The concept of the medical record has been around since the 1960s following the advent of the first electronic programmable computers in the 1940s and 50s: the Colossus, ENIAC, and UNIVAC. Larry Weed, MD, wrote a seminal paper on the topic of problem-oriented medical records in 1964, entitled Medical Records, Patient Care, and Medical Education… Read more »
Medical News
A shoe is like a book. If you know how to read one, you can learn a great deal. Worn out shoes and shoes that do not fit properly can interfere with the feet, pelvis and spine. A survey by the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society showed that 88% of women wear shoes that… Read more »
A recent study by the National Small Business Association determined that 93 percent of small business owners recognized that the health of their workers impacts their business’s bottom line.1 However, when it comes to implementing an employee wellness program, most of them don’t know where to start. Fortunately for employers in the Coachella Valley, a… Read more »
November is Alzheimer’s disease awareness month, proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. Alzheimer’s disease currently afflicts more than 5 million persons in the United States, and 1 in 3 seniors will die with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. There were over 15 million caregivers treating dementia patients in 2015, representing more than 18 billion… Read more »
Cathedral City High School held its annual disaster drill on Thursday, October 20. The disaster drill is a simulated emergency response drill that instructs students and faculty alike in California on how to properly respond to an enormous earthquake if and when it happens. The San Andreas Fault, located in California, is long overdue for… Read more »
2016 was shaping up to be a very important year. I had just gotten an associate degree in journalism and was all set to transfer to a four-year university in the fall to pursue my B.A. On top of that, I turned 21 in February and was looking forward to savoring all the exciting things… Read more »
This time of year we welcome cooler weather, outdoor activities and many native inhabitants of the desert landscape, including rattlesnakes. If left alone, rattlesnakes will usually move on; however, about 1,000 venomous snake bites do occur in the U.S. each year. They are seldom fatal but can be extremely painful and lead to other complications.… Read more »
Throughout this cancer, I visualized running a marathon. I sat in my chemo chair listening to music and when I closed my eyes I ran up a mountain and down a hill. After the chemo was over, I began visualizing being on a roller coaster (by the way, I hate roller coasters); however, this roller… Read more »
Most men want to have an active sexual life. Unfortunately, as men age, erectile dysfunction (ED) can become a common occurrence. When men have difficulty achieving an erection, they can become anxious about their sexual performance and may avoid sexual activity. Often times, they just aren’t aware of treatment options available. I tell my patients… Read more »
Today we see many different types of alternative sugar sweeteners. Most of these sweeteners have been around a long time, yet still have unclear effects on the body. One of them, Xylitol, stands above the rest in its benefits. Unlike many sweeteners, Xylitol is a natural product, extracted from birch trees. It has many beneficial… Read more »
The incidence of myopia, the ability to only see short distances (nearsightedness), is increasing worldwide. In the United States, the incidence in ages 12-54 has doubled in the last 30 years to almost 40%.1 In some Asian countries the incidence is 80-90% by adulthood. By 2050, it is predicted that half of the world’s population… Read more »
In the last decade there’s been a great push toward the advancement of personalized medicine. Most of the focus has been on genetic studies to assist with selecting medications, personalized screening, and honing detection of disease. But this is only half the story. There must be more we can do above and beyond using someone’s… Read more »
Did you get away this summer? Travel to new places and meet new people? Maybe you are one who packs up each May and leaves the desert for cooler climates. If so, I admire you. Packing up your life and setting up camp in a different location takes a lot of motivation. It also takes… Read more »
Just as every patient trusts his or her surgeon, surgeons must be able to trust their equipment. What happens, though, when the surgeon’s equipment fails? We are not discussing robotic devices or mechanical issues, but rather something significantly more dangerous: the timeless routine of gowning and gloving surgeons before surgery. While this is important to… Read more »
Twenty-five Coachella Valley undergraduate health science students helped advance critical need projects for local health care businesses this summer through the Health Career Connection (HCC) internship program. Hosted for the seventh year in collaboration with the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP), the HCC program offers ten-week, paid summer internships for local college students to introduce… Read more »
This column is a continuation of last issue’s feature story on Shay Moraga who at 39 years old was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. We are honored to have Shay sharing her journey with Desert Health® readers in an ongoing column. When we left Shay, she was close to finishing 20 weeks of chemo…… Read more »
Individuals suffering from chronic pain assume that the pain symptoms are purely physical. There are many times though that clinicians scratch their heads to identify painful symptoms when nothing structural presents itself in an effort to prove a mechanical problem as the pain culprit. Dr. John Sarno, author of Mind Over Back Pain and Healing… Read more »
Most amateur players spend a lifetime trying to attain the perfect golf swing. Today, professional golf has evolved into a game that demands a team approach bringing together the most elite specialists including coaches, nutritionists, and medical professionals to provide tour players with every possible advantage over the competition. Without that luxury, many of the… Read more »
James Bond, Star Trek, Star Wars. We’ve grown up seeing lasers as technology of the future or science fiction, but they are real and their use is changing many areas of our lives as we know it. One of these areas is the health field, specifically dentistry, where their use has led to great advancements… Read more »
This literature review is an important update on the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. Over the past ten years, physicians and researchers all over the world – and right here in the desert – have been exploring new ways to detect, diagnose and treat prostate cancer using MRI.… Read more »