A few years ago we ran a post called Should You Be Worried About Dr. Google? In 2017, the question has changed to: Why Haven’t You Embraced Dr. Google? Health-related Internet searches aren’t going anywhere. According to Google, which has an estimated 1.6 billion unique monthly visitors, “roughly 1 percent of searches on Google (think: millions!) are symptom-related.”Read More
Approximately 41 million U.S. adults wear contact lenses, according to a recent CDC study, along with more than 3 million adolescents. To eye doctors’ dismay, the data show that the vast majority of contact lens wearers engage in behaviors that put them at risk for serious eye infections and even blindness. Here’s a look at how you can help your contact lens patients develop healthier habits.Read More
Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation. Defined as those born between 1982 and 2000, this group is more than 80 million strong and represents more than a quarter of the U.S. population. While millennials have been pegged as fickle, cheap, and overly dependent on technology, the fact is, this diverse group of tech-savvy, cost-conscious, engaged consumers is changing health care. Doctors who understand what makes millennials tick, and what’s a turnoff, just might find that meeting this generation’s needs benefits all their patients.Read More
As recently as a decade ago, many doctors didn’t think the quality of their care could be measured. “Any attempt to do so was ‘bean counting’ folly at best or destructive and dangerous at worst,” wrote internist and Harvard professor and health policy researcher Ashish Jha on his blog. Since then, however, we have seen a “sea change,” he noted.Read More
A new law aims to make hearing aids cheaper and more widely used by making them available over-the-counter without a prescription or a doctor’s involvement. Is this good news for the estimated 48 million people who suffer from hearing loss? Or is this yet another example of marketing prevailing over medicine, similar to how online eyewear retailers are stepping on eye doctors’ toes? Read on to find out myths and facts about hearing loss and OTC hearing aids so you can better educate your patients on this topic.Read More
Dogs can be more than just man’s best friend; they can also be a trained partner in your patients’ health care and recovery. Animal assisted therapy (AAT) has become widely accepted by many health professionals and is used in everything from cancer treatment to managing autism. Many patients report finding success when using therapy animals to reduce pain, improve fine motor skills, decrease blood pressure, and reinforce healthy behaviors such as walking and socializing. And while research still needs to be done to measure the clinical results of AAT, some preliminary studies have shown that these animals can alleviate stress and anxiety during and after a medical treatment.Read More
