If you are a person with a lot of choices, with a job that offers health insurance, with a social security number and a safe place to sleep and knowledge of where your next meal is coming from, I can see how you might think a market-based healthcare model is a good idea. You might... Continue Reading →
Rx: Vacation. Stat.
Did you take a vacation this summer? How about last year? Did you really go on vacation, or were you checking email on the beach (oops). Were you relaxing, or were you feeling guilty? (yup, that too). How did it get so hard to actually take a real vacation from work? Where is this coming from?... Continue Reading →
Sound bite: Lifestyle measures
In medicine, "lifestyle measures" is code for diet (DASH, or myplate) and exercise (20 minutes/day!) — not for sleep, for relationships, for stress management, meditation, personal growth. . . Can these things be taught in 15-minute office visits? How can we move away from the sound-bite advice and into meaningful change?
what I wish I could tell my patients
This stuff is the truest truth I know, but it’s hard to impart it 20 minutes at a time to people who want you to fix what’s wrong with them. My clinic is full of people-- good, hardworking, courageous people who want to be healthy, and who have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or... Continue Reading →
what is a nurse practitioner?
I work as a nurse practitioner. NPs are becoming much more common, more respected, and more understood, but I still often get questions about what being an NP means-- questions from patients, acquaintances, even physicians. So I thought I'd go over some common questions here-- both because you'll understand me better, and because NPs will... Continue Reading →
On getting what you need out of health care
I once read an article about calorie restriction and its potential to extend life. The author’s point boiled down to “sure, you could add 10 or 20 years to your life, but if you can’t eat, why would you want to?” This little anecdote illustrates a larger issue that is frequently overlooked: not everyone wants... Continue Reading →
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