Some alarming statistics based on a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine should lead to more awareness on the part of the public.

“If physicians’ ideas translate into their practices, then 14 percent of patients – more than 40 million Americans – may be cared for by physicians who do not believe they are obligated to disclose information about medically available treatments which they consider objectionable,” wrote Dr. Farr Curlin of the University of Chicago and his colleagues.

“In addition, 29 percent of patients — or nearly 100 million Americans — may be cared for by physicians who do not believe they have an obligation to refer the patient to another provider for such treatments.”

The study showed that men, Christian doctors and physicians with the strongest religious beliefs were most likely to say it is permissible to withhold information and not refer a patient to another source of controversial care.

The survey also found that a lot of doctors object to some forms of treatment. As stated by Curlin’s team, “For example, 52 percent of the physicians in this study reported objections to abortion for failed contraception, and 42 percent reported objections to contraception for adolescents without parental consent.”

They found that 86 percent of the doctors believed in presenting all options and 71 percent would refer patients to another doctor who does not object to the requested procedure.

The authors recommended that patients should ask their doctors outright about various options, since the survey showed that many doctors accommodate patients even when they have moral objections to certain situations. For example, of the 42 percent of respondents who reported objections to contraception for adolescents without parental consent, only 22 percent said physicians are not obligated to disclose all possible options to teenagers.

And regarding giving information to patients about terminal sedation, a practice that only 17 percent of the doctors found objectionable, only 11 percent of those doctors whose objections were based on moral reservations said doctors can withhold information.

“When we train doctors we encourage them to try to be ethical, and to practice ethically they must first make judgments in any situation about what is good for the patient,” Curlin said.

“They also have to have the will to do what they judge to be good. And in our culture, where there are so many possible uses of medical technology, people will disagree at times on what is permissible.”

Gaining weight is a gradual process that requires constant training and high intensity workouts. However, people do have certain myths regarding weight gaining program.

High repetitions burn fat while low repetitions build muscle: This statement is far from being true. In order to lose weight, one needs to decrease average calorie intake. However, for gaining muscle strength, one needs to have a progressive workload with a variable frequency of repetitions.

Vegetarians cannot build muscle: Research has shown that vegetarians can indeed gain muscle with regular training and daily supplementation of soy protein isolates.

Strength training will make you look masculine: This is the most common myth among women. However, building muscle is a steady process that needs proper strength-training regime ably supported by proper diet. Testosterone, which is the male sex hormone, is primarily responsible for muscle gaining in men. The secretion of this hormone is quite low in women, resulting in lesser muscular growth.

Many people believe that they can eat anything if they are doing a regular exercise. However, diet has a major role to play in defining a person’s general health and physique. It is always important to balance the ratio of calorie intake and calories burnt.

Occasional break from a rigorous training schedule is useful as it helps in refreshing the muscles and helps them to recover.

Eating more protein doesn’t necessarily help in gaining weight. Muscle building is primarily dependent on two factors which include a progressive workload and eating good calorie food. Diet derived from carbohydrates would be more useful.

One should always avoid taking steroids for building muscle as they are more harmful than being good.

Dental plans are not included in basic health insurance plans as most of the dental treatments are elective and to a degree, cosmetic. Some medical plans take account of dental coverage as an added feature. Dental disease is often preventable; with the exclusion of injury or damage due to an accident. Only the initial diagnostic procedures such as exams and x-rays in dental treatment are relatively low-cost. Otherwise the treatments are considered to be expensive.

Low cost dental insurance is necessary for anyone who cares about their teeth and also doesn’t like paying the full price for dental work. You will have peace of mind with a low cost dental health insurance as you can be safe in the knowledge that you and your family are covered for any eventuality and will obtain the best dental care, whenever you need it for a relatively small monthly or annual payment. Low cost dental health insurance is available from top rated companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield, PacifiCare, MetLife Dental, HealthNet and Kaiser. You should identify how your plan is designed, since this can considerably affect the plan’s coverage and your out-of-pocket expenses.

