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4 Strong Pillars for Healthcare

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 8, 2012 at 8:00 am

According to a recent publication from the Institute of Medicine(IOM), Health care in the United States is at a critical point. Excessive costs are no longer tenable and mediocre outcomes are no longer tolerable. For 32 of the past 40 years, health care costs have grown faster than the rest of the U.S. economy. Federal health care costs—expected to reach $950 billion in 2012—will become the largest contributor to the national debt.

Change is highly needed. Policies and procedures needs another look. Strategies and management from the Healthcare leaders need to be well defined. We need strong pillars to sustain current healthcare and to build the future ones.

The 4 pillars of  a strong and long-term viable organizations are as under.

Foundational elements
• Governance priority—visible and determined leadership by CEO and Board
• Culture of continuous improvement—commitment to ongoing,
real-time learning
Infrastructure fundamentals
• IT best practices—automated, reliable information to and from the point of
care
• Evidence protocols—effective, efficient, and consistent care
• Resource utilization—optimized use of personnel, physical space, and
other resources
Care delivery priorities
• Integrated care—right care, right setting, right providers, right teamwork
• Shared decision making—patient–clinician collaboration on care plans
• Targeted services—tailored community and clinic interventions for resource-intensive patients
Reliability and feedback
• Embedded safeguards—supports and prompts to reduce injury and infection
• Internal transparency—visible progress in performance, outcomes, and costs

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‘Doctors do not Sign Up for Sainthood’

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 7, 2012 at 8:00 am

Each society in this world has many ‘Bad Fish’ which make it all dirty looking. We just blame the whole water to be dirty instead of getting rid of the bad fish. ‘Doctors don’t sign up for sainthood.’ But the general public seems to knows better about doctors. When people make derogatory comments on the medical profession and healthcare, they only highlight the presence of unacceptably high numbers among them some who deserve such criticism.

To err is human and problems exists in all professions. But since medicine concerns a person’s health, drawbacks and failures of doctors are over-projected. Doctors may be hindered by: hospital owners who make heavy investments and encourage them to ensure maximum revenue; inefficient staff in laboratories and radiological centers; pharmacies which dispense incorrect, spurious or stale medicines; pathological and radiological centers which corrupt them with lures of incentives for referring patients to them; and the failure of patients or their attendants to follow their advice.

While we should take note of all these points before passing a judgment on doctors, we have a right to expect them to abide by the solemn oath they take before they enter the medical profession.

Corruption and malpractice are common in all professions. I don’t understand why a particular profession should come under the scanner. I agree though that present-day doctors do not have the same degree of dedication as old-timers. When education becomes a business to make money, we cannot expect to have true saints.

When doctors get attached to money, the noble quality of their work suffers. So does the effect of their medicine and treatment. History has seen a number of doctors who worked purely to alleviate the sufferings of the sick, not to accumulate wealth. They were concerned about our health rather than their wealth.

We should have a social responsibility to get together to fight the wrong-doings wherever it may be. Sometimes you have to play part of a doctor to cure these social diseases. But do not blame all doctors to be making money by corrupting the system. Most of them just want to help you and make a living as everybody else.

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25 Ways to Sky-Rocket Patient Experience in any Medical Practice

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 6, 2012 at 8:00 am

Most healthcare practices struggle on getting their bottom line met in current economic times with everyday changing healthcare trends. Very few of them are using some basic techniques to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.  I have complied a list of 25 golden principles that a medical practice can adopt to improve their overall turnover and patient experience.

1. Remind patients of their upcoming appointment at least 24-48 hours prior.

2. Patients should be reminded of any paperwork to bring at the time of appointment.

3. Check-in process should be easy and quick.

4. Manage the schedule in a way that patients do not have to wait longer than 10-15 minutes.

5. Rooms should be well lighted.

6. Patients should be told about their vital signs in comparison to the old ones by the Medical Assistant when putting information in.

7. Staff should greet them with a smile.

8. Be a good listener.Let them finish their talking before you start talking.

9. Address the key issues and give specific written recommendations. Provide patient handouts when necessary.

10. It is good to address one more issue as a bonus. Patients feel good about it.

11. Follow up recommendations should be clear and concise.

12. Easy Checkout is must. If it is going to take some time, have patients sit in waiting area and address their needs as soon as possible.

13. Inform the patients of any abnormal labs and actions to be taken as soon as results are obtained.

14. Engage family members in case is Older patients and patients with special needs.

15. Try to know their social engagements. This makes them friendly.

16. Reassure, Manage and Recommend sensitively.

17. Review charts before patients visit so that you may mention what you talked about last time.

18. Offer Same day appointments.

19. Offer access to their own records including lab work and radiology reports.

20. Send them a Satisfaction survey to see what their experiences are and how you can improve.

21. Make them part of the decision-making. Always give them options when possible and guide them to choose one for themselves.

22. Send Periodic Health maintenance reminders. This include follow-up screening tests.

23. Provide Online resources and references to patients to get educated about their health conditions.

24. Have a well-designed and well informative website for the practice.

25. Most Importantly, be clear about your policies and procedures, what services you offer and what you don’t,  before even patient shows up, to avoid any surprises on patient’s end. Patients have  unreasonable expectations sometimes, which can be avoided by giving them clear understanding of what you can provide and what you cannot.

All the above mentioned tips are very easy to follow and the results are amazingly good. See your practice Sky-rocket in few weeks after applying these principles.

