All Natural Cures For Acne

Acne is the result of inflammation of a sebaceous gland or a hair follicle on the face, neck, shoulders or chest. It is usually prevalent in younger people in their teens as well as in their early twenties. Acne is so common that nearly sixty percent of all the people between the ages thirteen and twenty four almost always suffer the problem of acne. Bad and irregular eating habits are the root causes of acne. An excess of starch in your diet, an overload of sugars or exceeding amounts of fats and deep fried food stuff in your food can be the underlying cause of the acne on your skin. Another deep rooted cause of acne is chronic constipation. If your bowel movements are not regular, then the waste material is not removed from the body. This toxic material is carried in the blood and shows its presence in the form of acne. One more cause of acne is the devitalized state of the skin. If your skin is not vitalized in the proper way then these unhygienic conditions can lead to the development of acne on your skin. Excessive consumption of tea, coffee, cigarettes and alcohol can also contribute largely to the formation of acne on the skin.

All natural cures for acne include the daily and regular intake of certain vitamins. These vitamins are niacin, vitamin A and vitamin E. These are extremely helpful in treating acne. The other natural cure for acne can be by including zinc in your diet. Zinc is one of the most effective ingredients to treat acne. Orange peel has certain essential oils which are helpful in reducing the damages caused by acne to the skin. Applying lemon juice to the affected areas is also an effective all natural cure for acne. Garlic is a great option to cure acne as it works from the inside and not just the exterior. Garlic has a purifying effect on the blood hence eliminating the root cause of acne. Mint juice or coriander juice mixed with a pinch of turmeric is very helpful if applied on the affected areas. Fenugreek leaves and cucumber both are effective against the tough problem of acne as well.

The diet to opt for if you want to go for all natural cures for acne is an all fruit ones. Consume all the different kinds of fruits and as many times as you can in a week. These fruits can be apples, grapes, grapefruit pineapple and peaches or any other fresh juicy fruit. In addition to that you can also include fresh vegetables, sprouts, raw nuts and wholegrain cereals in your diet. Remember that a balanced diet is the key to cure the problem of acne from within. Also try and include fibre in your diet as it helps in regulating bowel movements. Try and avoid tea, coffee, alcohol and soft drinks in excess as anything in excess is not good for your system and the effects can manifest themselves in the form of acne.

Learn more here.

The top 10 hazards of Health care Technology

Superior technology need not always mean better healthcare. Very often, technology comes with its own attendant risks.From infections to cancer to surgical fires, this list covers the top 10 healthcare technology threats for 2010.


1. Cross-Contamination from Flexible Endoscopes
 This mainly results from failure to adhere to cleaning and sterilization procedures.
 To prevent risk, hospitals should:

• Develop and adhere to comprehensive, model-specific reprocessing protocols;
• Ensure that model-specific reprocessing protocols exist for each flexible endoscope model; and
• Ensure that any automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) are compatible with the disinfecting agent, the appropriate channel adapters are available, and staff adhere to maintenance schedules.

2. Alarm Hazards
  Alarm issues are among the most frequently reported problems, mostly due to the sheer variety of equipment – patient  monitoring, ventilators, dialysis units and many others.
To avoid potential risks:

• Avoid alarm fatigue by configuring alarm limits to appropriate, physiologically meaningful values;
• Look for designs that limit nuisance  (false or excessive) alarms, which can desensitize staff; and
• Consider implementing an alarm-enhancement system to increase alarm volume or convey alarms remotely.

3. Surgical Fires
 Most surgical fires result from the presence of an oxygen-enriched atmosphere during surgeries to the head, face, back and upper chest.
 New recommendations include:

• With certain exceptions, the traditional practice of open delivery of 100 percent oxygen should be discontinued during head, face, back, and upper-chest surgery.
• Hospitals should implement a surgical fire prevention and management program.
• Each member of the surgical team should clearly understand the role played by oxidizers, ignition sources, and fuels – the classic fire triangle in the operating room.

4. CT Radiation Dose
 In the United States alone, CT is thought to be responsible for about 6,000 additional cancers a year.
 To avoid potential risks:

• Make sure the expected benefits of a CT study outweigh the radiation risks.

• In most modern systems, the dose can be reduced by up to 80 percent. Adjust CT acquisition parameters to allow the required clinical information to be obtained with the lowest possible dose.
• CT precations are especially important for pediatric patients – for whom the cancer risk is as much as triple that for a 30-year-old – and pregnant women.
• Ensure that technologists performing CT exams are trained specifically for CT and that they maintain their training and certification.

5. Retained Devices and Unretrieved Fragments
 These take the form of retained devices, where an entire device is unknowingly left behind, and unretrieved device fragments in which a portion of a device breaks away and remains inside the patient
 To prevent risks:

• Inspect devices before use. If a device appears damaged, don't use it.
• Be alert for significant resistance during device removal, which could indicate that the device is trapped and at risk of breaking.
• Inspect devices as soon as they are removed from the patient.

6. Needlesticks and Other Sharps Injuries 

7. Problems with Computerized Equipment and Systems

8. Surgical Stapler Hazards

9. Ferromagnetic Objects in the MR Environment


10. Fiberoptic Light-Source Burns

To read the complete list, click on the link below.
ECRI identifies top 10 health technology hazards for 2010 | Healthcare IT News

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Acne Medication - Important Guide to Help You

Every type of acne medication has its strengths and its limitations. And yes, it also has its merits and demerits. You need to be advised on all of these details or you'll make a mistake for sure. Sincerely, you don't need that on your plate, not with the acne that has covered your body and made your skin to look unattractive.