A low cost dental health insurance has many different levels of cover. You can opt for basic dental health maintenance which will cover a portion or in certain cases the whole cost incurred of dental procedures such as fillings, root canal work and general maintenance. Other affordable extensive policies that cover periodontics, orthodontics, all sorts of filling, tooth and bridge work, as well as check-ups and cleaning are also available. Each low cost dental plan is different. Accordingly it is advisable to check the terms, conditions and coverage of each prospective insurer before taking a decision. With several options available, you can choose a low cost dental health insurance that is right for you and your family.

Like so many others we now and then experience cold sores. Sometimes just a small outburst and other times an outburst that really hurts a lot. Even worse is when it appears in your mouth, on the hard palates. If it appears in your mouth, try to cool it down with ice cubes or ice cream!

Cold sores – also called fever blisters – are caused by the Herpes simplex virus. It`s a viral infection of the skin and are contagious. They can appear once or return again and again.

Red blisters appear on your lip.Once you have had an episode of cold sores, the virus lies dormant in the nerve cells in your skin. Fever, menstruation, stress and exposure to the sun may trigger a recurrence.

Signs and symptoms

* small, painful, fluid filled blisters

* pain or tingling often precedes the blisters by one or two days

* usual duration of seven to ten days

* a yellow crust forms

Cold sores are quite common and though you can`t prevent them, you can take some steps to limit the duration of an occurrence.
Shared eating utensils, chap sticks, razors and towels may spread this infection.

* use creams rich on myrrh and thyme

* take a pain reliever if needed

* avoid picking

Aromatherapy in its simplest definition is the smelling of vapors for health & well-being effects, howsoever gained. This article examines a cross-section of the art and proposes a future course of direction for those professionals not wishing to be tarred with an aromatherapy brush.

Of course the fragrance of a nice perfume will leave you in a better frame of mind than the smell of rotting cadavers. The general intuitive appeal of a nice smell (etc) has launched a blind universal hype on essential oils, the mainstay of aromatherapy. Over the years it has attracted a large following of uncritical persons eager to believe good news. By contrast it has produced research well beyond the scope of aromatherapy.

Much opposition has been leveled against the wild claims that border on or even cross the line of fraud. Where there’s money to be made, there is opportunism. The truth is often the first casualty.

Then there is the medical profession. They are the stalwarts to uphold and defend the medical truth. Unfortunately there is opportunity to denigrate the practice of aromatherapy for motives other than altruism, leaving academia to the rescue. Disappointingly, much academic research is in effect unavailable to the general public as good research papers can be expensive.

Deserved or otherwise, alternative medicines such as Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Kinesiology, Light Therapy, Phrenology, etc. have been slow to gain traction in mainstream medicine. Within each field there may be something worthwhile. There is risk of throwing the baby out with bathwater.

Aromatherapy by semantic definition is in lockstep with things smelled, the nose being solely equipped to perceive things smelled. Thus aromatherapy armoury consists solely of essential oils. “Essential” not because we can’t live without them but because essential is merely the adjective from the noun “essence” being a vapor from a liquid at a low boiling point.

This semantic deception taken together with people such as those involved in routinely claiming these potions to cure things like ADHD, arthritis, high cholesterol, lupus, asthma, migraines, cancer, fibromyalgia confuses even more. It is there, on offer, all without the rigours of scientific validation. Long Live The Placebo!

Then there are the others making ambiguous claims that leave lots of wiggleroom such as “cleanses air of negative energies”, “restoring harmony and balance between the mind and body”, “restore psychic energy flow”, “return to one’s center and chakra”. These and more have become aromatherapy’s articles of faith in some circles. Most are seen as nonsense to the mind versed in scientific methods.

Contrast these with Moss et al in the peer-reviewed paper “Aromas Of Rosemary And Lavender Essential Oils Differential Affect Cognition And Mood In Healthy Adults” where they showed the efficacy of Lavender and Rosemary oils. 144 persons took part in the study and no one was informed of the study nature. Before and after inhalation tests included 15 words to be flashed on a screen for 1 second and participants were asked to remember as many words as they could in the space of 60 seconds. More tests were done using 20 photographs enabling researchers to test recall and reaction time.

