Weekend Quotes

The report's authors "estimate that in order to provide services to these medically disenfranchised Americans, as well as current patients, health centers will need up to 60,000 more primary-care professionals, and up to 44,500 additional nurses."

-National Association of Community Health Centers (article link)

If pure thought is a body, it is our emotions that supply the heart that can really bring it to life. Our thoughts and feelings exist in relation to one another, and they form a feedback loop through which they communicate and empower each other.

-Daily Om: Undistracted Energy

“Redefining smoking not as a behavioral habit but as a pharmacological addiction may sound like good public policy, but it works against the public health when it reaches people that it is impossible to quit. Indeed, instead of having the intended effect of steering potential smokers – that is, children – away from cigarettes, demonizing cigarettes via nicotine reinforced smokers’ feelings of pharmacological enslavement and undermined their will to quit.

The tobacco habit should be characterized as an habituation rather than an addiction…”

-Smoking, A Behavioral Analysis, published in 1971

Dog Training Ourselves

Ian Dunbar gets dogs, but he also gets human behavior. I'll timestamp the latter first just because it's so on about relationship skills and interaction skills.

12:00: Training ourselves to be better at relationships
7:35: Insights on punishment without force
4:00: Really simple dog training techniques

Reminding Patients To Take Their Medication

Patients being non-compliant with taking their medication negates the value of going to the doctor, creates confusion in setting up treatment plans and in the case of antibiotics teaches the exact bacteria you're trying to kill how to fight back (MRSA).

Luckily, next generation devices such as Zuri aim to help remind patients to take their medication and also provide an electronic record of time and dosage to the doctor. Real-time interfacing with your medical provider is the only way to monitor medication activity successfully.

Here's more from the WSJ.

...the Zuri, an iPod-sized device that sends patients reminders to take their medications and records their compliance, which users and, if they choose, their doctors can track through a companion Web page.

Intel's care-management tool, called Health Guide, combines an in-home patient device with an online interface that doctors can use to monitor and remotely manage care. The in-home patient device collects readings from specific models of wired and wireless medical devices, such as blood-pressure monitors and glucose meters. It then displays the data for the patient on a touch screen and sends the readings to a secure host server, where health-care professionals can review the information and provide feedback via video conferencing and email.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is working with home-health and fitness-device makers to integrate vital-signs data into HealthVault, an online service the software company recently launched that allows consumers to store, manage and selectively share medical data.

Uplifting, Thought-Provoking Daily Inspiration

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August 20, 2008
Being Clear About Desires
Getting What We Want

The best way to get what we want from life is to first know what we want. If we haven’t taken the time to really understand and identify what would truly make us happy, we won’t be able to ask for it from those around us or from the universe. We may not even be able to recognize it once it arrives. Once we are clear about what we want, we can communicate it to those around us. When we can be honest about who we are and what we want, there is no need to demand, be rude or aggressive, or manipulate others that are involved in helping us get what we want. Instead, we know that we are transmitting a signal on the right frequency to bring all that we desire into our experience.

As the world evolves, humanity is learning to work from the heart. We may have been taught that the way to get what we want is to follow certain rules, play particular games, or even engage in acts that use less than our highest integrity. The only rules we need to apply are those of intention and connection. In terms of energy, we can see that it takes a lot of energy to keep up a false front or act in a way that is counter to our true nature, but much less energy is expended when we can just be and enjoy connections that energize us in return. Then our energy can be directed toward living the life we want right now.

Society has certain expectations of behavior and the roles each of us should play, but as spiritual beings we are not bound by these superficial structures unless we choose to accept them. Instead, we can listen to our hearts and follow what we know to be true and meaningful for us. In doing so, we will find others who have chosen the same path. It can be easy to get caught up in following goals that appear to be what we want, but when we pursue the underlying value, we are certain to stay on our right path and continue to feed our soul.

The Secret To Happiness

8:00: What's bad about having too many choices
15:06: The Secret to Happiness

The whole thing's worth watching.

Hellooooo Health!

Jay Parkinson to me is the definition of a brazen careerist. Health care is a very conservative sector that's eons behind in technology, rife with political machinations and just filled with complexity on all ends. Dr. Parkinson has single-handedly taken on the industry and changed the paradigm from health care to patient care in less than a year. There's a lot of history behind this, and rather than rehash it in prose, I'll hyperlink to milestones that have led to the launch of Hello Health, Jay's company. Safe to say, this model of care delivery is not going anywhere and may spark a revolution in the years to come.

