9/17/2012 Here are some ideas for family physicians on how to treat patients with insomnia, from psychiatrist Dr. Rachel Morehouse, head of the departments of psychiatry at Dalhousie University in Halifax and Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L. She is also medical director of the Atlantic Health Sciences Sleep Centre in Saint John, N.B.
8/30/2012 When they see doctors coming, bankers rub their hands with glee. How can they not get a better client? Doctors are well-paid, responsible, hard-working and never unemployed. And there is enormous stimuli for us to spend.
8/23/2012 I have 14 PIN numbers and they are driving me crazy. Why don’t I have them all in my iPhone? I do, but it’s a pain to look them up when standing in the rain. Recently, I accidently erased my iPhone.
8/15/2012 We have probably all been there. It's 8 p.m. on the day before their vacation and two parents huddle over their two-year-old who has a cold. You are exhausted after a 14-hour day and just want to get home to a nice chilled glass of white wine and the peace and quiet of your living room, sit and stare off into the middle distance and think of nothing.
7/27/2012 Family doctors in Cambridge, Ont., where I work, had a meeting with local pharmacists and here are some tips for making their job easier—which will help your patients and you.
7/19/2012 “Doctor, I don’t eat anything and I’m gaining weight.” When I was young and foolish I used to get really snarky with patients who said this but now that I'm old and wise I remain non-judgmental. A lot of obese patients really don't eat a lot but are immobilized by their weight.
6/27/2012 I find that by visiting the nursing home three times a week for a few hours, the job is much easier and I nip problems in the bud. The staff, patients and their families love it and I have one of the fewest rates of emergency department transfers in our area of 35 homes.
6/20/2012 Depression is so hard to treat because it often comes disguised as organic disease. Anyone with unexplained pain, fatigue or weight loss who has a normal history and physical, lab (CBC and STSH, electrolytes, blood sugar) and imaging should be suspected. Refer the patient to a specialist if you (or they) are unsure about the diagnosis.
6/11/2012 I work as a medical consultant on emergency wait times for eight hours of my week. A huge factor in emergency flow is backup of patients from the wards into the ER. There is little incentive to send patients home and huge disincentives.
5/24/2012 Here are some things I have learned (some the hard way) over the last 38 years of emergency medicine and general practice.
5/17/2012 I recently read where a pediatrician fired a family for refusing immunizations. Also, a few years ago I read of a patient in Western Canada who was fired for smoking.
4/26/2012 I went to a talk last week and it was the best CME I've done in my 42 years as a medical student and doctor. The week before I had my worst one. What was the difference?
