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Test Results: No News is NOT Good News

You’ve done your job– you’ve seen the doctor and had your pap smear done, or your lab work done, or your x-ray done, and now you’re waiting for the call to tell you what the results are. Here’s the problem: Many doctors don’t have their practices organized in a way that makes it certain: But…

Outpatient Responsibility Test Results

Medication Mix-Ups: How They Happen and What to Do

It is really easy for a person’s medications to get mixed-up. Here’s a common scenerio: The result: the patient may be on a nonsensical mixture of medications, which may be harmful. Sometimes, even when a patient is only seeing one doctor, the doctor might add a new drug with the intention of having it replace…

Medications Outpatient Responsibility Medications

Lab Tests are Often Needed for Safety Before Starting and While Continuing Certain Medications

Drugs are toxic as well as helpful. Although the proper dosage of medication improves health and saves lives, the improper use can cause tragic outcomes. When drugs are prescribed, it is recommended that the doctor measure your blood count, kidney function, liver function, or electrolytes before starting that particular medicine. That is because a certain…

Medications Outpatient Responsibility Medications

Medications: Prescribing Errors

Tragic errors can be made in prescribing medications.1 “Studies have shown that 15% to 21% of prescriptions contain at least one prescribing error.” 2 Sometimes the doctor doesn’t remember your drug allergies; sometimes he’s not considering the other drugs you are on; sometimes the doctor’s handwriting is poor; many times the doctor isn’t recalling the…

Medications Outpatient Responsibility Medication Interactions Medication Side Effects Medications

Chronic Illness Mismanagement, Clinical Inertia, and How to Get What You Need

You’ve been seeing your doctor regularly for some time now. He’s watching your diabetes, or your blood pressure, or your cholesterol, and you’re taking the medicine he gives you, and getting the blood tests he orders for you. So everything’s fine, right? No. It’s hard to believe, but many chronic illnesses like high blood pressure,…

Medications: Problems in the Elderly

Elderly patients (those 65 years and older) are at increased risk for medication problems.1 One problem occurs because they often see several doctors/specialists who don’t always pay attention to what the other is prescribing, so the older patients get a condition that we call “polypharmacy” (too many medications). You can help solve this problem by…

Medications Outpatient Responsibility Medications

Medications: Side Effects and Medication Interactions

Doctors can’t possibly know all the side effects of all the drugs they prescribe or how all those drugs might interact with each other. And studies report that most doctors still don’t use an electronic drug-checker to check for reactions between your drugs (drug-drug interactions).1 “Physicians do not routinely screen for potential drug interactions, even…

Outpatient Responsibility Medication Interactions Medication Side Effects Medications

Misdiagnosed

If your doctor has made a wrong diagnosis, then obviously your treatment is going to be incorrect, and you’re not going to get better. “There is now abundant evidence that delayed or missed diagnoses are widespread and that in more than 50% of such cases there are serious adverse outcomes.”1 The most common cause of…

Outpatient Responsibility

Beware of the “it’s-all-in-your-head” diagnosis

In so many cases of misdiagnosed or undiagnosed illness, the patient is tested and examined by the doctor, and when nothing is found that the doctor can diagnose, he tells the patient “it’s all in your head”. Most of the time, it is NOT all in your head. When you hear this diagnosis from a…

Outpatient Responsibility

How to Find Reputable Websites

Make sure to look for sites that end in .gov or .edu, it means that the government or an educational institution is standing behind that information. Usually when you see .org, this is provided by a non-profit organization. Websites that display ads and get revenue this way can be “specialists” at developing patient-friendly websites and…

Outpatient Responsibility