"A Touch of Humanity": Seven Perspectives on RheumNow
"Making the complex simple, the simple useful, and the opaque crystal clear." Rheumatologists (plus one non-rheumatologist) from around the world weigh in on RheumNow's impact over the past year.
Blogs
A New Look at Old Pictures
Google Images is a treasure trove of photos and drawings about medicine. The pictures of RA, though, look as if nothing happened in the last 90 years: the field stagnant, gold the gold standard, biologicals never invented, ulnar deviation rampant and joint destruction inevitable. If early recognition of inflammatory disease is at the crux of modern treatment, why show end-stage disease except as a warning?
Midlife Plateau
Despite regular attendance at medical meetings and despite fulfilling regulatory requirements for our specialty, I’m not sure how much I learn that changes the way I practice medicine. So I recently persuaded a colleague to come and coach me, inviting him to observe me for a morning in clinic. This was the first time I had been observed in this way since I was a medical student. A little daunting, but after a while I largely forgot he was there. Then he gave me some feedback.
Polymyalgia Rheumatica: An Interval Look at Management Questions
p dir="ltr"Despite an often fairly characteristic pattern of signs and symptoms, there are significant diagnostic challenges with polymyalgia rheumatica. The reason is that similar clinical features can be also observed in other diseases mimicking PMR, including infectious and malignancies, elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis, giant cell arteritis, chondrocalcinosis or myositis, to mention some of the most important differential diagnoses. nbsp;/p
70 & Up
Four men and 4 women, 5 joint replacements, 4 knee arthroscopies, 2 cancers and 6 bad attitudes were not enough to deter the inspiration and perspiration required of us last weekend. So how did we do? And yes, there are pictures.
Patients Believe Lab Tests More Than Doctors
Patients believe that a lab result is a numeric true representation their biology and a pivotal arbiter of wellness, yet physicians often dismiss such results as hanging chads in a meaningless election. Why do patients believe their labs moreso than their doctor?
The Maintenance of Certification Controversy 2015: The Year in Review
With so much controversy surrounding the American Board of Medical Specialties' Maintenance of Certification program in 2015, especially as it pertained to the ABIM, Dr. Westby Fisher recaps some of the earlier announcements about the ABMS MOC program, then summarizes the year's most pertinent developments to serve as a springboard for 2016.
2015 Rheumatology Year in Review
Was 2015 a good year for psoriasis, IL-17, biosimilars, narcotics, the ACR and gout? Our year end review discusses the most impactful news and research from the last 12 months.
Compounded Pain Cream Scams (Best of 2015: #4)
I was methodically signing off on stack of refill requests, until I find one I don’t recognize. The patient is mine but the prescription (under my name) is not. It’s for a specialty compounded cream...
Wine and the Rheumatologist (Best of 2015: #7)
Wine and the rheumatologist in theory could be about a lot of things. Naturally, as rheumatologists, we are interested in how wine may affect rheumatic diseases. I am more inclined to write about how our community interacts around and enjoys wine.
Wine and the Rheumatologist does Vegas
As I think of the many meetings I attend as a speaker or attendee, the experience ranges from grueling to exhilarating. Yes, each venue has its own merit, including furthering my education, presenting my research, and, certainly, seeing old friends and interesting places. This particular trip had all of this but so much more.
What Happened to Science in Medicine?
Have crony capitalism and medical administrators overtaken science, logic and common sense in healthcare? Dr. John Goldman reviews some recent developments with some misgivings.
