Dying to Get an Education
Public policy and public health efforts are underway to help assure that people can be healthy where they live, work, and play. As part of providing education, schools are supposed to protect the health and safety of students. Various government and non-government organizations (NGOs) offer resources, toolkits and evidence-based resources to help school districts, schools, and school personnel deal with health emergencies, such as life threatening conditions like asthma. Guidelines indicate that schools should have: a policy or rule that allows students to carry and use their own asthma medicines; written emergen...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 27, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Children Patients' Rights Policy Source Type: blogs
Doctors: It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It
Today’s post originally ran on Better Health on December 28, 2015.
Most physicians will be thrust into the role of patient or caregiver at some point during their careers. Unfortunately, it’s not until this occurs that many become fully aware of the finer points of excellent care and communication. Take for example, the simple act of reporting test results to a patient. We do this every day, but may not realize that how we frame the information is as important as the data themselves.
I came to realize this on a recent hospital visit when I was in the role of healthcare proxy for a loved one with heart disease. Not ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Health Professions Patients Source Type: blogs
TBT: Addiction and the Different Types of the Treatment Programs
Given all the recent news on drug use and addiction we thought this post that talks about addiction and the different types of treatment programs would be a good refresher.
October may have officially been named Substance Abuse Prevention month, but addiction treatment is an ongoing battle that lasts throughout the entire year. Recognizing the signs of addiction and knowing where and when to get help are vital tools that everyone should keep in their arsenal. Unfortunately, few people recognize the signs of addiction or know where to get help, which in turn can prolong the amount of time an addict may go without addressing...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Consumers Take Better Preventive Care of Pets Than Themselves, CIGNA Finds
The post below first ran January 18 on Health Populi.
Nine in 10 pet owners know when their dog or cat is due for their shots. Eight in 10 women know the frequency with which they get manicures and pedicures. 80% of men know the mileage between old changes.
But only 50% of family health care decision makers know their blood pressure, and only 20% know their biometric numbers like cholesterol and BMI.
Americans are great at doing preventive care for their pets and automobiles; but not so much for their own bodies and health, finds the report CIGNA Preventive Care Research, a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers between 25 and 75...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Consumer Health Care Patients Source Type: blogs
Fighting the injustice of health disparities: Honoring the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Dr. John M. Eisenberg
The past several years I have run this post and because it continues to have a very important and relevant message I am sharing it again.
We, as a nation, have made progress and I believe Dr. King would be proud. But our work is far from complete – particularly where health care is concerned. Another doctor, Dr. John M. Eisenberg, a physician of tremendous stature whose life was also tragically cut short (not by an assassin’s bullet but by brain cancer) was equally passionate about the dignity of life and justice for all Americans. Dr. Eisenberg, who among other things, served as the Director of the Agency for Health...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Source Type: blogs
Food, Health and Public Policy
I am someone who has worked for many years “inside the Beltway” (aka Washington DC), who admittedly wears the “policy wonk” hat, and was a (long distance) caregiver for elderly parents in the last years of their lives, one of whom faced eating related complications and consequences. Because of these experiences I advocate on behalf of people who live with chronic diseases. I appreciate more than ever how important it is to comprehensively explore issues related to public health topics such as obesity, food insecurity, food labeling, food literacy, and food shopping. Indeed, the intersection of social factor...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 15, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Food Nutrition Policy Publc Health Source Type: blogs
TBT: Getting Diagnosed with Cervical Cancer
In honor of it being Cervical Cancer Awareness Month today’s TBT post is one we ran as part of a series back in 2014.
January is Cervical Cancer Month. According to the CDC, in 2010 11,818 women in the United States were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,939 women died from the disease. And while these statistics are disheartening, once the leading cause of death in women, cervical cancer has rapidly declined over the past 40 years. The decline in cases can be attributed to preventative medicine: more women are getting regular Pap tests, which can find cervical precancer before it turns into cancer.
