Category: health care

  • Shout Out to the European Delirium Association

    Shout Out to the European Delirium Association

    I just want to give an enthusiastic shout out to the European Delirium Association (EDA). I rediscovered the website. It’s updated and an extremely helpful organization in the study of delirium. It provides excellent education about the disorder. I met one of the past presidents of the EDA, Alasdair MacLullich back in the early 2010s.…

  • Gratitude to Pastor Robert Stone

    Gratitude to Pastor Robert Stone

    I came across a couple of items that prompted my renewed gratitude. One of them was an article in Bloomberg on the web, “US Medical Schools Grapple With First Admissions Since End of Affirmative Action” by Richard Abbey, Ilena Peng, and Marie Patino, published on December 14, 2023. It’s about how hard it is for…

  • CDC Issues Health Alert Network Announcement Recommending Vaccinations for Seasonal Respiratory Illnesses

    CDC Issues Health Alert Network Announcement Recommending Vaccinations for Seasonal Respiratory Illnesses

    The CDC recently issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) announcement urging physicians to recommend that patients get their influenza, Covid-19, and RSV vaccines.

  • Time for Another Blast from the Past

    Time for Another Blast from the Past

    I found an interesting blog post from my previous blog, The Practical Psychosomaticist. I wrote it in 2011 and it’s about the patient experience of delirium. I was delirious briefly after a colonoscopy many years ago. I don’t remember much about it. But from what Sena tells me about it, it was similar to other…

  • CDC Weekly Update on Viral Respiratory Illness

    CDC Weekly Update on Viral Respiratory Illness

    As of December 8, 2023, the CDC reports: However, the overall respiratory illness rates have gone from “moderate” to “low” in Iowa.

  • What’s Up with Intranasal Covid-19 Vaccines?

    What’s Up with Intranasal Covid-19 Vaccines?

    I saw the JAMA article on intranasal vaccines research for Covid-19. It starts off pretty supportive of the principle. However, at the bottom of the article, the outlook looks pretty stable for injectable vaccines for at least a good long while. It’s an interesting read. Skip to the Many Questions section: How these experimental mucosal…

  • This is National Influenza Vaccination Week!

    This is National Influenza Vaccination Week!

    This is National Influenza Vaccination Week (Dec. 4-8, 2023) and the CDC word is: “National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) is a critical opportunity to remind everyone 6 months and older that there’s still time to protect themselves and their loved ones from flu this flu season by getting their annual flu vaccine if they have…

  • Moderate Respiratory Illness Activity in Iowa

    Moderate Respiratory Illness Activity in Iowa

    The CDC tracks respiratory illness and there is moderate activity in Iowa according the data tracker. The weekly snapshot as of December 1, 2023 shows highlights including:

  • Update on CDC Recommendation for Adult RSV Vaccination

    Update on CDC Recommendation for Adult RSV Vaccination

    I just checked to see if the Iowa Board of Pharmacy rules had changed about the recommendation that a physician and patient shared decision-making discussion should help clarify whether and why a prescription would be necessary to enable a patient over the age of 60 years to get the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine. I…

  • CDC Update on Covid-19 Variant BA.2.86

    CDC Update on Covid-19 Variant BA.2.86

    I saw a news item headline which mentioned Covid-19 Variant. BA.2.86. The CDC website tracking respiratory variants has a definitive update as of November 27, 2023: “What to know about BA.2.86