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Doctoring Healthy Living Knowledge Reflection

Doctors and Social Media — Increasing the good we do?

“Mass social media is a crock. It is an inherent contradiction. This is why I like LinkedIn more than Facebook. It has a special purpose and therefore doesn’t feel like a time waster. FWIW, I predict the next huge win in social media will be in health care.”               —Rich Karlgaard (Forbes.com) writing in WSJ […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation Knowledge

An important message from the Heart Rhythm Society

You all know how I feel about the value of education in the treatment and prevention of heart disease: It is self-evident and unquestionable. Along the lines of educating patients and docs, and in the spirit of February being Heart Health Awareness month, I believe The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) deserves strong mention for their […]

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Atrial fibrillation Doctoring Knowledge

On doing clinical research without a foundation

I learned a lot from putting together an abstract for a national heart meeting. More than just learning how to e-submit, e-upload and e-print a large poster; More than what t-tests and chi-squares measure; More than learning that females respond differently to AF ablation; And surely more than which coffee shop offers the best work […]

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Doctoring Health Care Reform Healthy Living Knowledge

Work-life balance in Medicine–Maybe the young are on to something?

I read an interesting story about young doctors today. American Medical News reported that the changing desires of resident doctors poses recruiting challenges for practices. It’s an eye-opener–a look into the future of healthcare. It seems young docs want unusual things from their career in Medicine. The new generation of doctors seek employment, not partnership, […]

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Doctoring Knowledge Reflection

An important website for judging the quality of medical news

When I learn something that might be useful to you, I like to write about it. To date, the topics that I feel most comfortable writing about relate to doctoring, heart disease, healthy living and cycling. But an area that I am growing more and more intrigued with is health news reporting. As a believer […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation Knowledge

AF Update: Flecainide misinformation

I have said that the best tool for treating atrial fibrillation (AF) is education. I still strongly believe this, perhaps more then ever. AF presents itself to people in so many different ways–from no symptoms to incapacitation. Likewise, the treatments for AF range from simple reassurance and lifestyle changes, to taking a medicine, and on […]

Categories
General Cardiology Knowledge

Sal Khan explains Heart Disease in ten minutes

More than a year ago, I wrote about the amazing educator, Sal Khan. His website, KhanAcademy, has become an educational behemoth. Using colorful and warmly narrated ten-minute YouTube videos, Sal explains–with breathtaking clarity–almost everything you might want or need to know. He made me grin about re-learning how to do a derivative. He even personally […]

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AF ablation Doctoring Knowledge

Trying our hand at research

In a classroom, when you are passionate about something, it seems natural to raise your hand and ask a question, or make a comment. That’s how we feel about AF ablation in our EP lab. And it is amazing what can be learned when you actually look back at your past clinical data. What you […]

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Cycling Wed Exercise Knowledge

Cycling Wednesday: The Three Rs

This Wednesday, I’d like to talk about how rodents, relationships, and riding relate to intelligence and overall wellness. This idea comes from a nicely written NY Times piece entitled, Does Loneliness Reduce the Benefits of Exercise?  Here, Ms Gretchen Reynolds reviews a few intriguing studies about how relationships may affect exercise, stress hormone levels and […]

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Doctoring Knowledge

Choosing Option A

He was an athletic healthy-looking young man.  His symptoms were transient and had occurred a while back.  He was sent in for a “heart check-up.” We met, and something old-fashioned happened.  A history was taken, an exam performed, an inexpensive ECG reviewed and then I said this: “You know what…I think you are OK…I don’t […]

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Knowledge

Temporary disruptions during changes that I barely understand

I cannot stand it; that mickey-mouse web address had to go.  Cyclists have dress codes. WordPress looks so much better. I am in the process of changing over, with help of course. The first step was changing my domain name.  It is now: www.drjohnm.org Such changes feels like putting together christmas presents without a manual. […]