People often make mistakes in choosing the best acne medication because they are impatient for results. At the long run, these treatments will turn out to be "the worst" acne medications for them. If you are sincerely interested in dealing with the syndrome, you will let the dermatologist point you in the right direction and do, as you are told, no more or less.

There are lots of medications out there for the treatment and prevention of acne. Some of them are conventional while others are alternative in nature. If you took the time to read about the condition, you can unearth them. Better still you can determine the best ones for you. Wouldn't that just be priceless? Yes, it is definitely priceless if you consider this option very well.

There have been acne medications since as far back as there has been acne. Even back at the dawn of recorded history, ancient Egyptians medicated with sulfur treated hot water. You can subscribe to modern derivations of this in the bid to find cure for your condition. But if you are considering this, then a qualified dermatologist should recommend sulfur treatments for you so that you are sure it's used the right way.

Click Herbs Cure Acne and Acne Skincare Medication for SECRET tips you didn't know before.

Quantros to provide health care SaaS in India

Fatal medical errors in health care services are much commoner than generally believed. The number of years of potential life lost from potential medication errors is greater than the number of years of potential life lost from all accidents combined, including falls and drowning! A recent study in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that deaths due to medical errors are increasing exponentially, with increase of fatal medical errors by 360% over 2 decades. Use of health care IT will go a long way in preventing such consequences.

>Dr. Sanjaya Kumar’ is a Medical informatics and healthcare technology expert bringing message of patient safety and quality to Bangalore hospitals. His mission is his passion- working to make healthcare safer worldwide, and promoting hospital safety.With a talented team of doctors and technologists, Quantros now provides SaaS in the health care field with special emphasis on decision support system and patient safety protocols, to bring down fatal medical errors. Quantros also provides software and services to healthcare organizations in the areas of quality, risk management, performance improvement, accreditation and compliance, real-time surveillance and centralized business and clinical decision support solutions. Claiming to service more than a thousand clients, Dr.Kumar is now trying to bring his technology to India, via Bangalore.

http://www.quantros.com

Dr. Sanjaya Kumar, of Quantros, Inc., along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom shall visit Bangalore during Late November < 27th november onwards>as part of a San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative. The San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative is a volunteer-driven, not-for profit-organization that aims to engage individuals and institutions in Bangalore and San Francisco in creating sustainable 21st century cities through an exchange of environmental, economic, technological, and cultural ideas, expertise and resources.

Hoping to see some interaction between Dr.Kumar (Quantros) and Dr.Devi Shetty <Narayan Hradayalay) at Bangalore. Dr.Devi Shetty is one of India"s foremost change-pushers and has already demonstrated some brilliant out-of-the-box ideas , typical to Indian conditions and attitudes, which have clicked superbly.

• Chatting about medical informatics with a colleague (medicineandtechnology.com)
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Cure Acne Through the Best Acne Sensitive Skin Treatment

Acne is one such skin problem that can happen to anyone irrespective of age and sex. Either you are a teenager or an adult; this problem can affect you anyhow. The cruelest thing about this disease is that even after its cure, it leaves behind ugly dark spots that destroy the whole charm of the face of a person. So, if you are an adult and suffering from this skin problem then you must go for acne sensitive skin treatment.

There are many people who think it is impossible to cure acne or to remove its dark spots. However, it is important to note that this thinking is completely wrong. Nowadays, it is possible to remove pimples as well as dark spots completely but for that, it is important to choose the right treatment with right skin care products.

Before selecting the acne treatment, it is important to see the actual condition of the pimples. For instance, if you have few pimples with blackheads, then you can go for using the good skin care products to get rid of them. However, in case your whole face is covered with pimples, then instead of taking any chance, the best advice is to see a dermatologist as only he can provide the best treatment.

If we talk about the skin care products available in the market, then it is noteworthy that today you can get all sorts of skin treatment products for all types of skin. If you are worried for the price of these products, then too you need not to worry at all. It is so because these products are available in all price range and so you can find the best one suitable to your requirements and budget.

With the help of a good acne sensitive skin treatment, you can get rid of the problem of acne completely.

For curing acne completely, it is important to go for the right Acne Skin Treatment. For best results, you can select the best products at http://www.skinacneremedytreatmentproduct.com/exposed-acne-treatment-reviews-acne-free-with-a-new-home-product-for-skin-sensitive-care-treatment.php.

Top Ten US Healthcare companies to work @

Top US Healthcare companies to work @

Modern Healthcare announced its second annual list of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare.

• 317 healthcare companies participated in this survey and were ranked on basis of employee feedback, company policies, benefits and demographics.

• A complete list of over 100s of companies ranked in this survey can be found too. 

A video announcement is now available at modernhealthcare.com/bestplaces.

The top 10 health care workplaces for 2009 in US are-

1) Intelligent InSites -- intelligentinsites.com

2) Doctors Hospital of Sarasota --  doctorsofsarasota.com

3) CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System -- christushealth.org

4) Holy Name Hospital -- holyname.org

5) Sage Products -- sageproducts.com

6) Memorial Healthcare System -- mhs.net

7) VHA  -- vha.com    the vista way..

