Read article – Continued coverage of comments by H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, in an article about how the Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System will offer DNA sequencing to 1,000 patients that to test for genetic mutations that increases your risk for a treatable medical condition. Welch expresses concerns about the cascading effect of expensive and potentially harmful medical treatment when a genetic risk is identified.
In the News
Is It a Migraine? – Brattleboro Reformer via The New York Times
Read article – Continued coverage of comments by Stewart Tepper, professor of neurology, about why patients and doctors so often don’t realize a person’s headaches are migraines and instead believe they are caused by tension, stress or dehydration, or that they are “sinus headaches.” “Sinus headaches are an invention of Madison Avenue,” says Tepper. “If you go to Europe, they don’t know what you are talking about.” (Picked up by Bennington Banner and The Berkshire Eagle.)
Is It a Migraine? Many Patients Don’t Realize What Causes Their Suffering – The New York Times
Read article – Quotes Stewart Tepper, professor of neurology, about why patients and doctors so often don’t realize a person’s headaches are migraines, and instead believe they are caused by tension, stress or dehydration, or that they are “sinus headaches.” “Sinus headaches are an invention of Madison Avenue,” says Tepper. “If you go to Europe, they don’t know what you are talking about.”
End-of-Life Treatment Costs Decreased in Recent Years – AARP
Read article – Quotes William Weeks, professor of psychiatry, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about a study he led that found that end-of-life medical care costs declined in the first five years of this decade.
What Is Death? – Mental Floss
Read article – Quotes James Bernat, the Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neuroscience and active emeritus professor of neurology and medicine, in an article that examines the various definitions of death and how they have changed over time, as life-extending technology has blurred the line between life and death. Bernat states that in most countries, being brain dead—meaning the whole brain has stopped working and cannot return to functionality—is the standard for calling death.
The Doctor Is Cooking – The New York Times
Read article – An article about how culinary medicine is an emerging field that teaches doctors to cook while also imparting practical nutrition information, which mentions that Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine provides culinary medicine workshops to medical staff members, patients, and the community through teaching kitchens. The article also mentions that Julia Nordgren, Geisel ’99, cofounded “The Doctor is In … The Kitchen” program at Stanford’s medical school, which meets one evening a week to learn about how culinary medicine is implicated in a real clinical story.
Are You and Your Primary Care Doc Ready to Talk About Your DNA? – The Washington Post via Kaiser Health News
Read article – Quotes H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, in an article about how the Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health System will offer DNA sequencing to 1,000 patients to test for genetic mutations that increases your risk for a treatable medical condition. Welch expresses concerns about the cascading effect of expensive and potentially harmful medical treatment when a genetic risk is identified. (Picked up by NPR and NHPR.)
FDA Approves First Preventive Treatment for Migraine – PharmTech.com
Read article – Quotes Stewart Tepper, professor of neurology, about the FDA’s announcement of approval of Aimovig for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults. (Similar coverage in WPSD 6 and European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer.)
Study: Young Americans Inhale More Smoke From Hookah Than Cigarettes – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Read article – Quotes Samir Soneji, assistant professor of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about a new study that found that young adults in the U.S. consume more smoke from hookah—water pipes with hot coals that heat tobacco in internal bowls—than from cigarettes. “Adolescents, young adults, and older adults alike often believe—incorrectly so—hookah is safe because the water somehow purifies and filters the smoke. This study demonstrates that hookah smoking contributes a substantial proportion of smoke and tar among dual hookah smokers and cigarette smokers,” says Soneji, who was not involved in the study.
Mergers Key to Community Hospitals’ Survival – Fosters.com
Read article – Quotes Joanne Conroy ’77, CEO of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, about how having a multitude of partnerships—without owning any one—drives the hospital to its highest performance. Dartmouth-Hitchcock is a teaching hospital affiliated with the Geisel School of Medicine, and is also affiliated with several rural hospitals in the North Country and in Vermont. It also has long-standing relationships with the Boston hospitals. (Picked up by Seacoast Online.)