There is an old British saying, “a bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush.” Using this metaphor, John McCain is the known quantity (bird in the hand) and Barack Obama is relatively unknown (two in the bush). McCain has been in the public eye for over 35 years. The sheer number of years he has been in public service provides some comfort and familiarity to many. On the other side, Obama is very intelligent, calm under pressure, and seems very welcoming. However, he is new to the national scene. How will we decide who to vote for? This decision may already have been subconsciously made. It is now only a matter of consciously rationalizing the decision. Read more →

Teaching students with ADHD was always challenging for me. My usual methods of managing behavior, explaining assignments, and reviewing routines weren’t very effective for many of these kids. I’ve been lucky enough to know a handful of teachers who were knowledgeable about techniques that helped their ADHD students achieve. And although I often picked their brains in an attempt to beef up my arsenal of teaching wonders, the techniques weren’t always easy to execute amid a classroom of children needing various modifications. Read more →

Pharmacists are integral members of the health care team in the US. The profession is composed of highly-educated, well-trained health-care providers. Pharmacists promote themselves as “drug experts” for good reason: the four-years of education required to obtain the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree encompasses the etiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, prevention, and management of human disease states. Pharmacists study the clinical application of pharmacology, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, therapeutics, adverse drug reactions, laboratory data, and drug information to the management of disease states. This training enables pharmacists to identify and prevent drug interactions, plan patient evaluation of drug-related problems and recommend changes in pharmaceutical care plans, and evaluate and interpret pharmaceutical data. Read more →

There is this booming industry in medicine that more and more people are becoming aware of. It’s called Medical Tourism. It doesn’t mean that you go around the world touring medical sites. It’s actually the concept of people traveling to different countries to have medical procedures done. Perhaps they are seeking a special physician that can do a procedure. Perhaps they are seeking a new procedure that is not yet approved in the U.S. Perhaps the procedure they want is less expensive elsewhere. Sometimes it is just that patients want a vacation in combination with their medical procedure so they will go to a resort island to have the procedure done and get their rehabilitation in a relaxing environment. Read more →