8) Awarepoint Corp. -- awarepoint.com

9) Premier -- premierinc.com

10) Valley Medical Center  -- valleymed.org

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Using Food As Natural Acne Remedies

The excess production of oil within your oil gland causes acne to occur. This is not just a condition that effects teenagers. Adults are often plagued with acne, and although it is not a life threatening disease, it can leave scars and cause embarrassment.

There are a number of natural acne remedies that can lessen your acne outbreaks. These remedies are easy, effective, and inexpensive. No matter which remedy you choose, remember that it may take up to six weeks to see visible improvement from the beginning of the regimen.

Certain vitamins can help improve your acne problem. Taking Niacin and Vitamin A three times a day or Vitamin E and Zinc three times a day have helped people get rid of their acne. This treatment need to be taken no less than a month.

Some foods are great for more than just eating. For example, pulverize an orange peel and mix it with some water. Apply this poultice to the acne. You can do the same thing with lemon juice and raw garlic. These treatments need to be applied several times a day, but they are proven to lessen the appearance of acne.

What you eat is as important as what you put on your face. Poor diet and poor eating habits can bring about various acne problems. Consuming excess sugars and starches along with fried food and food full of fat can wreak havoc on your skin. If these harmful toxin aren't released from you body quickly, they are absorbed into the blood, which causes the skin to work hard to release them.

Want To Know More?

Treat Your Acne naturally Click Here: Natural Acne Remedies.

Free Tips and advice: http://naturalcuretoacne.com/.

Quite a Few a List Celebrities Have Suffered From Acne So You're Not Alone

Mostly it seems that Acne appears in young people between the ages of 10 and 13 and can be expected to go away again after 5 or 10 years. Acne Vulgaris is the correct medical term for this adolescent type of Acne.

Unfortunately some people will be stuck with the condition through their 20's and perhaps even their 30's. Don't panic though, there are many things you can do to get to grips with sorting the problem out and improving your skin.

Acne was usually regarded as something which affected young people, but the number of women [not so many men] getting acne when they are adults is increasing. This can come to people who have never had a pimple in their lives before.

The cause of adult Acne seems to be related, especially in women to hormonal activity. The skin blemishes most often appear on the lower part of a woman's face. It has been noted that the Acne is linked to the female menstrual cycle and perhaps pregnancy, also when starting or stopping taking birth control pills.

You may be doubly unlucky and have been a teenage sufferer with Acne Vulgaris and then started with adult Acne, but as I said before, don't panic! Your life is not over.

Many of the stars of stage, screen and TV have suffered this same condition. For instance, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Simpson, Alicia Keyes, Tommy Lee Jones and even Richard Burton, so you see, life goes on in spite of Acne.

You are very fortunate to be living now because there are many great treatments available to you. I would stress though that there are no miracle cures that I know of, in fact there really aren't any cures at all,but there are plenty of treatments to help you manage it though.

The main goal of Acne treatments is to prevent scarring so that you can look the best you can. Acne more or less sorts itself out in time and heals but you can learn of ways to make yourself look good while this is happening.

Paul has been writing online now for nearly three years. Not only does this author specialize in medical problems he also produces websites in lots of different niches. You can check out his latest website at http://www.birdscagesreview.com

Hormonal Acne Treatment - You Need to Understand This in Order to Beat Your Acne

When someone enters adolescent stage, s/he is going to suffer from pimples at one point or another. But this does not imply that once you are past this stage that you develop immunity from infections that cause acne. Therefore, you need to invest on a good skin care system that will prevent formation of acne and maintain a healthy skin.

There are several types of hormones in the body and some of them can trigger the formation of pimples. When the activity of hormones is intensified, it triggers excessive sebum production that is beyond what is naturally required for your body. Those oils clog your pores and when you are exposed to various external particles that result in an infection. Thus, inflammation develops on the surface of your skin that is manifested by the formation of a red bump.

Since this takes place internally, there are various hormonal therapies and hormonal acne medication in the market, which are all intended for reversing the effects of intense hormonal fluctuations in the body. Women are most vulnerable to hormonal imbalances that explain why pimples are a far more common problem among women. There are several instances in a womans lifetime wherein she undergoes hormonal fluctuations. Among them are during pregnancy, menstrual cycle, and menopause.

Oral medications are very effective in treating acne caused by hormonal factors. It helps to address the root of the problem and prevent further manifestation of symptoms. Upon the intake of hormonal acne medications, it helps to produce balance in your hormones and prevent excessive sebum production that could worsen the skin disorder. Dermatologists suggest three types of medications that could work against hormonal acne.

The first choice and one of the most common is oral contraceptives. These contains estrogen and progestin, which are hormones intended to replace androgen that is the main cause of hormonal acne. Once the oil production in your body is reduced, it noticeably reduces the acne problem.

There are also anti-androgen medications that are specifically created to counter the effects of the androgen hormone. By limiting oil production, you prevent oily skin problems and potential acne formation. There are two effective types of anti-androgen medication: flutamide and spironolactone.

Finally, oral corticosteroids make very effective hormonal acne treatment. This is highly prescribed by dermatologists for those with acne problem since it helps regular hormonal activity. Two types of oral corticosteroid that contain anti-inflammatory effects are dexamethasone and prednisone.

Even though most of these medications for hormonal acne treatment are widely used, always consult with your dermatologist before using them. This will help ensure that you have no allergies and that you get access to effective treatment.