Nominal recall improved from 5.5 for the control group to 6.2 for the Rosemary and showed little change for the Lavender. Nominal reaction time improved from a score of 246 for the control group to 259 for the Lavender. Little change was reported for the Rosemary tests. They concluded that essential oils can significantly affect aspects of cognitive performance.

Worth considering is a paper by Sayorwan et al, who, using electroencephalography (EEG), measured the changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate before and after Rosemary oil inhalation by uniformed groups of subjects and controls. Their findings provided evidence that brain wave activities, autonomic nervous system responses, and mood states could all be modified with Rosemary

Aromas may well have a placebo effect and as such it is a good thing. However it is not the smell that gives essential oils their efficacy but the compounds that comprise the oils. Compounds such as Eugenol, Carvacrol, Thymol, Geraniol, and Menthol appear to stimulate while Linalool appears to calm or relax. Then there is Eugenol, a very powerful antioxidant as well. These compounds can enter the bloodstream via the olfactory system and the lungs through breathing. The bloodstream can also be fed via the skin by massage and contact patches. Other possible routes are ingestion and intravenous injections. The latter are subject to much more research than currently appears in the literature.

In conclusion, the subject of essential oils is therefore a much wider field, rich with potential discovery. Thus it is important that practitioners who prescribe the use of essential oils in their practice divest themselves of any stigma that has grown around aromatherapy. A whole new name for their practice would help to distance themselves from any hint of quackery and dogma.

The general public may well be sceptical as a result of conflicting opinions. The misnomer “essential” does not help. Volatile Oil Therapy (VOT) as a name may engender some trust especially if the practitioners of VOT confine themselves to proven effects.

HEALTH SERVICES

The health-care scenario in Bengaluru city is a mix of plenty and scarcity. A number of government bodies and schemes provide health services. In infrastructure terms, if all primary health facilities maintained by different government bodies were combined, there are likely to be enough centers to 2 Health care in Bengaluru city – need for a participatory, comprehensive health plan meet the primary care needs of the population. The city is also host to autonomous institutions with high caliber medical professionals, such as National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS) and the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology. Further, like in other urban areas, a huge private sector caters to the health needs of the population.

Bengaluru is a hub for medical tourism, with super-specialty hospitals boasting state-of-the-art treatment facilities. On the other hand, the communities that particularly need public health services, such as the urban poor and working classes, are unable to access them due to the shortage of medical staff, lack of medicines and diagnostic services, high levels of corruption and the low sensitivity towards their needs. They end up using the private sector, which is an expensive option, or postpone essential health care – an even more expensive option for which the individual, family and society pay a price. There have been cases of women delivering babies at home or in auto-rickshaws as they were turned away at Maternity Homes and did not have time to reach a secondary or tertiary institution, or the resources to get there. Tertiary care is expensive even in government hospitals due to bed charges, medicines and other expenses. The result is high levels of indebtedness and health indicators among the urban poor that are almost as bad as the rural poor.

Government hospitals have a few advantages over private hospitals, which make them better and efficient for patients. This includes their facilities are affordable in cost, which is an advantage for the masses, who cannot afford expensive treatments. Best doctors are majorly found in the southern part of India. Bengaluru has a few government hospitals that make them stand out in other private ones.

In order to make health care available to the weaker sections of society Bengaluru is dotted with numerous government hospitals. Most of the government hospitals in Bengaluru are run and managed by the municipal corporation of the city. The government hospitals in Bengaluru are usually multi-specialty hospitals

Many American’s are writing their health care out of their budget due to the uncertain economy. The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll, which showed that 53 percent of participants said that they or someone in their family has cut back on health care because of the high costs associated with it. Especially for American’s who are out of work, not having coverage can send health care costs skyrocketing with bills piling up rather quickly. The poll also indicates that more people are turning to home remedies and over the counter drugs, as opposed to seeking the help of a physician. Lastly, more American’s are not filling prescriptions and/or avoiding medical tests or treatments in order to just get by.

