Many counties in PHC’s network have low pediatric immunization rates. This may be due in part to access or transportation issues. But it is also due to misperceptions about the risks of vaccines. While these misunderstandings can be tough to change, it is incumbent Continue reading
Category Archives: Medical Practice
Reminder on optimal thyroid lab ordering
The symptoms and signs of hyper- and hypothyroidism are well known to primary care clinicians. When either diagnosis is suspected, the usual next step is to order blood tests to determine whether the clinical impression of thyroid disease can be confirmed. Continue reading
Silent But Deadly
Unlike the usual ramifications of the term SBD (silent but deadly), radon gas is odorless and invisible. In contradistinction, radon is tasteless whereas the commonplace SBD is completely lacking in manners. Silent but deadly, the much-underappreciated radon gas Continue reading
Jury still out on whether antibiotics suffice for acute appendicitis
So can we now blast away appendicitis with just antibiotics? A recent publication seems to suggest so, though there is still room for debate. Dr. Peter Minneci was the lead author of this study done at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. In a one-year period they enrolled 77 children and teens diagnosed with uncomplicated appendicitis and Continue reading
Salads and the fountain of youth
Cost-effectiveness is modern medicine’s mantra. Put another way, when cheap solutions are found for common problems, let us embrace them.
One of medicine’s most common and vexing problems is death. It is a phenomenon with Continue reading
Dueling opinions on vitamin D
“Curiouser and curiouser,” cried Alice in her journey through Wonderland. And so might we primary care clinicians, soldiering forward to stamp out disease and promote good health in a sometimes confusing world. Our mission is made more challenging when Continue reading
More evidence to support delaying antibiotics in URIs
As all practicing clinicians know, patients often expect antibiotics when they come in with typical URI, sinusitis, otitis, or bronchitis symptoms. Clinicians understandably feel caught between a rock and a hard place. To accede to the antibiotic expectation helps patient Continue reading
It’s time for another Choosing Wisely update!
(See previous blog posts: https://phcprimarycare.org/?p=101 and https://phcprimarycare.org/?p=346.)
As a refresher, Choosing Wisely was created “to promote conversations between physicians and patients by helping patients choose care that is:
- Supported by evidence
- Not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received Continue reading
Does physical therapy really do anything for knee OA?
Let’s cut to the chase. Yes, it does.
If you’re having a busy day, feel free to exit out of our primary care blog now and resume your other activities. You’ve read the take-home message and you’re good to go.
If you have a few more minutes, feel free to read on. Continue reading
First, do no harm. Next… ?
Physicians live by the highest code of ethics. Primum non nocere, or first, do no harm, is a principle we all hear in medical school and which follows us throughout our careers. It reflects the importance of physicians, and all clinicians, avoiding actions which are Continue reading