Are you staying in and avoiding social interaction, dramatically improve the quality of your life by tackling your acne problem from the inside Click here for hormonal acne treatment or visit http://my-acnetreatment.com

Communication issues with Tele-consults , new study shows

With newer technologies and net-centered consultations on the rise, this study below shows us the disadvantages of Telemedicine.

An Evaluation of Patient-Physician Communication Style During Telemedicine Consultations:

Background: The quality of physician-patient communication is a critical factor influencing treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction with care. To date, there is little research to document the effect of telemedicine (TM) on physician-patient communication.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to measure and describe verbal and nonverbal communication during clinical TM consultations and to compare TM with in-person (IP) consultations in terms of the quality of physician-patient communication.

Methods: Veteran patients (n = 19) requiring pulmonary medicine consultations were enrolled into the study. The study group included 11 patients from the Iron Mountain Veterans Affairs Hospital (VAMC) remote site. Patients had individual TM consultations with a pulmonary physician at the Milwaukee VAMC hub site. A control group of 8 patients had IP consultations with a pulmonary physician at the Milwaukee VAMC. Video recordings of medical consultations were coded for patient-physician verbal and nonverbal communication patterns using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).

Results: There were no differences in the length of TM consultations (22.2 minutes) and IP consultations (21.9 minutes). Analysis of visit dialogue indicated that the ratio of physician to patient talk was 1.45 for TM and 1.13 for IP consultations, indicating physician verbal dominance. Physicians were more likely to use orientation statements during IP consultations (P = .047). There were greater requests for repetition from patients during TM consultations (P = .034), indicating perceptual difficulties.

Conclusions: The study findings indicate differences between TM and IP consultations in terms of physician-patient communication style. Results suggest that, when comparing TM and IP consultations in terms of physician-patient communication, TM visits are more physician centered, with the physician controlling the dialogue and the patient taking a relatively passive role. Further research is needed to determine whether these differences are significant and whether they have relevance in terms of health outcomes and patient satisfaction with care.

Patients seem to be put at a certain communication disadvantage as they are immersed into a totally new environment and need the Doctor to guide them through the interview.As technology gets better, these virtual meetings might get more realistic and take away the awe associated with high technology AND Medicine working together in tandem.

Read the full article on the JMIR site. JMIR is the leading open access journal for eHealth and healthcare in the Internet age.

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Are You Using the Best Ways to Cure Acne?

What Are The Best Ways To Cure Acne?

The question is open ended, but also asked often. Is there a single, best way to get rid of acne - what are the ways to cure acne.

There is an earlier question you need to ask before you find out what ways to cure acne are best suited to you and how you can best identify the ways to get rid of acne.

Acne affects millions of people - around 60 million+ in the United States alone - and it affects hundreds of millions in the rest of the world. You might imagine with a problem that big that there is also a million solutions.

You're partly right, there are a million solutions but only a tiny handful will work and in each, individual case there are only going to be an even smaller handful of ways that will get rid of your acne.

So you need to ask the earlier question - what sort of acne do you have and what way would you prefer to go to cure it? Do you want to go the natural way or the prescribed medication way? It may be that you're open to either form of acne treatment, but my preferred option is always to 'go natural'.

The problem with prescribed medication and over-the-counter topicals is that you don't necessarily know what damage might be done by placing chemicals into your body. You really need to ensure that you're doing the very best thing for your body because the issue with acne is one related to its cause.

What you see with your blackheads and pimples, or your whiteheads and acne redness, is something that comes from within your body and so you need to be adopting a way to cure acne that is natural and related to yourself.

Your body is reacting against something and needs to rid itself of toxins. The liver needs cleansing. The acne comes from the body fighting to unclog its organs and acne is one of the results of the sebum or oils clogging the pores.

The correct diet and both avoiding 'bad' food (greasy, fast food etc) and eating the 'right' food is vital. So too is hydrating with plenty of water. Diet and food is vital to take the natural steps towards acne cure. Remember the ancient Hippocrates, sometimes labeled 'the father of medicine' , who once said "Let your foods be your medicine and your medicine your foods as nature is the healer of all diseases!"

Start doing the reading for a natural solution. Our AcneSkincareReviews website can help with that. Of all the ways to get rid of acne, undoubtedly the natural way by using the right foods and diet is the best.

Susie Oprey publishes the popular acne skincare reviews site at AcneSkincareReviews.com which carries reviews and articles on the very latest acne treatment methods. If you found this article useful you should read the key natural acne cure tips in this article Home Remedies For Acne.

A truly semantic medical search engine - HealthBase

HealthBase is a new and truly semantic search engine based on NetBase's Content Intelligence platform.When i first decided to try it out, i was not very hopeful, having spent many hours in the past analysing pathetic results from so called Smart search engines. But Boy, i was very pleasently surprised at the results !!

NetBase's Content Intelligence technology reads every sentence inside documents, linguistically understands the content and powers breakthrough search experiences that deliver highly relevant answers and insights.

 I checked the search engine semantics by searching for a simple disease " Asthma".

All the results shown for Treatment, Causes and complications were almost 100% accurate, though the results for Pros and Cons were very ambiguous. In fact i don't see too much justification for that section at present.

A few reviews on NetBase have not been very complimentary. but then, i have perceived a bias in them. Of course there are many other really good medical search engines, a few of them even calling themselves semantic. But most of them are just glorified and customized search engines without any really intelligent tool involved in calculating results.