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Facts about Fats

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 5, 2012 at 8:00 am

“Did you see how much cholesterol this coconut milk has?”, my wife asked me while walking down the aisle for Asian food one day. She is one paranoid personality when it comes to cholesterol in food items. At times she starts an argument about saturated and unsaturated fats although she has no clue as to what they are. And then comes the challenging part to
explain her the dynamics of cholesterol. But I enjoy those discussions as I learn a lot with the curiosity of hers.
Cholesterol is a part of lipids which is the scientific term for fats in the blood. At adequate
levels, lipids perform important cellular functions in your body, but can cause health problems if they are present in excess.
Concerning lipids are mainly cholesterol and triglycerides.
Hyperlipidemia, along with diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), positive family history, and smoking are all major risk factors for coronary heart disease.
Who gets it? obese, smokers,and those who don’t like to get up and exercise. Medical  conditions that cause   hyperlipidemia include diseases like diabetes, kidney disease,pregnancy and underactive thyroid gland. You can also inherit hyperlipidemia. The cause may be genetic if you have a normal body weight and other members of your family
have hyperlipidemia. You have a greater chance of developing hyperlipidemia if you are a man older than age 45
or a woman older than age 55. If a close relative had early heart disease (father or brother affected before age 55, mother or sister affected before age 65), you also have an increased risk.
Symptoms: None. You would never know it until you get adverse effects because of that. So why do I care? You better care about this because you could be the one getting a heart attack or a stroke before even knowing whats happening. Hyperlipidemia causes atherosclerosis which is hardening of the blood vessels, thereby compromising blood supply
to major organs like heart and brain.
So how do I know if I have high lipids? Blood test. The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that people get this test every 5 years after age 20. Your blood test will show your physician the levels of different lipids in your blood which will help him decide how aggressively you need to be treated. Most blood tests measure levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) cholesterol, HDL (good cholesterol), total cholesterol (LDL plus HDL), and triglycerides. Current national guidelines suggest a LDL cholesterol goal of <100 mg/dl for individuals already with heart disease or
diabetes, <130 mg/dl for those with moderate risk of heart disease, and <160 mg/dl for everyone else. Your doctor can calculate your risk score for heart disease. This score can then be used to determine whether you need to start taking medications to lower your LDL cholesterol.
Although there are no firm treatment targets for HDL cholesterol or triglycerides, most experts agree that optimal HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels are >40 mg/dl and <200 mg/dl, respectively.
What’s the treatment? Lifestyle modifications is the most important step to lower the lipid levels. I know some people don’t like to do it, but you need to get up and do some exercise. When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow is disease. Change your dietary habits. You should replace foods high in
saturated fats(the majority come mainly from animal sources, including meat and dairy products) with foods high in monounsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fats(vegetable oil, fish, nuts, legumes, etc). A humorous patient once said to me, “They claim red meat is bad for you. But I never saw a sick-looking tiger.” I wish I had an answer to his argument.
Stop smoking. Smoking can lower HDL, narrow your blood vessels, and injure your blood vessel walls. All of these effects can speed hardening of the arteries.Try to lose some weight. Therapeutic lifestyle changes can lower total cholesterol by 10 to 20 percent in some people. More commonly, however, people with hyperlipidemia experience a 2 to 6 percent reduction from TLC. If TLC doesn’t help, its time to start some medication which your doctor will decide for you. Lipid-lowering medications include Statin drugs (which prevent your liver from manufacturing cholesterol), Bile acid sequestrants, (which prevent your body from reabsorbing the cholesterol in bile. Bile is a liquid secreted into your small
intestine that helps you digest dietary fats), Fibrates and Niacin.
So, its never too late. Lets work on it. Remember, the best six doctors anywhere are sunshine, water, rest, air, exercise and diet.

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Every Doctor’s Dream…..

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 4, 2012 at 9:30 am
  • All available appointments are full.
  • All staff showed up for their shifts.
  • No one burns toast in the toaster oven and sets off the fire alarm.
  • None of the staff show up to work wearing flip-flops or pink underwear beneath their white scrubs.
  • All patients have been reminded about their appointments so they all show up.
  • Patients calling for same-day appointments are able to be worked-in appropriately.
  • No patients give false information at check-in.
  • Established patients arrive on time with their insurance information and co-pay.
  • New patients arrive on time to complete their paperwork, and give their insurance card, photo ID and co-pay to the receptionist.
  • Patients with fasting appointments arrive having fasted.
  • All patients arrive bringing their bag of medications.
  • Patients in wheelchairs and with difficulty ambulating are accompanied by caregivers.
  • Patients who do not speak English or are deaf have notified the office prior to the appointment and the appropriate technology or interpreters are available for the appointment.
  • Patients with procedure appointments have followed their pre-procedure instructions.
  • Patients with procedures have been pre-authorized by their insurance carrier and their personal financial responsibility has been discussed with them and payment arrangements have been made.
  • Patient eligibility has been checked and those unable to be authorized have been called before their appointment to gain further information about their payer source.
  • If computers go down, there are paper procedures in place to enable staff to continue seeing patients.
  • No patients arrive saying “I forgot to tell you, this is Worker’s Comp/ an auto accident/ a liability case and I was told by my lawyer not to pay anything.”
  • None of the patients pee on a waiting room chair.
  • Neither JCAHO nor any state or federal officers show up.
  • The copiers and faxes all work.
  • No subpoenas come in the mail.
  • It’s not your very first day live on electronic medical records.
  • All phone calls are answered before the third ring and no one has to leave a message.
  • No patients walk in the door with severe chest pains and say “I knew the doctor would want to see me.”
  • Patients remember to call the pharmacy for refills.
  • Providers all run on time and seem in particularly good moods.
  • Patients get their questions answered with callbacks within two hours.
  • Someone delivers sandwiches, drinks and brownies to the practice for lunch. There is enough for everyone.
  • No bounced checks come in the mail.
  • Providers spend so much time in the exam room listening to their patients that the patients leave feeling that every question they had (and a few they didn’t know they had) was answered.
  • Providers circle the services and write the diagnosis codes numerically on the encounter form, remembering that Medicare doesn’t pay for consults any more.
  • Sample medications that providers want to give patients are in the sample closet.
  • Records that providers want to reference are in the chart and are highlighted.
  • No one calls urgently for old medical records that are in the storage unit across town.
  • There are no duplicate medical records.
  • Patients checking out never say “But he was only in the room for 5 minutes!”
  • The patient restrooms don’t run out of toilet paper.
  • No bankruptcy notices come in the mail.
  • All phlebotomists get blood on the first stick.
  • No kids cry.
  • Congress announces that the SGR formula has been revoked and a new reasonable model for paying physicians has been discovered.
  • Everyone goes home at 5:00 p.m., glad to have a job, glad to be of service, and happy with their paychecks.

