On any Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., you can find Robert H. Shmerling, MD, playing tag, basketball or even roughhousing with a group of children at Second Step, a transitional living program that offers victims of domestic violence in the Boston area a safe place to live and opportunities to go back to…
For the past 16 years, the website, creakyjoints.org, founded by arthritis patient Seth Ginsberg and social entrepreneur Louis Tharp, has offered arthritis patients and their families a safe online community where they can receive meaningful support and education. In March, the online portal added a new initiative—Arthritis Power, the first-ever patient-led, patient-generated, app-based research registry…
Physician burnout is high and climbing. A 2015 report published by Medscape showed that nearly half (46%) of physicians surveyed responded that they were experiencing burnout; that number is up from 39.8% reported in a similar survey in 2013.1 These physicians experience the tell-tale signs of burnout: loss of enthusiasm for work (or emotional exhaustion),…
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a condition characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance and fatigue. It is commonly associated with psychological distress and co-morbid conditions. Impaired cognition is common in individuals with FMS, and is often referred to as fibrofog.1 According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of…
Prior to the widespread use of bisphosphonates for the management of osteoporosis, multiple myeloma and metastatic cancer to the skeletal system, osteonecrosis of the jawbones was an infrequent condition seen after radiation for oral cancers (osteoradionecrosis) and in chronic odontogenic infections.1 Since the mid-2000s, osteonecrosis of the jawbones has been noted to occur as a…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Medicare Advantage plans might not be meeting the needs of patients requiring the costliest and most complex levels of care, a new study suggests. Between 2010 and 2011, such patients were more likely to switch from Medicare Advantage plans to traditional Medicare, rather than vice versa, researchers found. The results suggest people…
A 35-year-old female with a history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without kidney involvement was admitted to our hospital with low-grade fevers, headache, increasing lower extremity edema and elevated blood pressure. History She was first diagnosed with SLE as a teenager when she developed oral ulcers and pleuritic chest pain and tested positive for anti-Smith…
“Love is the bone and sinew of my curse.” —Sylvia Plath Cutting the Cord Here’s the problem: No one grows up wanting to seek the cure for bursitis—or tendonitis or just about any of the other seemingly mundane maladies afflicting our body’s scaffolding. Meniscal tears, fasciitis, tendinopathies—the list is endless. Chances are, your college essay…
In diagnosing and treating a disease that is rapidly gaining recognition worldwide since it was first recognized in Japan in 2003, 42 experts from 10 different countries recently collaborated to discuss and review the current experience and data on IgG4-related disease. The result is the “International Consensus Guidance Statement on the Management and Treatment of…
When the local hospital approaches you about selling your practice and converting it to a provider-based outpatient department, you may want to hear them out. There are many benefits to becoming a department of the hospital, but what would it mean for you and the practice you worked tirelessly to build? What Does It Mean…