This book argues that humans have a propensity toward mindlessness when making decisions. The author emphasizes that the American school system teaches in a manner that focuses on one particular answer rather than encouraging an exploration of all possible solutions. The focus is for children to categorize data and remember ‘facts’ which will later be used to complete multiple-choice tests (goal-oriented outcome). However, she suggests a better process would be to teach the children to first generate their own list of possible alternative answers or options and then choose the correct answer. Unfortunately, by continuing to teach in a goal-oriented outcome manner, our children develop patterns of mindlessness. This has ramifications later in life.
0 Comments
We need one of the following two options for nationalized health care …
a) Two Tier System - The government provides catastrophic insurance for EVERYBODY. This would cover minimum health coverage such as basic primary care. ED visits would have hefty copays to discourage overuse. - Voluntary insurance would exist for those who wanted to have protection against fee-for-service (outpatient) office costs. The rest of people would have to pay cash. b) Insurance Mandate - EVERYBODY must purchase insurance. No insurance company can reject an applicant – although the rates could be quite high depending on their medical history. There would be both private and government-sponsored insurance plans available. As the insurance industry continues to successfully hamper any progress on reform, health care costs continue to rise. Businesses simply cannot afford to shoulder the burden of these additional expenses – especially during this prolonged. The answer will be for the employer to purchase cheaper healthplans for the employer which will equate to higher co-pays when visiting the doctor, undergoing tests, receiving therapy or purchasing medications.
The purpose of the Living Will is to have documentation in place for that time when an individual might become unconscious (comatose) and need to communicate their treatment wishes to their healthcare team. This is called a ‘living will’ because it takes effect while the person is still alive (although comatose) in contrast to the testamentary will which takes place after death. This legal document only becomes active once two physicians certify that the patient is in an irreversible coma or other terminal condition with no reasonable hope for recovery.
This is a 52 year-old woman who started having difficulty calculating her monthly bills beginning at age 42. She developed personality changes, problems with short-term memory loss and even had difficulty reading a watch by age 46. She had to stop working as a hairdresser and go on disability at age 48 and was placed in a nursing home by age 50. On exam, she produced no intelligible speech and followed nothing but the most simple commands (‘stand’ or ‘sit’). She paced about the room frequently seldom making eye contact. This PET CT study demonstrated almost complete absence of blood flow to most of the surface of the brain with the exception of the very posterior portion of both hemispheres (occipital cortex). This part of the brain is responsible for interpreting vision. In addition, there are some ‘islands’ neurons deep in the white matter responsible for processing incoming sensory information called the thalamus. This study shows that the thalami were healthy. This is compatible with end-stage dementia. It’s impossible to speculate at the underlying disease (Alzheimer’s, Pick’s Disease, Primary Progressive Aphasia, etc) based on this imaging study as the disease is too advanced. PET CT DIAGNOSIS: End-stage Dementia
The enteric nervous system (ENS) has 100 million neurons (more than the spinal cord). The surface area of the GI tract is larger than the surface area of the skin. There must be this tremendous amount of surface area in order to exchange the nutrients and wastes as food and water transit the GI tract.
A hallucination is a vivid sensory impression generated by the mind rather than by any external stimuli. It may be seen (vision), heard (sound), felt (haptic), smelled, or tasted.
The combined prevalence of obesity and overweight in the US is 64% while another 5% of the US qualify as ‘extremely obese’. 10% of health-care expenditures in the US are a direct result of obesity. Each year, an estimated 300,000 US adults die of obesity-related diseases. Obesity is a co-morbid condition for stroke, lumbar radiculopathy and diabetic polyneuropathy. It complicates management of all neurological diseases ranging from Parkinson’s disease to Multiple Sclerosis. Here are some suggestions to help those interested in losing weight …
Depression is second only to hypertension as the most common chronic condition encountered in general medical practice (at least one in ten outpatients has major depression). Depression should not be viewed as a mood. Sadness is a mood. Depression is a disorder in which the individual loses the emotional flexibility to respond to what is happening in their world.
One of the leading locations for falls is the bathroom. It’s often a challenge for emergency personnel to reach the fallen individual leading to sometimes hours of laying in pain while a window is broken or a door is removed from the hinges in order to gain access to the bathroom. Here are some simple suggestions to prevent a fall …
|
Categories
All
Archives
May 2014
|