WISH IT HAPPENED IN REAL WORLD.

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Doctor’s Story: Not much Glory

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 3, 2012 at 9:35 am

Sleepless Nights,Big Bright lights,
I made books and blood my friends,
Had to know all the current trends.
I cried a lot,I suffered a lot,
Throughout the journey, I did not leave the plot.
Serving is my mission,Care is my vision.
Even with the pain, medicine is my passion.
I stayed far from my family, did not get all the love,
I touched the disease many times without the glove.
I may seem to be making money,
But do not forget that I have to leave my honey.
I get up early and sleep very late,
Just to make sure that I change your fate.
I hold your hands when you need,
Forgetting at times that I need to feed.
I love what I do,
But still fear the ‘Sue’.
I am the one,
On the run.
Never Tired,
Always Hired.
When I get calls
For somebody who falls
I get up to make you stand
Always greet you by shaking hands,
I may fly wavy like a helicopter,
Believe it or not, I am your Doctor.

DOCTORS GO THROUGH A LOT TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER.
SO, APPRECIATE THEIR WORK !

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Treat Patients the way you would like to get treated

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 2, 2012 at 8:00 am

I  was a happy man when I passed my USMLE Step 3 exam. All doctors in US have to pass the USMLE Step 3 exam which deals with how you ‘Treat’ the patient. It is not just the medical diagnosis and treatment, it is the whole process of management that starts as soon as you enter the room. Doctors get graded heavily on their behavior towards the patient.

With changing healthcare and pressure of documenting everything, doctors are finding it really hard to keep that connection going. 15 minutes for a patient’s visit is not enough most of the times. If you increase the times, the ‘bottom-line revenue gets hurt. It has come to the point where doctors are taking their work home,making it hard for them to enjoy family time. That is why, medicine is no more one of the top demanded profession.

Despite all the hassles and pains, doctors in US continue to treat their patients in the best way they can. What is patient’s need? That somebody listens to them and help them. When listening, analyzing and actions become time-bound, the connection gets lost somewhere leaving both the parties unsatisfied most of the times. We are not paying much ‘Attention’. The doctor-patient relationship is central to the practice of healthcare and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The doctor-patient relationship forms one of the foundations of contemporary medical ethics. There are very few physician practices who are actively involved in patient satisfaction surveys to know exactly where they are in terms of their services.

This loss of connection is nobody’s fault. It is the fault of the system that we as a society have designed. Health is no more a personal issue. It has become ‘E-Health’ (electronic health). Now you go for a doctor’s visit, what you hear is clicking(mouse and keyboard). We have lost the personal touch.

Is there a way to revive back the relationship and improve quality on top? Yes. The emerging concept of Patient Centered Medical Home(PCMH) takes away that burden off from the physicians and satisfies the patients. It is a multi-disciplinary integrative  approach towards patient. It does not just deals with the current problems, but helps manage overall wellness. It ensures that patients get the attention required to manage their issues.

PCMH aims to collaborate the various divisions of healthcare on a single platform to give a ‘One Stop Shop’ for health and wellness. AHA, HITECH,ACO and all other reforms added recently, have led Healthcare institutions to come up with processes to reduce waste, improve quality and deliver best possible care. The Healthcare IT industry is the busiest industry in current times. New softwares and techniques are being launched on a daily basis to make the current systems efficient.

But, whatever the case may be, Medicine is about ‘Connecting with the Patient’. We need to focus on E-Health, but not at the stake of Physician-Patient relationship. Whenever I feel myself swaying away by the winds of technological pressures, I stop and think to myself, “Is this the way I would like to be treated if I am a patient?”

From a doctor’s perspective, I would appeal to all the patients that the behavior of  doctors towards health is not by personal choice. The changes in Healthcare are coming too fast and sometimes it is hard to keep holding the ground for the healthcare providers. I am not sure how long this may take. But one thing is for sure, E-health can never overpower the strength of ‘Physician-Patient Relationship’.

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Autoimmune Diseases: Stop Self Destruction !!

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on June 1, 2012 at 7:00 am

Have you been wondering why and how do people in 21st century get bombarded with diseases that  were never heard of ? People still don’t know majority of the very common diseases in the current world. Everyone knows Hypertension (High BP), Diabetes, Cancer, Heart attacks and few more. But you will be surprised to know the toll some of the Autoimmune diseases take.

Autoimmune disorders arise from an inappropriate immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks its own cells. This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in autoimmune thyroiditis) or involve a particular tissue in different places (e.g. Goodpasture’s disease which may affect the basement membrane in both the lung and the kidney).

FURIOUS FACTS ABOUT AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES


• The National Institutes of Health (NIH estimates up to 23.5 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease and that the prevalence is rising. In comparison, cancer affects up to 9 million and heart disease up to 22 million.
• Researchers have identified 80-100 different autoimmune diseases and suspect at least 40 additional diseases of having an autoimmune basis. These diseases are chronic and can be life-threatening.
• Autoimmune disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in female children and women in all age groups up to 64 years. of age.
• A close genetic relationship exists among autoimmune disease, explaining clustering in individuals and families as well as a common pathway of disease.
• Symptoms cross many specialties and can affect all body organs.
• Medical education provides minimal learning about autoimmune disease.
• Specialists are generally unaware of interrelationships among the different autoimmune diseases or advances in treatment outside their own specialty area.
• Initial symptoms are often intermittent and unspecific until the disease becomes acute.
• According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Women’s Health, autoimmune disease and disorders ranked #1 in a top ten list of most popular health topics requested by callers to the National Women’s Health Information Center.