Throughout t...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Cancer TBT Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Disruptive Women and the White House Collaborate to Improve Men’s Health
During an afternoon’s worth of inspiring stories crystalizing the need to get men more engaged in their health, one speaker perhaps shared the day’s most powerful moment, speaking from a podium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, among an audience of esteemed guests, advocates and stakeholders.
John Kevin Hines recalled a day in San Francisco when he felt that he could no longer go on. Seeking just some simple positive interactions with other members of his community – an offer of encouragement or support – he instead got silence. Soon after, he found himself at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, where, am...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Advocacy Men's Health Source Type: blogs
For the mental and physical health of students
This study tells us there is a need to rethink how we address mental and physical health in our nation’s high schools. Our current trajectory clearly isn’t working, not when we’re graduating students who are ill-equipped to cope with daily, real-world challenges and who face the high likelihood of chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease that accompany excessive body weight.
Our rhetoric about our children being our future should be accompanied by evidence-based educational approaches that can generate healthy, productive lives. Our youth deserve that chance. (Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care)
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 11, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Food Mental Health Nutrition Source Type: blogs
Disruptive Women Heads to the White House Tomorrow
How perfect is this? Eight years after Disruptive Women launched, we were invited by HHS to collaborate on an important White House event. We have been hard at work getting ready for the big day. After all, it’s the White House Men’s Health Dialogue.
That’s right, men’s health. Kudos to HHS and the White House for not only recognizing and focusing on the many health-related challenges men face, but extra props for recognizing the power of women to provide expertise, solutions, and insights. And, a big shout out to our other collaborator, the team from the Men’s Health Network.
Disruptive Women has been im...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 7, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Man of the Month Publc Health Source Type: blogs
Please Don’t Cut Off My Pants
Patient involvement, patient empowerment, patient activation, and patient centered care are among the many popular phrases increasingly uttered within the health industry. Some authors, writers, speakers, and bloggers have focused on analyzing if and when certain terms and/or terminology (consumer versus patient versus person) are more (or less) appropriate or applicable to a particular situation.
Yes, there are signs of positive change. Innovations in care delivery and design along with new approaches to payment reform (from volume to value-based) are gaining momentum. The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Patien...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 6, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Choice Consumer Health Care Patients Source Type: blogs
Leveraging the Expertise of America’s Most Trusted Profession
The following post was first published in Huffington Post’s Politics Blog on December 29, 2015.
During a time when Americans’ confidence in many U.S. institutions has declined, the public’s trust in nurses remains unmatched.
For the 14th year in a row, the public rated nursing as the most honest and ethical profession in America, with an 85 percent rating, according to a recently released Gallup survey. Nurses have claimed the top spot since 1999, the first year they were included in the survey, with the exception of 2001, when firefighters were voted No. 1 following the attacks on September 11.
While the...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 5, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Choice Consumer Health Care Health Professions Nurses Source Type: blogs
Losing Your Hearing? Are You the Last to Know?
Listen-Up Boomers! While you still can.
If hearing loss was classified as a disability, it would be the largest disability class in the U.S. As Boomers age in great numbers in the coming years, it will grow even larger and not just from aging itself but from Boomer (and generations after) experiences with very loud noises. Rock concerts, anyone? Heavy metal, anyone? Earphones, anyone?
I’m told that when someone has a hearing loss, they’re usually the last to know. That’s been true for my friends.
It’s also been true for my Mom. She lives in another state and when we’d talk on the phone, she’d hang up in mid-con...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 4, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Aging Cost Coverage Policy Medicare Source Type: blogs
Happy New Year
(Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care)
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Best of 2015: A New Resolution: To Create Healing
On the last day of 2015 we thought it made sense to rerun a piece written by Disruptive Woman Janice Lynch Schuster where she discussed her resolution for the year. What is your resolution for 2016?
For all my years on the planet, 52, there are still times when experience is no teacher—or when futility seems to be my master. Nowhere is this more true than in my annual list of New Year’s resolutions. (It is a relief to know that I am not alone in this one.) Many of us share the idea that with an annual tick-tock-bank, we can fashion ourselves anew by resolving to achieve certain goals.
In some ways, my approach to makin...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - December 31, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Choice Source Type: blogs