• 
  

 

Medical Search Engine for Authoritative Information- 

•  

 http://www.searchmedica.com/

•  

http://www.hakia.com/ 

But for my money, I would go with Healthbase anyday, until someone else can show me a better semantic medical search engine. 

 

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How to Get Rid of Acne Permanently With a Holistic Approach

A holistic approach is the only solution feasible to a sufferer who wants to find out how to get rid of acne once and for all. Holistic is a Greek term that means "whole", in its entirety. It is a long thought of idea that the sum of more parts is more than the mere sum itself, and that it takes a whole new dimension and nature. That means that only when more aspects of the same problem are looked at and acted upon simultaneously, that they converge their single benefits into a whole, fully functional and effective system.

It would not be of any use to have a car frame, its wheels and engines separate. It is only when they are assembled together that they come into life purposefully. Likewise, when dealing with Acne or any ailment, it is often the case that there are not just one, but many different aspects to take into account for a full recovery, The problem with the conventional Acne treatment approaches is that they look at just one aspect at a time, curing this condition only temporarily at best, or even making it worse.

Usual remedies for Acne consist of medicaments that only cure the symptoms from outside, not the root cause. For example, it is common to prescribe creams or ointments such as Antibiotics, Accutane, Proactive, Zenmed, Oratin, Benzoyl Peroxide, but they only are effective on the short term, come with side effects, and will lead to dependency, to the delight of the pharmaceutical industry.

Another approach is dieting, such as the Wai Diet or Vegetarianism, in an attempt to avoid toxic foods, Chinese medicine, Macrobiotics, Reflexology, Homeopathy and so on. They all try to tell you how to get rid of acne, but they only tackle one aspect at a time, leading to disappointment and wasted time.

A Holistic Approach is different and much more effective because it addresses the internal problems that lead to acne formation, including hormonal imbalance. When excessive male hormones cannot be expelled properly from the body, an overproduction of sebum oil ensues. This, combined with other factors, leads to Acne.

A holistic approach neutralizes these factors and prevents them from arising again. It normalizes hormone production and internal factors while dealing also with external factors. It is a very effective, natural solution for people who want to find out how to get rid of acne permanently after disappointment and frustration, whether they suffer from Acne Vulgaris, Back or Body Acne, Acne Rosacea, Teen Acne, Adult Acne, Nodular Acne and even Cystic Acne.

If you are in the unfortunate situation of being affected by any of the above, do not hesitate to check out this Holistic Program and find out how to get rid of acne for good. Discover how to get rid of acne the natural, drug free way in few weeks only.

Best layout and design for pharma- communication

Best layout and design for pharma- communication: "

Over the years companies have adopted various tactics to get doctors to engage with their online product presentations, or e-details. Initiatives include obtaining permission from doctors to email them an e-detail, placing the e-detail on a pharmaceutical website, placing a banner on a website linking to an e-detail, and placing the e-detail on a doctor community website. The results have been varied..

There are a number of ways to e-present to doctors and choosing the best layout and design is not always easy. Making a simple bullet presentation with linear navigation (next/previous arrows) is one simple way to kill your content. But then, What actually works?

• Pharma websites have been proved rarely to attract doctors (only 2 per cent of the 2,762 doctors questioned in a Doctors.net.uk survey stated pharmaceutical-owned websites as a source).
• Banners on websites, although considered cheap, do not drive engagement and, dependent on banner location, may not allow you to know the profile of the individual clicking on your banner.
• E-detail on a doctor community website, however, offers the advantage that doctors are already utilising the site on a daily basis, and campaigns can be promoted to specific specialties.

Understanding the audience

Doctors.net recently conducted a survey to investigate the best way to engage doctors with an e-detail. A total of 94 members of the community were surveyed, 32 of whom were GPs and 62 were in specialist care (across a number of different specialities). Of the 62 from specialist care, 43 were consultant/specialist registrar level. The study combined facilitated face-to-face research and non-facilitated online methodology to determine the optimal design structure for an e-detail based on doctor feedback and the speed with which doctors find information.

In the online study, 84 doctors were shown wireframe templates of potential e-detail layouts (template 1 contained three key messages; template 2 offered menu navigation and prioritised key messages; template 3 provided menu navigation, and template 4 was a linear 'click through'). Participants were asked for their preferred layout based on certain criteria such as ease of use, design, and simplicity. The content was presented as data only and did not involve webcasts (or other rich media). The doctors were invited to indicate their favourite and their second-favourite template based on how they would most like to receive information online. Responses were submitted through an online form and results were collated.

Of the 84 doctors, 62 chose template 3: menu option as their most, or second most, preferred layout, making this the clear winner. With two points awarded for a first choice and one point for a second choice, the final rating was template 3: menu navigation in first place with 90 points, followed by template 2: menu navigation and prioritised key messages with 69 points, template 1: three key messages with 47 points and finally template 4: linear 'click through' with 45 points.Doctors stated that they felt template 3 was clearly laid out and that the left hand navigation showed exactly where to go to get the required information. It was also seen to demonstrate good use of space and the top buttons were popular. In addition they felt that the headings were obvious and the fact that they could choose where to go, among other things, was appreciated.

Below is a sample of template 3 - Menu navigation

Template 3: menu navigation prove to be the most popular choice in the online study, it also proved to be the most efficient format for finding information quickly, with the tasks being performed more than twice as quickly as with templates 2 and 4. Based on their speed, they also got to the information they wanted the quickest using template 3.