Examples of Autoimmune or Autoimmune Related Diseases

  • Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). A form of encephalitis caused by an autoimmune reaction and typically occurring a few days or weeks after a viral infection or a vaccination.
  • Addison’s disease. A disease often caused by autoimmune destruction of the adrenal cortex.
  • Ankylosing spondylitis. A chronic, painful, progressive inflammatory arthritis primarily affecting spine and sacroiliac joints, causing eventual fusion of the spine.
  • Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS). A disease that causes blood clots to form in veins and/or arteries.
  • Aplastic anemia. A disease caused by an autoimmune attack on the bone marrow.
  • Autoimmune hepatitis. A disorder wherein the liver is the target of the body’s own immune system.
  • Autoimmune Oophoritis.  A disorder in which the immune system attacks the female reproductive organs.
  • Celiac disease – sprue. A disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the proximal portion of the small intestine caused by exposure to certain dietary gluten proteins.
  • Crohn’s disease. A form of inflammatory bowel disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract causing abdominal pain and diarrhea. There is also a theory that Crohn’s Disease is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis.
  • Diabetes mellitus type 1. A disorder  that is characterized by a deficiency or absence of insulin production (Type I). It is often the consequence of an autoimmune attack on the insulin-producing beta cells in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas.
  • Gestational pemphigoid. A pregnancy-related blistering condition where auto antibodies attack the skin.
  • Goodpasture’s syndrome. A disease characterized by rapid destruction of the kidneys and hemorrhaging of the lungs through autoimmune reaction against an antigen found in both organs.
  • Graves’ disease. A disorder of the thyroid caused by anti-thyroid antibodies that stimulate the thyroid into overproduction of thyroid hormone. It is the most common form of hyperthyroidism.
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). An acquired immune-mediated inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nervous system. Also referred to as:  acute idiopathic polyradiculoneuritis, acute idiopathic polyneuritis,  acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and Landry’s ascending paralysis.
  • Hashimoto’s disease. A condition characterized by initial inflammation of the thyroid, and, later, dysfunction and goiter. There are several characteristic antibodies (e.g., anti-thyroglobulin).  A common form of hypothyroidism,
  • Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. An autoimmune disease where the body produces anti-platelet antibodies resulting in a low platelet count.
  • Kawasaki’s disease. A disorder caused by an autoimmune attack on the arteries around the heart.
  • Lupus erythematosus. A chronic (long-lasting) non organ specific autoimmune disease wherein the immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal tissue. This attack results in inflammation and brings about symptoms.
  • Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. A disorder that   has features of other connective tissues diseases — lupus,  polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, and scleroderma, diagnosed by the presence of  anti-body U1-RNP.
  • Multiple sclerosis. A disorder of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) characterized by decreased nerve function due to myelin loss and secondary axonal damage.
  • Myasthenia gravis. A disorder of neuromuscular transmission leading to fluctuating weakness and fatigue. Weakness is caused by circulating antibodies that block (antagonist) acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction.
  • Opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome (OMS).  A neurological disorder that appears to the result of an autoimmune attack on the nervous system. Symptoms include  ataxia, intention tremor, dysphasia, dysarthria,  myoclonus, mutism, hypotonia, opsoclonus, lethargy, irritability or malaise. About half of all OMS cases occur in association with neuroblastoma.
  • Optic neuritis. An inflammation of the optic nerve that may cause a complete or partial loss of vision.
  • Ord’s thyroiditis. Thyroiditis similar to Hashimoto’s disease, except that the thyroid is reduced in size.
  • Pemphigus. An autoimmune disorder that causes blistering and raw sores on skin and mucous membranes.
  • Pernicious anaemia. An autoimmune disorder characterized by anemia due to malabsorption of vitamin B12
  • Primary biliary cirrhosis. An autoimmune disease that affects the biliary epithelial cells (BECs) of the small bile duct in the liver. Although the cause is yet to be determined, most of the patients (>90%) appear to have auto-mitochondrial  anti-bodies (AMAs) against pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), an enzyme that is found in the mitochondria.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis. An autoimmune disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack the bone joints.
  • Reiter’s syndrome. An autoimmune disease affecting various body systems in response to a bacterial infection and the body’s confusion over the HLA-B27 marker .
  • Sjögren’s syndrome. An autoimmune disorder in which immune cells attack and destroy the exocrine glands that produce tears and saliva.
  • Takayasu’s arteritis. An auto immune disorder that results in the narrowing of the lumen of arteries.
  • Temporal arteritis (also known as “giant cell arteritis”). An inflammation of blood vessels, most commonly the large and medium arteries of the head. Untreated, the disorder can lead to significant vision loss.
  • Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia. A auto immune disorder characterized by IgM attack against red blood cells
  • Wegener’s granulomatosis . A form of vasculitis that affects the lungs, kidneys and other organs.

Have we ever tried to realize as to why has this been happening so much?

Humans have become a walking stress machines. What applies to us is ‘Garbage in, Garbage out’. We put in bad thoughts and it comes as bad actions. We hardly pay attention to our body. We have started believing in “Materialism’. We want to get what-ever we can in this lifetime. We keep accumulating stuff thinking we may need it some day. But unfortunately, the day never comes. But what comes is disease.

