Be cost effective – US advice to doctors

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: A campaign has been launched in the USA called Choosing Wisely®, perhaps it is an interesting choice of words as in Arabic some patients refer to their doctor as حكيم hakeem (wise one). The campaign is an attempt by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation and other American Boards to get physicians

How useful is metformin when added to insulin? A little – BMJ Meta-analysis

Bismillah, alhamdulillah A meta-analysis published in the BMJ and reported on in Medscape highlights the following findings which I have very briefly summarised below: Hba1c lower by 0.5% Weight lower by 1 Kg Insulin reduction by 5 units No difference in all cause mortality

Smokers in Saudi Arabia

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: Some scary statistics from the Arab News concerning the number of smokers in Saudi Arabia. I was quite surprised by the number of female smokers. I would not be surprised if the death rate is an underestimate or will be rapidly rising given the number of smokers in the future. I hope the

Why is diabetes increasing?

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: I came across this interesting lecture given by Barbara Corkey (bcorkey@bu.edu) from the Boston University School of Medicine. She was asked to give the Banting Lecture 2011, yearly lectures given by experts in the field of Diabetes. Banting was a Noble laureate who received the award for his role in the discovery of

Aliskiren combination preprations FDA warning

Bismillah, alhamdulillah: Personally I never like combined preparations, while convenient for patients and seeming to offer the benefit of better patient compliance – I am always worried about unpredicted consequences for my patients and the difficulty with which I came lay the blame for a side effect on a specific medication. Here is another example

Paediatric Reference Ranges

I found this nice single page with paediatric reference ranges for many commonly done tests from the University of Iowa. Lab reference values at your local hospital may not always reflect the age of the patient as the age for a variety of reasons. It is handy to have a quick and easy guide. I

Can we send patients with a PPM for an MRI? One study says yes.

From Evernote: Can we send patients with a PPM for an MRI? One study says yes. Clipped from: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/mri/content/article/113619/1962561 I was just asked the question whether or not we could request an MRI for a patient with a PPM. I thought the answer was no but I rang our MRI department and they informed me

The fight against junk food – some useful info.

From Evernote: The fight against junk food – some useful info. Clipped from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/14/demonise-junk-food-sake-children 72% parents pestered to buy junk food – 1000 parent survey ‘Wt loss 90% calorie cuts 10% exercise.’ American College of Cardiology Mcdonalds natural sponsor of Olympics? A survey by the Children’s Food Trust of more than 1,000 parents with at

A nice quote for hard working Fillipino nurses in the Saudi health system

Just saw this in the Arab News, a wonderful quote for the hard working Fillipino nurses in the kingdom. Perhaps there needs to be a foreign nurses nurses association to recognise the hard work off all other expat nurses too. From Evernote: A nice quote for hard working Fillipino nurses in the Saudi health system

Knee study (No 111 Obese pats, MRI) – 5Kg weight loss IMPROVES knee cartilage within a year.

From Evernote: Knee study (No 111 Obese pats, MRI) – 5Kg weight loss IMPROVES knee cartilage within a year. Clipped from: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761694?src=rss This is a nice article that can be a positive incentive for patients to loose weight. A 5 kilogram weight loss to save yourself having a knee replacement sounds like a good deal