Recent Posts from Great Medical Blogs

Since I started this blog last June, I’ve come across a number of incredible medical blogs written by patients, medical students, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. My "Blogs of Interest" lists only a fraction of the high quality medical blogs out there.

Here are a few of the many engaging entries recently posted in the medical blogosphere:

General Medicine:
Dr Rob of the excellent medical blog, Musings of a Distractible Mind, writes an informative ‘patient handout’ on the Common Myths About Infections and Antibiotics.

On Medical School:
Ben Ferguson humorously discusses the differences between graduate school and medical school on Medscape. Ben also maintains /weblog.

Oncology:
Dr. Bates from Suture for a Living discusses Silicone Breast Implants and Health Issues (including breast implants and cancer)

Elizabeth writes a short history of Sarcoma in the 19th century on Survived 2B Alive.

In her moving entry entitled “Wonder”, Onc RN, an oncology nurse, writes about how she copes with the deaths of two of her patients while on vacation.

Cancer Prevention and Supplements:
Kathy Shattler at Red Scrubs breaks down some recent research on supplemental vitamins and whether or not they decrease cancer risks.

Dr. Benabio also discusses supplemental vitamins in The Dermatology Blog but focuses his discussion on antioxidants in ‘Cancer Myths Debunked: Antioxidants Protect You From Cancer’. This post in particular has generated a lot of rather lively debate so far.

In fact, I think that it's probably worthwhile to read this fact sheet from the National Cancer Institute about antioxidants.

Rants: General Medicine, Healthcare Policy, and Hospital Administrations
In commemoration of National Eating Disorder Week, Kris of CrazySexyCancer writes two posts (called ‘The Scale’ Part 1 and Part 2) on her own battle with eating disorders pre and post cancer. It is entertaining, personal, and a worthwhile read.

The popular press has been full of renewed discussion this week about a supposed link between autism and vaccines (for the record, there is no such link). This post on Over My Med Body does a great job of demonstrating how correlation does not equal causation. Indeed, as pointed out here, diagnosis of autism is on the rise as the use of thimerosal (the preservative accused of causing the disorder) is declining.

But I digress…

Although originally intended to protect the rights of patients, HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has caused more problems than it has solved. And, according to Dr. Wes, some disability insurance companies have rendered it “Worthless.”

And finally, a fabulous ER nurse writes about how administrative pressures to provide “good customer service” often result in the delivery of poor patient care. She does a great job pointing out that good care (a skilled nurse who is not overburdened) is far more important than a warm blanket and a TV.