Most of the autoimmune diseases are caused by

  • Stress
  • Poor Lifestyle
  • Unhealthy eating habits
  • Lack of exercise
  • Chronic dehydration: Not drinking enough water
  • Hereditary factors
  • Female Gender: Females are more prone to Autoimmune diseases

An autoimmune disorder may result in:

  • The destruction of one or more types of body tissue
  • Abnormal growth of an organ
  • Changes in organ function

An autoimmune disorder may affect one or more organ or tissue types including:

  • Blood vessels
  • Connective tissues
  • Endocrine glands such as the thyroid or pancreas
  • Joints
  • Muscles
  • Red blood cells
  • Skin

Symptoms can be very weird ranging from

  • Fever
  • Weight loss
  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Body aches, etc

Diagnostic Tests

Your doctor may order the test based on your symptoms. But a few  most common ones are

  • ESR
  • CRP
  • ANA
  • CBC
  • Specific Autoantibody tests

Treatment

Immunosuppression: Medications which decreases the immune response. But it is not that simple. Most of the Immunosuppressants bring a high risk of side effects which are sometimes really hard to deal with.

Being a believer in Naturopathy and Alternative Medicine also, I recommend Lifestyle Modification be the primary treatment to fight against these painful diseases. They will detoxify your body. Some of them are:

  • Daily exercise
  • Healthy Diet: Fruits and Veggies
  • Drinking plenty of water
  • Multivitamin daily
  • Acupressure and Reflexology
  • Yoga
  • Meditation
  • Relaxation exercises including deep breathing
  • Reducing Sugar intake

The above mentioned treatments are not an alternative to medical treatment. So, do contact your doctor for management if your symptoms are uncontrolled.

One should understand that the idea is to detoxify the body and bring harmony within your body. Stop chasing for things that do not matter down the road. We do not carry what we buy for ourselves with us all the time 24X7. What we carry is our physical body every moment of our life. So value it and do not neglect it.

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Doctors Also Fear Death..

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on May 31, 2012 at 7:00 am

Mr D was a patient of mine for many years. His wife and him were the nicest and most compliant patients a doctor can  have. He was suffering from Cirrhosis of Liver due to Hepatitis C for many years. His condition was deteriorating fast over last 6 months. Frequent hospitalizations had become a norm for him. Hospital became his home. He was adamant about not getting a transplant of Liver, but with the worsening of his condition, he agreed to be on the transplant list. I was hopeful that he may do well with it once he gets it. But nature had some other plans. He passed away few weeks later while still waiting to get a liver. The news of his death did not come as a big surprise, but it was definitely hurting. Life has to come to an end one way or the other. Death is the only truth of life. But the grief of a loss of someone close leads to a new thought process. I see pain, misery and death everyday of my life. It does not stop me from doing what I do, but does lead to emotional challenges to be faced.

Do doctors grieve when their patients die? In the medical profession, such grief is seldom discussed – except, perhaps, as an example of the sort of emotion that a skilled doctor avoids feeling. But in a paper published on Tuesday in Archives of Internal Medicine, it was  found that, not only do doctors experience grief, but the professional taboo on the emotion also has negative consequences for the doctors themselves, as well as for the quality of care they provide.

Physicians possess powerful skills for saving lives. Even though deaths are an inevitable part of most physicians’ jobs, they are never taught in medical school how to deal with grief. Moreover, the culture of medicine generally encourages physician stoicism, some of which is necessary. But physicians’ emotional walls, if too high, may not only harm their personal well-being but also affect the way they interact with and treat patients, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Study took place from 2010 to 2011 in three Canadian hospitals.  20 oncologists who varied in age, sex and ethnicity and had a wide range of experience in the field – from a year and a half in practice in the case of oncology fellows to more than 30 years in the case of senior oncologists were interviewed. Using a qualitative empirical method known as grounded theory, analysis of  the data was done by systematically coding each interview transcript line by line for themes and then comparing the findings from each interview across all interviews to see which themes stood out most robustly.

After systematically coding the results, the researchers made the following observations:

  • More than half of the participants reported feelings of failure, self-doubt, sadness and powerlessness as part of their grief experience. A third of the respondents talked about feelings of guilt, loss of sleep and crying.
  • Participants widely reported hiding their grief from others because showing emotion was considered a sign of weakness. For many, the study interview marked the first time they spoke about such emotions at all.
  • Half of the oncologists said that discomfort with their grief over patient loss could affect their treatment decisions with other patients, such as by providing more aggressive chemotherapy or recommending further surgery instead of palliative care even when treatment is futile. At least one other doctor acknowledged undertreating a patient after seeing another with severe toxicity.
  • Half of participants admitted withdrawing from patients, in the form of fewer bedside visits and less overall interaction, as the patients got closer to dying.

Unease with losing patients also affected the doctors’ ability to communicate about end-of-life issues with patients and their families. Half of our participants said they distanced themselves and withdrew from patients as the patients got closer to dying. This meant fewer visits in the hospital, fewer bedside visits and less overall effort directed toward the dying patient.

It’s worth stressing that most physicians want what is best for their patients and that the outcome of any medical intervention is often unknown. It’s also worth noting that  physicians who are dealing with end-of-life issues are right to put up some emotional boundaries: no one wants their doctor to be walking around openly grief-stricken.

The research indicates that grief is having a negative impact on physicians’ personal lives and that there is a troubling relationship between doctors’ discomfort with death and grief and how patients and their families are treated. Physicians are not trained to deal with their own grief, and they need to be. In addition to providing such training, we need to normalize death and grief as a natural part of life, especially in medical settings.

To improve the quality of end-of-life care for patients and their families, we also need to improve the quality of life of their physicians, by making space for them to grieve like everyone else.

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Meditation: A Priceless Journey to Inner Peace

In Health, Healthcare, Medicine on May 30, 2012 at 10:16 am

MEDITATION  MADE  EASY

I want to congratulate you first for taking time to read this article. You have taken a step towards making your life peaceful. You know that it is time for change.