Template 4: the linear 'click through' model was the least popular with doctors in both studies.

Recommendation to companies wishing to engage with their target doctors using email / epresentations in 2009 would be to use the Left menu navigation approach.

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Hospitals as Lean machines !

Lean means creating more value for customers with less resources. Starting with Toyota in Japan, Lean methodologies are being increasingly stressed upon all industries, and health care is there too, with a few important caveats.In the current international scenario, All healthcare institutes are following some, if not most, strategies to improve quality and streamline its activities without wasting resources. The percieved value of care and cost is ingrained in a lot of minds, and its difficult to convince people that healthcare quality can be maintained without overspending and overstaffing.

Healthcare services are complex processes which involve diverse professional skills, varying patient needs with cutting edge technologies. Variation and Non-value added activities are inherent on the process. Lean can assist healthcare providers in reducing costs, improving service levels and increasing value but must do so without compromising quality of care, compliance, brand, patient safety, or conformance

Interviewed by Modern Healthcare reporter Jean DerGurahian, Delnor ommunity Hospital, Geneva, Ill., executives discuss Lean methodologies that they say have helped the facility find cost savings, improve processes and increase satisfaction. Tom Wright, president and CEO, and Jim Kearns, chief information officer, say that organizational changes like Lean will become crucial to hospitals as they face continuously shrinking reimbursements and an unclear path to healthcare reform.

 

The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative brings health care services closer to the people, urging them to take charge of their treatment. The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC) is a provider-led and patient-focused nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a culture of continuous improvement in health care.  

 

 

Also check The Institute for health care improvement on  IHI website 

 

Here are also a few articles by Lean management consultancy, VIP Group.

So lets stand up and take charge.

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• Help to keep Health Care (fundable.com)

Getting Rid of Pimples - Fast and Easy

Pimples are the worst thing you can get on your face they sit there and catch the eye of all your friends and family it is no wonder why they are so embarrassing. Well after suffering from acne for many years I know how it feels to have an overload of these on your face all at once so what is the best way of getting rid of pimples?

Well getting rid of pimples is easy providing you follow the right plan of action because generally you are not actually being told the whole truth about getting clear skin. There are so many acne myths out there but if you know what you are doing you can basically get rid of them overnight.

First of your all you need to eliminate dairy products for a few days because they contain hormones in them that can trigger the release of sebum in your body. Sebum is the main substance that is used in the creation of acne so limiting this is vital. Swap to soy products for similar benefits without the hormones until your pimples disappear.

Next you will need a topical treatment that you can get from your local drugstore for about $10 and it is called benzoyl peroxide. This treatment helps to oxygenate skin pores and allow them to breathe more easily so they do not clog and impurities are washed away so no more pimples can form.

Getting rid of pimples will take about 1 to 3 days as long as you follow the action plan and I also recommend washing your face with a cream based cleanser. This will help to get rid of any extra surface oils or impurities that lurk on your skin that will otherwise form acne.

If you are truly sick of your acne and want the truth once and for all follow the steps that completely cleared my skin, for more information visit - clear skin in 6 days.

Technology based learning in Medical sciences

Internet based training has been adopted in a number of disciplines but for some vested interests, not much progress has been made in the Medical field. Reasons given for this hesitation range from constructive real doubts (Will it teach them all the nuances they need to know?) to manipulative self doubts (what if the students don't need me anymore?).Not too many of the Teachers realize that these tools are to assist them in grooming future doctors, and not to replace them in the system. The last time any major breakthrough was achieved in education was when oral teaching was supplemented by printing of books. I can only imagine the astonishment and resistance the teachers of that era would have expressed on realizing that students could get information in their absence, too!! "Stop printing Books!", they said, " It will poison the minds of our students. And anyways, what can some ink on paper teach a student without having heard the same thing from a Guru"s mouth?". But very soon we had the same gurus jostling to publish their own books and integrate those into their own evolving didactic styles. Use of internet in education is probably the single most beneficial addition to education after Printing press.


A study led by a team of education researchers from Mayo Clinic and recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that Internet-based education generally is effective.The study was conducted by David Cook, M.D, and Denise Dupras, M.D., Ph.D., Patricia Erwin, and Victor Montori, M.D., all of Mayo Clinic; and Anthony Levinson, M.D., and Sarah Garside, M.D., Ph.D., from McMaster University.

"The research also showed that Internet-based instruction compared favorably to traditional instructional methods... confirm that, across a wide variety of learners, learning contexts, clinical topics, and learning outcomes, Internet-based instruction can be as effective as traditional methods." Dr. Cook notes that Internet-based instruction has unique advantages, including flexible scheduling, adaptability of instruction, and readily available content that is easily updated. "As health care workers balance challenging practice demands, the ever-expanding volume of medical knowledge requires us to find more effective, efficient ways to learn," says Dr. Cook. "Internet-based instruction will be an important part of the solution."

News report on Eureka alert


This is not the first report which says this, and this definitely wont be the last. Private players in India, like MEdRC Edutech have taken a bold lead in creating computer based medical e learning content and LMS, but with so much resistance in the higher places, it seems like a long war ahead for CBT pioneers in medicine.




