Roll Out Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer Researchers, especially epidemiologists, look for patterns. And they found patterns when they looked at the places where people are most likely to get cancer. They found that there is more cancer in people living in higher latitudes, that is, closer to the arctic. So they started thinking and figuring out this...
Read MoreColorectal Cancer Posts on Medivizor
What Should You Ask Your Doctor About Your Cancer Diagnosis?
Or Patient-Centered Cancer Care: IOM’s recommendations Last week, we looked at the recent Institute of Medicine’s report and wrote the post about “How the US Got Its Cancer Care Crisis“. This week we get more practical. With specific recommendations you can use! The general recommendations include: (1) becoming engaged patients. (2)...
Read MoreIf It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It? OR How the US Got Its Cancer Care Crisis
Did you know… In a study conducted in 2012, 69% of patients diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and 81% of those diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer did not understand that chemotherapy was not at all likely to cure their cancer? That a national survey showed physicians asked patients what they want in their care only ½ the time? That patients ask...
Read MoreA Roadmap to the “New Normal:” Understanding Cancer Treatment’s Bumpy Ride
So often people who undergo chemotherapy hear something like this from their family, friends or other well-wishers, “Thank goodness that’s over, now you can get on with your life. You can get back to normal.” Although it’s true that chemotherapy is over, the road that the patient is on is not smooth. There are important changes that caregivers and...
Read MoreE-patient? Smart Patient? What’s the story?
There are two phrases making the rounds that describe you, a member of the growing Medivizor.com community. One is “e-patient” and the other is “smart patient.” What is an e-patient? Who created the phrase? Published in March of 1996, Health Online: How to Find Health Information, Support Groups, and Self-Help Communities in Cyberspace, first...
Read MoreFirst hand, second hand, third hand: With Cigarette Smoke No Hand Is Safe
Almost 10 years ago, secondhand smoke was determined to be a Group A carcinogen by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since then evidence has grown supporting this classification. The reasoning is based on the content of secondhand smoke (SHS). SHS is a mixture of fine particles and over 50 chemicals that are known or probable cancer causing...
Read MoreReadability and Understandability: Advancing Health Literacy
A recent study by researchers at Loyola University found that as many as 63% of prostate cancer websites cannot be read or understood by someone who hasn’t completed high school education. Why is this important? Well, one of the study’s references suggests that as many as 90 million adult Americans have literacy skills that test below high school...
Read MoreIntroducing Medivizor!
It’s been awhile since my last blog post. I apologize, I’ve been busy. I’ve spent most of my time helping several startups get off the ground, some of which you’ll hear more about very soon. Among these, and the one I’ve spent the bulk of my energy on, is Medivizor. Over the next few weeks and months I’ll be sharing in this blog about the...
Read More