• Original Website & Philosophy - In a nutshell, doctors making house calls like the old days with an iPhone packing in the patient records instead of a briefcase.
  

• The Video Brief - Think medical Facebook. Why not just add your doctor as a "friend" on a privatized network and message him with a problem?
  

• Summary Article on Hello Health Launch - Scalability is occurring one doctor at a time and I only foresee trailblazing growth in the future.

Bottomline: While most of us are used to email, IM, Facebook, iPhone, Google and overall internet-based communication, health care has only just turned on the computer. Jay Parkinson has skipped decades by providing patients real-time access to primary care services. The progress is exponential considering the industry context. The start-up's in Brooklyn, but at this rate Hello Health might be in your neighborhood sooner than you think.

TALK Patient, LISTEN Doctor, COMMUNICATE Healthcare

Here are some excerpts from a disturbing review of the doctor-patient relationship in the NYTimes Well section. This is important.

...there is a disconnect between the way doctors and patients view medicine. Doctors are trained to diagnose disease and treat it, he said, while “patients are interested in being tended to and being listened to and being well.”

The reasons for all this frustration are complex. Doctors, facing declining reimbursements and higher costs, have only minutes to spend with each patient. News reports about medical errors and drug industry influence have increased patients’ distrust. And the rise of direct-to-consumer drug advertising and medical Web sites have taught patients to research their own medical issues and made them more skeptical and inquisitive.

Keep in mind that EVERYTHING revolves around the communication between a patient and physician; need for lab tests and procedures, need for prescription medication, referral to specialists who then may refer out to more specialists, the odds of the doc getting sued, chances for the copay to get waived, whether the insurer finds reason to deny treatment, what your stress level will be that day (and maybe for a long time afterwards).

Going to the doctor has one of the highest potentials for changing your life (what else is there? job interview, meeting the parents, going to court). It all boils down to interaction, so its worth your while to make sure you find a doc that suits your personality, understands your lifestyle, and listens(!!). The article also gives a few more pointers.

Patients who don’t trust their doctor should look for a new one, but they may be able to improve existing relationships by being more open and communicative.

Go to a doctor’s visit with written questions so you don’t forget to ask what’s important to you. If a doctor starts to rush out of the room, stop him or her by saying, “Doctor, I still have some questions.” Patients who are open with their doctors about their feelings and fears will often get the same level of openness in return.

Is Blogging becoming a crutch?

I’m amazed by bloggers who can post 3 times a day (Tyler Cowen) with relevant content but find it pretty unrealistic unless there's some major incentive involved; money, larger audience, branding, etc. Done pro-bono, blogging still serves a personal purpose but at what point does it take away from spending an hour doing something else? What’s the opportunity cost? When does it start becoming a conversational crutch?

Its happened a lot that I preface what I’ve blogged in conversation, and that’s a huge pro to blogging; it organizes my thoughts around a specific topic really well. Sometimes though, I have a great conversation with someone that provides a similar organizational benefit and I end up taking hours blogging about it.

For the average blogger with a friend/family/coworker audience, it might be more beneficial to just keep sharing the learning points at a company picnic, family get-together, or house party. Blogging may just be getting in the way of something that’s already become clear to the blogger and probably will not reach a larger audience outside their personal scope anyway.

Even if you’re journalizing your thoughts, the cumulative hours spent typing away may not be worth the effort. To avoid letting the process of blogging get in the way of life experience, a friend of mine uses a private twitter account to document momentary occurrences. A quick 140 word text gets the job done 90% of the time. The rest is blogged. Brilliant!

Bottomline: A journal can be a blog, but a blog is not necessarily a journal. Some conversations are just more worthwhile having in real life with people you know. If you have enough of an audience to test out your new ideas before exploring them in conversation, then go for it. I don’t believe this represents the majority of bloggers though. As a litmus test, ask yourself this; “if my computer (and blog server) crashed right now and I lost what I was writing, would it really be worth writing again?”

As the Wordle Churns

If you haven't already, check out Wordle! Basically, you type in a few words in a text box and it generates a cloud image of those words. You can wordle any website or del.icio.us feed as well. My clouds are below.

This blog:

My del.icio.us tags:

Words I used to create a collage for a friend's wedding:

Universal Health Care: Right, Privilege or Commodity?

