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Top 10 stories in 2015 for internal medicine
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As 2015 winds down, Healio.com/Internal Medicine presents its most popular stories of the year, which includes industry news, updates in care guidelines and meeting news coverage.
ABIM on Maintenance of Certification program: ‘[We] got it wrong’
The American Board of Internal Medicine announced immediate and significant changes to its Maintenance of Certification program as a result of concerns from the internist community that the program was not keeping them up to date in their field. Read more.
AGS updates guidelines for appropriate care among older adults
The American Geriatrics Society has updated their Choose Wisely guidelines to include more research regarding agitation, cancer, dementia and other conditions impacting older adults. Read more.
Ten medication interactions the internist should consider
Clinicians should be on the lookout for dangerous drug interactions, particularly those involving trimethroprim/sulfamethoxazole, tramadol and clarithromycin, according to Douglas S. Paauw, MD, MACP. At the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting, Paauw, who is professor of medicine and Rathmann Family Foundation Endowed Chair for Patient-Centered Clinical Education, department of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, presented a series of case presentations to test the audience on important medication errors and provide tips on how to avoid them. Read more.
VIDEO: Updates in prostate cancer treatment options
Robert S. DiPaola , MD, director of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discusses various forms of prostate cancer, along with the value of preventative care. DiPaola also offers insight on screening options, treatment possibilities and the future of prostate cancer.
“The future is bright when we really think about prostate cancer, and certainly therapeutics for more advanced disease. We need to go further on molecular analysis, to really understand which patients are even appropriate for the various interventions and therapies,” DiPaola said during the interview. Watch here.
Alcohol usage linked to working longer hours
Researchers discovered a correlation between adults working long hours and alcohol use, according to a new study.
Marianna Virtanen, PhD, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of cross-sectional and prospective studies from PubMed and Embase, along with manual searches, to gauge the association between working long hours and alcohol use. Read more.
Patients' life-sustaining treatments may be influenced by their ICU
Significant variability in care management is seen across ICUs nationwide with patients who enter the ICU with pre-established end-of-life wishes, according to a recently published study. Read more.
ABIM, ACCME collaborate to allow MOC credit from traditional CME
The American Board of Internal Medicine and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education have teamed up to allow physicians to receive Maintenance of Certification credits from traditional continuing medical education courses they have taken, according to a press release. Read more.
Pharmacist-managed medication refill clinics ease physician workload
Establishing a pharmacist-managed medication refill clinic decreased workloads for physicians, and improved refill-request processing time and patient care, according to recently published data. Read more.
BREATHE OUT intervention leads to improved clinician satisfaction
Increased clinician satisfaction with difficult patient encounters was associated with use of the BREATHE OUT technique, which allows physicians to reflect on their own biases and ‘check in’ with themselves before interacting with a difficult patient, according to a recently published study. Read more.
Primary care support may increase weight loss in obese patients
Patients who perceived their primary care physicians as helpful during weight loss interventions were found to achieve greater weight loss, according to recently published data. Wendy L. Bennett, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine in the departments of medicine and general medicine, and of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues, evaluated data from the POWER trial, a 2-year practice-based behavioral weight loss intervention, to assess the correlation between patient-provider relationship quality or satisfaction and weight loss. Read more.