We are now going to take 10 steps in the journey to learn Meditation and get Ultimate Mind Control. During the journey, some things may seem to be small and easy, but they actually are not and have a big impact on our lives.

Mind is like a garden. We all want to have a beautiful garden. But we cannot get a beautiful garden by thinking itself. We have to plant flowers and nice plants to beautify it. Also, we need to make sure that we take out the weeds time to time. De-weeding is very important. If not done in time, weeds grow very fast and spread fast. Gradually it may spread to our neighbors garden also. Or Vice versa, if your neighbor has not been taking care of the garden as he or she should, the weeds may damage your garden. But there are certain things that you can do to keep that from happening.

1. You can tell your neighbor about what is happening so that he/she can take care of it.

2. Or you can keep spraying the weedicide in your own garden.

3. Or just move to another house.

Out of all three, the best that works for long term is telling the neighbor about the problem so that he can take care of it. Again, make him/her ‘aware’ of the problem. Awareness leads to learning and enlightenment.

We are going to follow the same steps as we do to establish a beautiful looking garden, which include loosening of soil, seeding the lawn, watering the lawn, fertilizing the lawn, de-weeding the lawn, mowing the lawn and ultimately enjoying the beauty of it.

Our mind works the same way. We have good thoughts and we have bad thoughts. Bad/Negative thoughts are like weeds which grow fast and spread fast. That is why staying in company of good people make our thought process better, while bad company destroys our mind and we get into wrongful doings and thoughts. When you cannot avoid the negative company, e.g., a colleague, a neighbor, a relative or whomsoever, the key is to make them aware of their behavior and actions. You may feel that it may sour the relationship, but it wont. It would actually improve your bondage and bring change to his/her world for the good.

Learning anything comes from proper guidance through a person, books, articles, media, etc.  We learn so many things in life. Apart from learning in schools and colleges, we learn everyday from events and happening in our day to day life.

When I started Residency in an urban hospital, I realized I was just thrown into it the very first day. It’s like walking in dark. You do not know where to go. You keep falling and that is how you learn. But people who throw you in do not understand that too many falls create bruises and wounds which sometimes are hard to heal.

So we are going to enlighten ourselves during this journey to get close to be Ultimate Mind Controllers and Meditation pro’s. We will take a step ladder approach and take one step at a time. You may decide your pace. No hurries. We have hurried enough in our lives to achieve what we have today. But for meditation and mind control, we need to take it slow. It is about slowing down the racing mind.


WHAT IS MEDITATION ??

Meditation is slowing down the thought process.

Meditation is a way to feel self. The other word that clearly defines meditation is self-awareness. Just be aware of what is happening in your own body, how your body is reacting to external stimulus. Awareness is always enlightening.

Awareness about traffic laws makes us safe drivers. Awareness about environment makes us more environment friendly. Awareness about education gives us knowledge.

Same way self awareness enlightens us internally. Our body is regulated by Brain. Brain is the supreme power and controls all what happens in the body. It is like class teacher. The various organs are like students who have to follow what the teacher says. If the teacher is good, students behave right and learn right. If teacher is bad, students turn bad.  Human life has significantly evolved over thousands of years. But what has not evolved the way it should is human spirituality and mind control. Making that teacher a good teacher will make it a good class.

How many schools or parents teach the importance of mind control and ways to improve it to their children? Very very few. Generally, self awareness and mind control is not something that people pay much attention and importance to. The reason is unknown to me. What I could think of is that humans have always been trained for survival of the fittest. We are always constantly occupied by thoughts to excel from others. We always compare with others and try to compete in this society. But what people forget in the chaos of life is that hyper-achieving goals to connect with the outside world disconnect them from their own inner world.

Why is Inner World Important?

What we are, who we are, what we do, what we think and what we see is all part of inner world. Our thoughts and experiences created over our life make us who we are as a person. Do you know of anyone who is a perfect thinker? Show me one person and in this world who can say I have a perfect thought process. You will not find one. Perfection in thoughts is something which is missing in this world these days. But we can at least improve upon it. We can clear our minds of all those negative thoughts that we have created for ourselves.

Meditation is similar to learning other skills like how to ride a bike or play the piano.

THE IDEA IS TO SEE WHAT TRULY MATTERS

 

Can you show me some evidence?

We have overwhelming evidence to support the great effects of Mediation.

In over 1,000 published research studies, various methods of meditation have been linked to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation, and other bodily processes. Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction

Studies have shown that meditation has both short-term and long-term effects on various perceptual faculties.

Meditation has been linked to a variety of health benefits. In a study conducted on college students by Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, and Flinders (2008), they were able to demonstrate findings that meditation may tend to changes in the neurological process cultivating physiological health benefits. This finding was supported by an expert panel at the National Institutes of Health.

The practice of meditation has also been linked with various favorable outcomes that include: “effective functioning, including academic performance, concentration, perceptual sensitivity, reaction time, memory, self control, empathy, and self esteem.”(Oman et al., 2008, pg. 570) In their evaluation of the effects of two meditation-based programs they were able to conclude that meditating had stress reducing effects and cogitation, and also increased forgiveness. (Oman et al., 2008)

In a cross-sectional survey research design study lead by Li Chuan Chu (2009), Chu demonstrated that benefits to the psychological state of the participants in the study arose from practicing meditation. Meditation enhances overall psychological health and preserves a positive attitude towards stress. (Chu, 2009)

Mindfulness Meditation has now entered the health care domain because of evidence suggesting a positive correlation between the practice and emotional and physical health. Examples of such benefits include: reduction in stress, anxiety, depression, headaches, pain, elevated blood pressure, etc. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that those who meditated approximately half an hour per day during an eight week period reported that at the end of the period, they were better able to act in a state of awareness and observation. Respondents also said they felt non-judgmental. (Harvard’s Women’s Health Watch, 2011)

Over 1,000 publications on meditation have appeared to date. Many of the early studies lack a theoretically unified perspective, often resulting in poor methodological quality, as discussed above in the section

A review of scientific studies identified relaxation, concentration, an altered state of awareness, a suspension of logical thought and the maintenance of a self-observing attitude as the behavioral components of meditation; it is accompanied by a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body that alter metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain activation. Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction. Meditation has also been studied specifically for its effects on stress

More recent research suggests that meditation may increase attention spans. A recent randomized study published in Psychological Science reported that practicing meditation led to doing better on a task related to sustained attention.