Must-read intelligent and clear-cut article on the different perspectives behind universal health care. If you've ever wondered why the U.S. is having trouble solving the 47 million uninsured problem, this article gives you a glimpse into why. Here's an excerpt:

We Americans are truly a spoiled lot when it comes to consumerism - the medical industry is not spared. We want to go to the best doctor possible. We want choice, and we will pay for choice. If there is a special procedure, we want it done. What we do not realize is that those choices and tiers of medicine are only availed through a profit-driven capitalist medical industry. Where do we think all of those drug and device discoveries are coming from? From the company that spent billions of dollars researching it and who sells it at a handsome profit and whose stock is listed in the public markets!

Everyone deserves to be in the Credits

Movies are such a grand affair to make: lighting, makeup, production, set design, casting, assistant to the 2nd cameraman, and the list goes on. Why are we familiar with these terms? Because they're in the credits! Mind you, most of us don't watch the credits because we're really there for the big show, but it really really matters to the people involved in the making. They tell it to their family, friends and even acquaintances with a sense of pride and accomplishment. In fact, I was an extra in The Namesake for about seven seconds and its become one of those things that just gets mentioned off-hand in conversation. The notion of credits is very transferable to other arenas, especially in the work world.

No matter how hoaky, being mentioned at a picnic, a newsletter, a party, or conference has a very lasting effect on people. No one's really immune. The very best companies make use of this concept heavily in other ways as well through sophiscated-sounding titles, celebrations, and leadership opportunities (in anything; from taking charge of team projects to managing the company softball team). Whatever work efforts we're involved in, there is a beginning, a middle and an end. Focus is almost always on the first two; start-up and maintenance. Yet companies evolve just the same as TV sitcoms do. The "end" with credits and all is the shifting point to antoher theme, product or customer; think Apple, Google, Microsoft but also Johnson & Johnson, GE and Procter & Gamble.

Bottomline: Acclaim matters. Make it a part of your work and personal life. Commend yourself and others upon meeting deadlines, reaching milestones, achieving goals. Change has to be a part of the system (more on that in another post). Employees and customers continue to stay interested only if you remain interesting. Figure out how to get you and your organization there. Credit opportunistically and you'll only create more opportunities to credit.

You're Not Really As Old As Your Age

Preemies or premature infants are tracked closely during their first few years of their life to see how they develop. Weight, size, and head circumference are some of the growth factors used to adjust their age and calculate what’s called a “real age”. For example, a 6 month old baby who scores low on these metrics may be adjusted to an age of 4 months. It’s in this light that I’ve been thinking of adult age as being adjusted by maturity level. We’ve all seen or taken those “real age” tests that tell us our real age is 21 or 32 even though we might actually be 25. I want to explore the principle behind this a little more, but in the sense of how mature other adults (40+) view us to be.

The idea originates from the fact that we now live much longer lives and our personal and work lives have changed dramatically because of it. We have more time room to maneuver in. We don’t have to be “settled” at 24 anymore (ha!). A career isn’t forever and we explore possibilities related to our hobbies and interests rather than something we picked in our adolescence. This extension in our settlement as adults has a larger effect though on how we are perceived by other adults. Their generation did have to grow up fast (relatively) and we’re largely held to a similar framework. If we don’t meet expectation, then we’re treated, well, like children. Unlike the preemies, who are given the attention and care to catch up to their age, 20 and 30-somethings in a state of maturity flux (in school or changing careers) are pushed further down the “adult” totem pole.

A simple example is a 28-yr old married postgrad (med/law/PhD) with two kids. He/she obviously pays bills and has gone through some major “adult” experiences (marriage, childbirth) but being a student really cramps mature interactions with other adults. Or to turn it around, there’s the 24-yr old single marketing professional without any kids who still starts his/her weekend on a Wednesday night. Comes to work on time, is ambitiously climbing the ladder, but due to lifestyle choices is held to a lower maturity level. Both are well-functioning citizens of society and because they don’t fit the old career paradigm, they’re not afforded the same respect as adults who’ve made more PC choices.

Bottomline: Your boss can boss you around because you’re not working, but can’t parent you because you choose to play world of warcraft in your free time. Your professor can teach you his/her expertise, but can’t make you come to class (you’re paying for it!). Stick to roles and don’t adjust people’s age by your perception of their maturity level. Yes, a boss can be a parent and a professor can guide behavior, but not until they’re asked. Relationships are mutual agreements and too often adults take on added unasked-for responsibilities just because they think they can. If you’re a recipient of this sort of behavior, make your age and maturity clear. There’s no set definition for “adult.”