A few things that will help you save money is to request your own records and do it well in advance of your doctors appointment, Take note of any changes you have had in the last six months and write everything down before your visit, so you don’t forget to ask any important questions. Essentially, get the most out of one appointment as possible. Ask your doctor for free samples of any prescriptions to help keep costs down and ask about cheaper generic alternatives to your current medications.

American’s do have an option to ask for financial help as many hospitals and clinics usually have financial assistance programs. Some doctors, like Feltheimer of New York Presbyterian, lowers his fees to $50.00 for patients’ who are out of work or uninsured. Many doctors will work out a payment schedules, so do not hesitate to ask what your physician’s policies are. People with chronic or debilitating disease such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis, can access the Patient Advocate Foundation. They provide help negotiating with insurers and helps people get the most out of their health plan. There are no financial requirements to qualify, so call (800) 532-5274 to be assigned a case manager.

Have you ever wondered if you were receiving the best health care you could be? Doctors aren’t infallible and their diagnoses aren’t always the final word. It’s important know as much as you can about your health and what options are available to you depending your situation.

Not all doctors are equally qualified. Some have more experience that others. Following are some tips on how to ensure you are receiving the best treatment to stay your healthiest.

Do some research before selecting a physician. Ask about his education and areas of expertise. If you have a specific illness, look for a specialist in that field. It’s OK to ask for a second opinion and seek out the best care. Your good health is worth making the effort.

Don’t worry about hurting your physician’s feelings if you go ahead and get a second opinion. It may help set your mind at ease and know that you’ve done all you can for your health and your future.

You should also feel free to ask to see any test results that you may have received. Ask the doctor questions about the tests and/or his diagnosis until you feel satisfied. You may want to inquire if additional tests would be useful.

It’s important to understand your particular health concerns as well as you can. If you’re not an MD you may not know that much about your diagnosis. So, take the time to learn what you can about it. Think of you and your doctor as partners in your health care journey.

Find a doctor that you are comfortable with and rely on them to help you maintain your good health.

Strive to develop a relationship with them so that you feel comfortable asking questions and exploring your options as they pertain to your health.

The Health Resources and Services Administration, frequently known as the HRSA, is an agency operating inside the United States Department of Health and Human Services that is largely answerable for bettering the public’s access to quality health care services.

The grants and initiatives of the HRSA are all particularly designed to contribute to the attainment of its main agency mission which is to “improve health and achieve health equity through access to quality services, a skilled health work force and cutting edge programs.”

In accordance with this mission, the Health Resources and Services Administration has recently constituted the establishment of the Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program, also known as the TRCGP.

Essentially, the aim of the program is to be able to financially support the establishment and development of Telehealth Resource Centers (TRCs).

The Telehealth Resource Centers will be engineered to provide technical assistance to health care affiliations, health care networks, and several other groups of health care providers during the process of implementing inexpensive telehealth programs that would serve medically underserved communities and populations.

With this, the program will be able to expedite and customize the provision of telehealth technical assistance services throughout the country, while simultaneously moving towards the provision of a wide range of expertise that may not be readily available in any existing community.

The program seeks to seek applications from entities who have already manifested daunting experience in providing technical assistance regarding the development of sustainable telehealth programs.

In addition, the program also hopes to expedite the successful dissemination of health-related information, the effective collusion and communication between health care providers, and finally, the marketing of the integration of new technologies used in clinical information systems with other telehealth technologies.

The Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program intends to financially support the creation of up to five Telehealth Resource Centers by administering funds in the amount of $1,625,000.

The organizations and institutions who will be eligible to submit an application under this program are the following:

a) Non-profit setups

b) Faith-based organizations

c) Community-based organizations

d) Tribal non-profit organizations

The Department of Health and Human Services, the mother agency that is financing the Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program, is the federal government’s leading agency that is responsible for defending the health of all Americans through the provision of essential human services to all, giving greatest priority to the vulnerable and to the medically uninsured.