“A person who meditates consequently perceives objects more as directly experienced stimuli and less as concepts… With the removal or minimization of cognitive stimuli and generally increasing awareness, meditation can therefore influence both the quality (accuracy) and quantity (detection) of perception.”

During meditation there is a modest increase in slow alpha or theta wave EEG activity.

Many diseases which could be cured with the help of meditation are:

Anxiety

Depression

Epilepsy

Asthma

Migraines

Hot Flashes

High Blood Pressure

Chromic pain

Diabetes

Psychological benefits

Stress reduction

Confidence building

Improved Memory

Improved concentration and focus

Improved sense of satisfaction

Feeling of Happiness in Life

Improved perception

Generates Optimism

Reduces Ego

Physical Benefits

 

Improved circulation

Reduction of stress hormones

Generation of happy hormones(endorphins)

Improved vision

Reduction in heart disease

Improved lung functions

Improved brain functions

Balances Blood pressure

Reduces atherosclerosis

Improved endocrine function

Lets get rolling here…

We are going to learn it slow….learning curve is different for everyone. Just depends upon how fast your mind races. Fast racers take sometime to slow down while slow racers are fast learners. A lot of us, over 90%, are fast racers. So we’ll keep it slow.

There are multiple types of Meditation mentioned in the literature. The ways change from culture to culture. But most of them do not do well with Urban culture which we live in these days. We are all busy. We do not have the luxury to sit quietly is a serene place with mountains and waterfall in front of our balcony/patio/room window.

So we are going to learn some ways to mediate in our daily routine without needing any fancy techniques.

So lets begin..

What do you gotta do? Nothing. Just take it easy.

The only thing you need to make sure is that you should feel the changes within yourself before you move ahead with each step.

Step 1-5 could be done with open or closed eyes.

Step 1

Does not matter where you are right now, in office, at home, in train or wherever, just say to yourself, (loud or within)…RELAX.  Repeat it 6 times.

By doing this, you have done yourself a great favor……You have relaxed your mind.

Hurrayyyyy…….!!!!!!!

Step 2

Now repeat the above mentioned exercise while taking a deep breaths. Inhale and exhale at your own pace. Say ‘relax’ while exhaling.

Great…you did so well

Step 3

Follow the rule of 3’s. You do not have to say ‘Relax’ this time. Make sure you inhale in your stomach. Feel it getting expanded and going down with each breath. This is called diaphragmatic breathing. This way, we improve our lung functions and improve circulation more that breathing in your chest.

Inhale for 3 seconds.

Hold for 3 seconds

Exhale for 3 seconds

Hold for 3 seconds…..

Keep repeating the cycle for 10 times.

Feeling great…good

Step 4

Our hands and feet depict our body. All the body channels are present in hands and feet.

Now rub your hands against each other for 15 times.

Rubbing improves circulation in our hands.

Rest your elbows on the arms of chair or flat on table or whatever way is convenient to you. Now join both your hands like in a Namaste pose as shown.

Hindu culture follows this pose on a daily basis. It’s a way to greet people. This signifies that a person with Namaste Pose is greeting you with two balanced world of yours. Joining 2 palms depict connecting inner and outer world. Our Right hand signifies our outer world and Left hand signifies inner world. That is why most of us are right handed because we connect to outer world more than to our inner world. You would see that most spiritual leaders and grounded people and left handed.

Feel the sensations of touch when your palms meet each other. Hold this pose for as long as you can. Longer the better (I would say about 4-5 minutes is good.) Just keep feeling the sensations of two worlds meeting each other and giving you all the peace that you need.

You can feel the warmth and energy being transferred to each other to create a balance. When you feel the balance well, you have done very well in your aim at connecting your two worlds.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Step 5

We’ll do the same as we did in step 5, but this time we will use our mind to help us out. Imagine that both your hands have superglue on them. Now put them in Namaste pose and imagine that they are getting glued to each other.

The more you imagine, the more powerful the glue will work. This glue closes all the pores where the energy could be leaking out from. Keep imagining that your hands are getting stuck together. You will now feel that they are hard to get separated because the glue has now settled in and closed all the open channels that were causing trouble. You may keep trying to separate them, but you can’t. This is a good sign.

This exercise works in strengthening the bondage between the inner and outer worlds.

If you cannot feel the strong bonding the first time, give it a second shot. This is not too hard. Just practice.

Now we have connected the two world perfectly. At this time you would be feeling thrilled and energetic because of abundance of energy in your body.

From now on it is important to close your eyes. We will now work on our perceptions and purify our mind. Read first and then close eyes to do the exercise.

Step 6

“Life is less than 5 minutes”

It does not matter how old you are and how many events you had in your life. If you have to think about your Life so far from the beginning till today, it will take you less than 5 minutes to think about it.

Think of all your memories so far in life. Go back as far as you could remember. You could imagine your pictures also. Imagine the time when you were born, your first step, your first birthday, your first day in school, when you got an award, you first kiss, your first love, etc etc….all that you have been through in life. Think of all the good things that happened in your life.

Close your eyes

Take your time.

Wow…you did so well. How did it feel? I am sure it must have felt really good remembering all those memories and events.