Related articles-

Twitter in Health care (medical-communication.blogspot.com)

Impact of EHRs on Medical Education (thehealthcareblog.com)

Technology based learning in Medicine? You wish! (meducationtechnology.blogspot.com

13th Annual Healthcare Internet Conference

The 13th Annual Healthcare Internet Conference takes place November 2-4, 2009 at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV. The conference is presented by the Forum for Health care Strategists and sponsored by Greystone.net and Staywell Custom Communications. The program includes-

• 30 Best-Practice Case Studies

• Keynote Presentations by Mayo Clinic & Sharp HealthCare
  

• Sessions on the Use of Personal Health Records, Patient Portals and Integration with EMRs including two special sessions on: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s use of Microsoft’s Health Vault & Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s use of Google Health
  

• Sessions Highlighting the Effective Use of Social Media
  

• Sessions on How to Measure and Report ROI

You can also join their community portal here.

Conference details http://www.healthcarestrategy.com/conferences/2009/TECH2009.asp.

From the look at the stated interests of all participants, it seems that social media is on the top of everyone's radar

Healthcare Consulting Social Media Usability User Experience Web 2.0 Web and New Media health care online marketing social media and healthcare

• Make your reservations by Friday, October 2, 2009.
• You can register online Here.
  

Related articles

• Twitter in Health care (medical-communication.blogspot.com)
• Web 2.0 in health (neeleshbhandari.blogspot.com)

Web 2.0 in health

With increasing avenues for communication and knowledge dissemination, the practice of health care is changing faster than imagined. Free services like you tube, face book, Wikis, blogs, Twitter, social networks eg. Patientslikeme and a host of other services provide a health consumer with ample information and opinions. No longer is a patient forced to blindly trust his doctor"s judgment. The patient can easily search for more opinions, review personal experiences of friends and strangers plus the latest research studies in the field. This has changed the role of a Doctor to one of facilitator of health, rather than the unquestionable saviour .

E-Health insider has come up with a 108 paged report titled ‘Web 2.0 in the Health Sector: Industry Review with a UK perspective’. {£575.00 (inc VAT)}

The report argues that e-health 2.0 will first and foremost be consumer-led. Health is consistently one of the most searched for subjects online. The application of web 2.0 technologies into health is already challenging traditional doctor-patient relationships and beginning to place far greater power in the hands of consumers. These changes are likely to be rapid and may prove highly disruptive. Further, it concludes that new applications based on social health networks and content generated by health service users themselves - such as reviews of doctors and hospitals – will rapidly evolve to challenge existing healthcare systems and create new ways of delivering healthcare.

The profiles provide a snapshot of innovation across healthcare: from organisations providing online communities for patients with specific conditions, tools for chronic disease management, sites that enable patients to rate the quality of care they receive, together with tools to enable clinicians to better search for and share research data.

No doubt Web2.0 has changed the game, bringing about a total rethink in long established practices.But this is just the beginning.

With Web3.0 and Personalized Medical services like Webicinia and 23andme , internet technologies are bound to change the rules of health care for ever.

Web 2.0 in Health: a Practical Overview

A few other interesting reads,

• Using Twitter in Health care
  
• Social Life of Health Information -
  
• The Engaged E-patient Population-
  
• The internet as new health-information source
• Tests set for Facebook-style, digital health system
• Selected abstracts from the Medicine 2.0 conference

Related articles

• Doctors 2.0 and You: Conference in 2011 (scienceroll.com)
• Why More Health Experts Are Embracing the Social Web (mashable.com)

How to Get Rid of Pimples - Few Tips on How to Kill That Zit Safely!

Many people believe the only way to get rid of your pimples is to squeeze, pop and scrub them dead. Well to clear this rubbish up it's the worst way to clear up your pimples. When you pop a pimple you may leave a scar that will last forever.

When you squish your pimple it may become infected and it will create swelling and redness. Touching your face alone will help spread acne on your face so try not to do that. Here I have provided a few tips on how to get rid of your pimples for good.

Get rid your pimples tip 1.

The first step to getting rid of your pimples is not to pop it or hurt your skin in anyway. This will only make your skin red and inflamed making the appearance worsen.

This will also aid in the spreading of the pimple causing bacteria and the oils that give you pimples, in the end the worst thing you can do is pop that zit.

Get rid your pimples tip 2.

Use concealer this will hide your spot when you in the need for a quick appearance fix. Make up does not help you get rid of your pimples it's just there to hide it.

When use make up never ever forget to wash it off. If you don't wash your face you will create more pimple causing bacteria and oil. Most make up will clog your pours and lead to new pimple break outs, so always wash your make up off.

Get rid your pimples tip 3

To decrease the inflammation of the pimple try use an ice pack every 30 minutes on hold it firmly against it for at least 2 minutes. When applying the ice pack to the pimple it will bring down swelling, redness and practically will make your zit smaller.

Get rid your pimples tip 4

The best way to help get rid of your pimples is to cleanse your skin, at least twice a day. Try using a mild chemical free face wash or an acne face wash solution.

After a face wash you should apply an alcohol free skin toner to close up you clean pores. After applying skin toner add a light moisturising cream to avoid dry skin.

Try exfoliating you skin 3 times a week. Removing dead skin will help prevent your pores from getting blocked up. Try getting a gentle, natural, and water based exfoliation gel. You could also add table salt to you face wash but be very gentle when exfoliating your skin.

Well hope this helped you to get rid of your pimples. If you like this information and want to know the best practical cures for acne that are 100% free at http://acnesolution4u.blogspot.com please visit and thank you for reading.

