e-Learning in the world of medical education

So much continuing medical education (CME) now occurs via e-learning technologies. It's so convenient to view activities on your computer, your smartphone/PDA, or even to listen to audio programs on an MP3 player like an iPod. It's easier than ever to stay current on medical news, clinical updates, and much more thanks to computing technology.

How do you leverage e-learning technologies? It's hard to imagine how you could keep up with all the safety alerts, the FDA warnings, clinical breakthroughs, and other important medical news without modern technology. Have you tried listening to some educational podcasts on your iPod? How about live webcasts?

Reports from the ACCME  (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education) have shown that the uptake of e-learning for CME continues to climb each year. Now that travel costs are so high, fewer physicians are traveling to major medical meetings. Instead, they are learning through their computers.

Man injured at health care town hall meeting

Healthcare debates are turning into physical danger zones. According to this story on the Kansas City Star, a man was injured during fighting that erupted last week when audience members at a St. Louis-area aging forum began yelling about health care reform. Healthcare reform debates are just getting crazy, aren't they? Kenneth Gladney, 38, was injured and is currently accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney was laid off recently and has no health insurance.

Fox News had an interview with Kenneth Gladney. Here's an interesting video:

Are You Sceptical about What Causes or Prevents Cancer

According to the BBC News, people in the UK are "deeply sceptical about scientific claims for what causes or prevents cancer." Hmm, let's see exactly what this poll tried to uncover.

Here's the first snippet: "The YouGov survey of 2,400 people for the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) found more than half thought scientists were always changing their minds."

I admit that we as medical scientists and researchers have made some mistakes in the past. At one time, we physicians made claims about the healthy effects of cigarette smoking. Either we were all being bribed by the tobacco industry or we really had an erroneous knowledge of the carcinogenic effects of smoking. Now, we all know that smoking causes lung cancer. The scientific evidence is very compelling and I doubt that anyone would argue that point.

How about red meat and colon cancer? That seems to be another point where some scientists are going back and forth (regarding whether we have enough evidence to substantiate that eating red meat does or does not increase the risk of colon cancer).

Here's another snippet from the article: "The WCRF says that most scientists agree about the steps people can take to reduce their risk of cancer - and that this advice has largely stayed the same for the last 10 years." The basics have not changed. We should eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. I don't think any scientist will argue that the evidence has changed on these aspects of healthy living.

Infrared Heat Sensors to Detect Fever

If you're traveling, you may get scanned by infrared thermal imaging systems that are looking for signs of fever. Swine flu continues to be the hot topic all over the news. Will it turn into an epidemic? A pandemic? The fears are mounting and airports are taking precaution. Remember how travelers were screened at the airport for fevers during SARS? As technology advances and improves our ability to detect signs and symptoms of illness, let's hope that we'll be able to contain this outbreak quickly. Many people don't understand the public health implications associated with a massive epidemic and let's hope that the public won't have to experience something like this first-hand.

Scientific Dangers of Twitter?

I don't usually watch television because I spend my time blogging. However, I do follow the news on CNN.com. There was an interesting story about the scientific dangers of Twitter. Titled, "Scientists Warn of Twitter Dangers," this story suggests that "the streams of information provided by social networking sites are too fast for the brain's "moral compass" to process and could harm young people's emotional development." Wow! How was this study conducted?

According to researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, "If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people's psychological states and that would have implications for your morality."

I'm sure parents have a difficult time controlling how much time their children spend on the computer or on mobile devices like cell phones, PDAs, and smartphones. After watching this story, they're going to make sure their kids don't send any more tweets. Maybe CNN released this story because Twitter was getting overloaded with volume and they needed to give their servers a break.

You'll See Something New and Exciting Later this Week!

I'm anticipating some new and exciting changes to this site later this week (as long as everything goes as scheduled). I can't go into many details, but please stay tuned! If you follow me on Twitter, you'll be one of the first people to find out when it happens.

Washington couple sentenced for medical fraud

Wow, this is scary. According to the Seattle Times, a couple living in Mount Vernon has been sentenced for medical fraud. The Brandt couple operated a clinic using a "Vibe Machine" which supposedly uses radio frequency to cure ailments. At least one person (a 32-year-old man) died while being treated by this Vibe machine. According to court documents, Donald Brandt posed as a medical doctor and treated patients who were dying from terminal diseases such as cancer. The couple plead guilty to a misdemeanor in federal court and were recently sentenced.

So many people want holistic medical care and they are into alternative medicine, herbs, etc. People need to be warned that some of these therapies are "sham" therapies, and others may indeed be harmful. Want to learn more? You may want to visit the American Holistic Medical Association.