By doing this exercise you have fertilized the lawn of your mind. As the fertilizer improves the growth of grass, plants and flowers, your mind will now grow fast.

Good, now since we have prepared the ground well, let’s take the next step.

Step 7

Know your body as never before.

I call it Body Mapping or Body Scanning. This exercise helps you to connect to your own body and know how it is functioning. Put on nice instrumental music. For detailed body scanning you can visit www.theworldofhealing.com and click on meditation tab. It is a 20 minutes Body scanning audio that will help a lot.

You just have to scan your body from head to toe. Feel the sensations on each part individually and relax it. Start with head first, then forehead, eyes, lips, neck, chest, left arm, left hand, right arm, right hand, abdomen, left leg, left foot, right leg and right foot. You will feel the wave of relaxation in your body as you follow this pattern. Your thoughts may wander a lot initially, but will keep getting better with each repeated session. This takes you a deep state of ‘trance’ and you achieve ultimate relaxation and peace within your mind and body. You may feel that you are getting sleepy. You may also feel tingling or numbness in your body which is normal. The concentrated part relaxes to such extent that it starts feeling very heavy. For example, if you concentrate on your left arm and relax it, it may feel that it is getting very heavy like a heavy rock and you are unable to move it. That’s a very good sign.

Step 8

Sometimes human mind’s garden gets overgrowth of thoughts like tall grass. When you feel you are occupied by too much of thoughts, its time to mow the lawn of mind.

We need to trim the hyperactive thoughts. The good news is that you do not have to have a lawn mower for mind garden. You just have to think that your thoughts have been overgrowing and its time to trim them. Just the mere thought of doing this will cut out all the hyper-grown thoughts and will leave you with mental peace and a clean, beautiful mind. Feel as if your mind is getting clearer and your mind which was creating waves earlier is not so calm and peaceful.

Step 9

Life is busy. Does not matter if you work hard or no, everyone feels that they are busy. The sounds that we hear in our lives, natural or artificial create a channel of reactions in the body and mind. Vibrations created by noises affect us in good way or bad way depending upon what vibration we are listening to and perceiving more. To balance the body’s natural vibrations, we need to listen to the most natural sound of Nature. The balancing through vibrations is called CHAKRA HEALING.

Human body has 7 Chakras from base of the spine to the top of the head. Chakras are like banks who store lot of energy which they can give out whenever needed. Sometimes, some chakras are underactive and some are overactive. In other words sometimes we are not using the chakra’s energy as we should and sometimes we waste too much of chakra energy that leads to imbalance in body and life.

The 7 chakras are

1. Root Chakra – Represents our foundation and feeling of being grounded.

Location: Base of spine in tailbone area.
Emotional issues: Survival issues such as financial independence, money, and food.
Sound: LUM

 

2. Sacral Chakra – Our connection and ability to accept others and new experiences.

Location: Lower abdomen, about 2 inches below the navel and 2 inches in.
Emotional issues: Sense of abundance, well-being, pleasure, sexuality.
Sound: VUM

3. Solar Plexus Chakra – Our ability to be confident and in-control of our lives.

Location: Upper abdomen in the stomach area.
Emotional issues: Self-worth, self-confidence, self-esteem.
Sound: RUM

4. Heart Chakra – Our ability to love.

Location: Center of chest just above heart.
Emotional issues: Love, joy, inner peace.
Sound: YUM

5. Throat Chakra – Our ability to communicate.

Location: Throat.

Emotional issues: Communication, self-expression of feelings, the truth.
Sound: HUM

6. Third Eye Chakra – Our ability to focus on and see the big picture.

Location: Forehead between the eyes.

Emotional issues: Intuition, imagination, wisdom, ability to think and make decisions.
Sound: OM

7. Crown Chakra – The highest Chakra represents our ability to be fully connected spiritually.

Location: The very top of the head.
Emotional issues: Inner and outer beauty, our connection to spirituality, pure bliss.
Sound: AUM

You should chant these sounds 50-100 times everyday to help with Inner Healing. To heal Root Chakra, please visit www.theworldofhealing.com and click on meditation.

Step 10

Chant ‘OM’

Om is the most powerful sound of nature. Chanting Om purifies Mind and body significantly. Let’s learn a little more about OM.

The vibration produced by chanting Om in the physical universe corresponds to the original vibration that first arose at the time of creation. The sound of Om sustains life. Om also represents the four states of the Supreme Being. The three sounds in Om (AUM) represent the waking, dream and deep sleep states and the silence which surrounds Om represents the “Bliss” state.

Because the first of the three states of consciousness is the waking state, it is represented by the sound “A” pronounced like “A” in America. Because the dream state of consciousness lies between the waking and the deep sleep states, it is represented by the letter “U” which lies between the “A” and “M”. This “U” is pronounced like the “U” in would. The last state of consciousness is the deep sleep state and is represented by “M” pronounced as in “sum.” This closes the pronunciation of Om just as deep sleep is the final stage of the mind at rest. Whenever Om is recited in succession there is an inevitable period of silence between two successive Oms. This silence represents the “fourth state” which is the state of perfect bliss when the individual self recognizes his identity with the supreme.

The Power of Chanting Om

  1. The chanting of Om drives away all bad thoughts and removes distraction and infuses new vigor in the body.
  2. When you feel depressed, chant Om fifty times and you will be filled with new vigor and strength. The chanting of Om is a powerful tonic. When you chant Om, you feel you are the pure, all pervading light and consciousness.
  3. Those who chant Om will have a powerful, sweet voice. Whenever you take a stroll, you can chant Om. You can also sing Om in a beautiful way. The rhythmic pronunciation of Om makes the mind serene and pointed, and infuses the spiritual qualifications which ensure self-realization.
  4. Those who do meditation of Om daily will get tremendous power. They will have luster in their eyes and faces.

www.theworldofhealing.com