Teenage patients are answering medical questions on Yahoo! Answers

by Lorelei Armstrong

Doctors debate whether patients Googling symptoms is a good thing or a bad thing. I bet you haven’t thought about something that might be worse:  your teenage patients are answering one another’s medical questions on Yahoo! Answers.

They’re not always clear on anatomy and terminology:  “How can I tell if I’m circumcised?” and “What’s the best way to shave my vagina?” and “Where is the female prostate located?”

They are sexually active and not well informed: “If my boyfriend and I put the condom on after we start, can I still get an STD?” and “I had the HPV shot, am I protected from other STDs and AIDS?” and “I’m 12, should I take Viagra for my penis?”

They are worried that they are too tall, too short, too heavy, too thin, that their parts are the wrong shape or size. They believe every fad diet in the world. “Is anorexia a good diet?” and “Is it healthy to drink 16.9 fluid ounces of water per day?”

via kevinmd.com

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Primary care needs more than 15 minutes for patients, KevinMD.com

Psychotherapy appointments have traditionally lasted 50 minutes with 10 minutes for paperwork. This has lead to the expression, “the 50-minute hour”.

More recently there has been talk of incorporating psychotherapy techniques in brief visits in primary care. The provoking title “The Fifteen Minute Hour” is from a book about addressing the emotional aspects of disease in primary care during brief appointments. The title and the concept seem relevant to much of what we do in my specialty.

In primary care we seldom spend more than 15 minutes at a time with an established patient. Yet we are required to cover infinitely more details and consider more outside authorities in every visit today than when I first started practicing medicine. Between health insurance and office administration, there are now many more mouths to feed from the office charges than there were then. Sometimes it feels like we are not alone in the exam room even for the short time we do have.

Except for doctors in concierge medicine or micropactices, most of us cannot change the amount of time we have with each patient. Even if we hope to change the system, the patients we see today deserve the best we can give them in today’s 15-minute visits.

via kevinmd.com

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Most Americans Take Doctor's Advice Without Second Opinion

Despite the advent of health websites and other widely available sources providing medical research and information, 70% of Americans feel confident in the accuracy of their doctor's advice, and don't feel the need to check for a second opinion or do additional research. Americans' confidence in their doctor is up slightly from eight years ago.

The latest results are from Gallup's annual Health and Healthcare Survey, conducted Nov. 4-7, 2010.

Older Americans are the most likely to be confident in their doctor's advice, with 85% of those 65 and older expressing confidence. This compares with 67% among those 50 to 64 and 65% among those under 50.

While one might expect that interest in a second opinion and doing additional research would be higher among Americans with college degrees or postgraduate education, that is not the case. There is little difference in confidence in one's doctor across the educational spectrum.

via gallup.com

Follow the Gallup.com link for the full article.
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Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618