Using iPhone as CDSS

Technology use has made the practice of medicine more accurate and more precise.One important feature has been knowledge management, in a way to achieve clinical advice for patient care based on number of items of patient data. Broadly called CDSS - Clinical Decision Support systems

"Clinical Decision Support systems link health observations with health knowledge to influence health choices by clinicians for improved health care"

The latest such application (pun intended) is eRoentgen™ for iPhone. It helps doctors order the most appropriate radiology test for their patients based on a diagnosis, sign or symptom.

eRoentgen Radiology DX 1.0- Size:- 1.6 MB

Physicians and other healthcare professionals use eRoentgen™ to choose the most appropriate imaging study for a selected diagnosis or symptom. The eRoentgen™ quickly and easily improves patient safety and the quality of the imaging workup.It is extremely useful in locations which do not have a radiologist to guide a general Physician regarding the most appropriate imaging test to be ordered for further work up of any patient. It reduces wasteful and needless tests, and also improves diagnostic accuracy.

This app can be purchased online or via the iPhone apps store.Priced at $49.99.
This app gets my Vote, for sure.

In addition to eRoentgen™ for iPhone, iAtros is in the process of developing applications for a variety of mobile devices.

Related articles

• The Evolution of Clinical-Decision Support Systems (medicineandtechnology.com)
• NIH Database More Accessible to iPhone Users (ivor-kovic.com)

The Cause of Pimples and How to Treat Them

There is a special occasion just around the corner and pimples appear. This is more than annoying, you want to look your best and this happens. The cause of pimples and the cause of acne are actually very similar, which could mean, that the treatment for pimples may be along the same line as the one for acne.
Usually acne occurs in a certain time frame, usually around the time of adolescence (of course there are exceptions to the rules), while pimples, with the right triggers, can occur anytime and that is the difference between the two.

The main cause of pimples is very often a combination of bacteria being there and dead skin cells, which accumulate in the pores. Bacteria is actually living on our skin and the problem starts when the bacteria finds its way into the pores and they get infected. The infection can show up through red lumps or bumps and it doesn't necessarily stops there because these could produce pus. Another cause of pimples can be poor hygiene and an accumulation of dead skin cells due to sebum. If you don't clean your skin properly it can cause pimples because it allows an accumulation of sebum, dead skin cells and dirt. Alternatively, there needs to be a balance, because if you wash your skin too much it can cause more production of sebum and that can aggravate pimples. If you wash your skin twice a day it will be enough to control the production of sebum. It is quite important to avoid touching your face because that can also help to reduce your skin to be exposed to dirt and dust.

If your immune system goes through any changes, because your defenses are lower, which will make you more susceptible to an infection, it could be a cause of pimples. And then let's not forget, here's the word 'STRESS' or hormonal changes those can be huge factors for the cause of pimples. Your health and wellness can actually be hampered through stress. If you want stress relieve you probably need some determination because this is certainly not easy. But it can be done. Consider taking up meditation.

In particular if you are a women you will notice that you usually get some pimples just before you get your period and that's were the hormonal change comes in, which is the cause of pimples. Those pimples usually disappear in a few days and this cause of pimples is easy to manage. It's still annoying and if you are affected by those kind of pimples try and keep you skin extra clean and sebum free just before your period.

These are the most common causes of pimples and their treatments are the easiest.

There are a lot of expensive products out there and a lot of them don't even work. For years I suffered from acne and believe me I tried lots of different products, cheap and expensive ones until I finally found a solution. It helped me to get rid of my acne in days. Don't waste anymore time and money on useless products.

To find out more click: http://www.treatyouracne.com

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Special Interest Group -SIGGRAPH 2009

SIGGRAPH 2009 is over.(Conference: 3-7 August (Monday through Friday) and Exhibition: 4-6 August (Tuesday through Thursday).
It was sponsored by The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an educational and scientific society uniting the world's computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges.Its one of the best scientific animation/hypermedia/multimedia platform in the world.

... to stimulate communication and growth, and foster the fusion and mutual inspiration of science, art, and technology.

It was full of galleries, competitions, events, presentations, Papers and exhibitions. A real feast!
We @markivmedcom / @LastMohican hope to participate the next time round. (2010). Here are Two interesting Interfaces which surfaced in SIGGRAPH 2009.

• 1) Immersive 3D plus Virtualization to let you move freely in Virtual world- A team from INRIA and Grenoble Universities in France (will) demo a new virtual reality system called Virtualization Gate.

Virtualization Gate that tracks users' movements very accurately using multiple cameras, allowing them to interact with virtual objects with new realism.A user wears a head-mounted display (HMD) and moves through a virtual space while several cameras track his movement. The video here shows a guy kicking over virtual vases and pushing a virtual representation of himself around. A cluster of PCs is needed to perform the necessary image capture and 3D modeling.

• 2) Teleconferencing in Three dimensions
  

MxR works with USC’s Institute of Creative Technologies and the Interactive Media Division at the School of Cinematic Arts. ICT projects create and analyze immersive systems for education and training simulations that incorporate both real and virtual elements. IMD projects push the boundaries of immersive experience design and alternative controllers. The VRPsych Lab and Graphics Lab at ICT are frequent collaborative partners.

HeadSPIN: A One-to-Many 3D Video Teleconferencing System from MxR on Vimeo.

The MxR at the University of Southern California rapidly prototypes and explores techniques and technologies to improve the fluency of human-computer interactions and create visceral synthetic experiences.