Anyone who has tried to visit a primary care physician lately likely knows first hand that there is a shortage of general practice physicians in the United States. Primary care physicians provide half of the health care obtained in the outpatient setting, but over the past several decades, career interest in internal medicine, particularly general internal medicine — the specialty primarily responsible for providing care to adults — has declined among medical students.

A recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study examining the factors that influence medical students’ choices in choosing a medical specialty, particularly internal medicine. Read more →

With the Olympics in full swing, I cannot help but marvel at the strength, power, skill, and commitment of the athletes. Many of these men and women seemed destined for sports from an early age, while others trained hard to beat the odds and become world-class athletes. Most of us watching the games from the comfort of our own homes can only envy the athletes; we can only imagine what it must be like to have a gold medal placed around our neck and have our national anthem played just for us. But, alas, the glory fades and the games will come to an end in a matter of a few short weeks. The gold medals will be displayed in trophy cases and the athletes will move on to the next challenge, be it another sporting event, or the next stage in their lives. Whatever they choose to do, we may have another reason to envy them: they will likely live longer than most of us. Read more →

Self-diagnosis, -treatment, and -monitoring is widespread due to the expansion of healthcare and the surplus of medical information available via television, radio, magazines, and the internet. While relying on introspection to develop awareness of your body and emotions is an important skill, self-treatment with over-the-counter (OTC) remedies without the expertise or guidance of a trained health care provider can lead to dangerous outcomes. Read more →

A few weeks ago I read an interesting article on the topic of the shortage of physicians in the United States. Apparently, the increasing population and the baby boomers entering retirement is going to put a huge strain on this country. In terms of Social Security and Medicare, it already is. There is no doubt that the climate of decreasing reimbursements is due to the government’s inability to pay for the healthcare of so many aging people.

Thus, the shortage of physicians will increase as more doctors are needed to take care of our aging population. Read more →

Any doubts that playing video games make better endoscopic surgeons have been dispelled by a series of studies from the mid 1990s. The latest confirmation, published in the Archives of Surgery, comes from a study on video games and laparoscopic surgery, at Beth Israel Medical Center, NY, aptly named “Top Gun.”

Young surgeons who were the best video game players made 47% fewer errors, finished 39% faster and performed 49% better overall, leaving little room for skepticism. A significant correlation was also found between better performance and playing at least 3 hours of video games a week. Read more →