November 2011 Blog Posts (13)

The PR’s role in freeing the flow of information from manufacturers and care givers to patients and consumers within the healthcare arena is nothing if not a challenge.

Online communication channels have changed the way society manages health. We look up symptoms on Wikipedia and NHS Choices, blog about illnesses, discuss health issues, conditions and side-effects on websites, Facebook and Twitter: and in many cases except guidance via the same means.

The…

In the past year, health apps on mobile devices have emerged as more than just a fad with the first ones now getting accepted by the Food and Drug Administration.

Despite being around for a couple of years, recently published data by mobile market consultancy research2guidance, shows that the current market is still in its infancy and that by 2015 30% of…

I have always struggled to explain what it is I do when asked by a stranger...a response simply saying ‘I work in healthcare PR’ normally results in a blank response or misunderstanding that I am a personal assistant (much to my dismay)...I have also opted for ‘I work to connect the medical industry, media and general public’, to which I’m perceived as some kind of…

There are a lot of apps out there – to be more specific, there are roughly half a million apps for Apple’s iOS platform in general (source: MacStories.net). That being said, we wanted to share some apps that we have recently fallen in love with. What apps would you add to our…

As turkey, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie are soon to appear on the table, the article below prompts me to make a conscious effort to learn about my family health history this Thanksgiving. Will you make the effort too? Comment below after Thanksgiving and let me know what you find out! Happy Thanksgiving!

If you haven't yet seen, Obamacare is headed for a tour of the US Supreme Court. On November 14, the US Supreme Court agreed to decide the fate of all that is 'Obamacare.' This will clearly have an effect on the upcoming 2012 elections, however, the larger impact is where it will hit home for many Americans.…

Matt Herper brought the vaccine controversy back into the limelight with this piece on Delta Airlines made by the National Vaccine Information Center.  I guess they don’t believe in the influenza vaccine.  When so much of medicine today results in mere symptom management, I find it fascinating how vaccines which have stopped deadly public health diseases and epidemics take such a beating. Consider small pox, rubella, and mumps.  Where would we be if those vaccines weren't…

Although a small study, new data published in JAMA suggests that more matters when it comes to children with autism. The study comes from the University of California, San Diego, and found that the brains of autistic children have far more neurons in the prefrontal cortex than the brains of kids without autism.…

Medicine and healthcare have been one of the most researched and studied branches of Science for centuries.  There are records of use of medicines as early as 500 B.C.  Research and development over millions of years has led to the establishment of the current structured healthcare system.  Documentation of patient records is an integral component of healthcare and mandatory in many countries which rely on insurance-based healthcare systems.

Early forms of healthcare documentation…

Did you hear that Doctors are using Google and Yahoo as a frequent source of information to diagnose, treat and care for patients? Apparently I’m not the only one that’s slightly alarmed by this, although the HealthcareITNews…

Not to go all political and current events, but all the recent talks are on the 1% - how terrible they are with their big incomes, spending and, for the most part, corruption. I must say, I'm not a fan and happy in being plagued with student loan payments and scraping by, but, at the same time, the cover story for the November 21st issue of FORBES, sheds light on a more 'feel…

With health IT on the rise, this is an interesting angle regarding its impact on on communication between doctors and patients which has been a well-studied subject by many institutions including Johns Hopkins.  It is easy to assume that technology would enhance the doctor patient relationship but that unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case.  I have had a few doctors embrace the digitial technology to better communicate with me.  What has been your experience?

In…