more

How to survive a healthcare scandal (only if you're not a patient)

The HSE probably won't try to spin its way out of the horror story that emerged from Cork University Hospital in today's Irish Examiner. But where the HSE cannot fight spin wars, it wages wars of attrition. Here's the story... Read more

Baby declared stillborn 'comes to life'

You may remember the blog earlier this month dealing with a man who came back to life just before doctors were going to remove his organs for transplantation. This story is equally as shocking. A premature baby girl declared stillborn... Read more

It's not promiscuity, it's common sense

Why do women remain interested in uncommitted sexual relationships in countries where there is a high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS? It has something to do with the high rate of nonsexual diseases, and evolution, according to a study in Evolutionary... Read more

5 things first-time parents might not expect from newborns

They don't all come out looking like angels, we're reminded by a CNN article. Don't be afraid.... Read more

Doctors who prescribe placebos - a betrayal of trust?

Is a prescription of a placebo in the course of clinical care (not in clinical trials, of course) an inherent betrayal of the patient's trust, asks Brainblogger. My sense of it? A doctor betrays her own obligations as a physician... Read more

US life expectancy hits record

Great, more Americans. (I'm an American; no need to be offended).... Read more

Confident children make healthier adults - research

A child who displays confidence is more likely to be a healthy adult, according to research in Psychosomatic Medicine. Those who believe they are largely in charge of their lives have an "internal" locus of control, while those who feel... Read more

The woman who cannot forget

A woman in the US claims she can't forget any experience from her life (though she can't memorise a poem), and doctors have diagnosed her with hyperthymesic syndrome, after scans showed that parts of her brain are three times as... Read more

The semen displacement device

Did you know that the penis "acts as a 'semen displacement device' and its shape has evolved in part to displace another man's semen"?... Read more

Sex and comedy: haven't we had enough medical dramatics?

Ever noticed they don't have patients waiting for days on trolleys in medical TV series? And those defibrillator electrode jolts, which work miraculously on TV, are a last throw of the dice and hardly ever work in real life... Verisimilitude... Read more

Yoga (and other stuff) may suppress prostate cancer gene

An intensive diet and exercise regime has shown an ability to suppress the prostate cancer gene in men with low-risk prostate cancer who declined immediate surgery, hormonal therapy, or radiation, according to a new study by a doctor and author... Read more

Will golf ever stop breeding fascinating inventions?

This is a portable toilet that looks like a golf club. It was invented by a Florida urologist. You don't actually play with it, so it shouldn't count against your club limit. Thanks to Gurublog for the link.... Read more

Can anti-drinking campaigns cause psychological harm?

Times advice columnist Dr Thomas Stuttaford, answering a question about alcohol abuse and multiple sexual partners, had this to say about anti-drinking campaigns: Immense damage can be done to the cause of encouraging sensible drinking by official campaigns, and those... Read more

It's not enough just to take care of patients

Does this doctor's disillusionment sound familiar? “I was naïve. When I was a resident I thought it was enough to take good care of patients. But the real world is totally different.”... Read more

Exercise at work

The Irish Heart Foundation's website has listed a few dozen exercises you can do at your desk: shakers, steppers, and strengtheners. According to the Foundation, employees who are inactive double their risk of developing coronary heart disease and are nearly... Read more

The Lisbon Treaty vote: a sad day for democracy

The Lisbon Treaty has been defeated, and from the looks of it, Europe is in turmoil. The opposition scored a shocking victory through scare tactics, lies, and exaggeration - but nothing was so helpful for the No campaign as the... Read more

Dead like me

Good god! Just read this...... Read more

US expert and Prof Tom Keane square off

Prof Floyd Loop, founder of the Cleveland Clinic in the US and a keynote speaker at the 5th Annual National Healthcare Summit, told audience members that healthcare was "a fiscal problem more than anything else." He'd been discussing cost-sharing as... Read more

Singularity: the fusion of man and machine is now(ish)

Man and machine are already merging. But some scientists are now saying we're at the event horizon of a fundamental shift in the nature of existence, in which computers become part of our physical selves (like the Bionic Man, roughly)... Read more

Skip waiting lists! Perform surgery on yourself!

Anyone languishing, in agony, on a surgical waiting list should take heart from the case of ex-soldier Mervyn Mills, 58, currently in the news for, um, chopping off his own toe with a chisel and hammer. According to the Irish... Read more

Right-brained, left-brained, or just a standard optical illusion?

The Well weighs in on the spinning dancer debate.... Read more

The right to object

Joe Higgins has a right to object to Dublin City Council's decision to grant planning permission for a co-located hospital at Beaumont. Whatever you think of his politics - whether you love them, hate them, or really couldn't care less... Read more

The world's happiest retirement community

The mayor of a working-class suburb of Santiago, Chile, has offered free Viagra to men over 60 who can prove they have erectile dysfunction and no heart problems. He says he came up with the idea because "an active sexuality... Read more

New psychiatry specialty wanted in NI: gayness reversal

In the moral, political and cultural Twilight Zone that is the Six Counties, the chair of the Stormont health committee invited homosexuals to see a psychiatrist to turn them around, so to speak. Ms Iris Robinson told BBC Radio Ulster's... Read more

Sex is 10 times more effective than valium as a tranquiliser

It's Friday. The weather's nice. Don't work so hard: enjoy a little health & food trivia. Some highlights: "Americans, on average, eat 18 acres of pizza every single day." "In Bahrain, a male gynecologist can only examine a woman's private... Read more

The world compressed to 100 people

It's easy to comprehend the scale of inequity in the world when you compress the population from whatever billion to 100. This page gets quite maudlin, but it starts off well.... Read more

The butterfly effect

The HSE loves butterflies. Honestly! While researching an article, I read, for the first time, the HSE's Transformation Programme 2007-2010 document. It's 20 pages long. Seven contain little else except a picture of a butterfly - usually on pages that... Read more

Bertie to Department of Health: play the ponies

If gambling on horses can make money appear out of nowhere, the Department of Health ought to throw its staff Christmas party in Leopardstown: it's going to need some cash. The news in this morning's Irish Times was bad and... Read more

A good reason to stop at the off license on the way home tonight

Red wine may slow ageing.... Read more

Using genetics to improve mental health treatment

Schizophrenia treatment has been vastly improved (i.e. personalised) by an increase in knowledge of genetics. The same may be true of treatment for depression and bipolar disorder, according to an article at PsychCentral.... Read more

Genetics societies unite!

As our genetic knowledge grows, so does the need to forge a broad consensus on the use, disclosure, and sharing of that knowledge, said Prof Wylie Burke, President of the American Society of Human Genetics. Read her address at the... Read more

Hospital wipes may spread MRSA

Researchers are now telling us that certain hospital wipes, which are sold as "anti-bacterial," may be spreading MRSA, not getting rid of it: it's like being told broccoli causes cancer. MRSA survives on the wipe and spreads to every other... Read more

Embryonic stem cell research upheld in world's largest Catholic country

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled last week that scientists can conduct embryonic stem cell research, according to the Associated Press.... Read more

What to do with a small amount of cancer

From the New York Times: "As biopsies of the lymph nodes grow more sophisticated and sensitive, oncologists and patients face the unsettling question of what to do with a little bit of cancer."... Read more