General Medicine and Primary Care

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Tobacco use accounts for nearly half a million deaths in the U.S. each year and is the leading cause of lung cancer, according to the American Lung Association.

However, the economic and societal costs of smoking are also staggering. Every year, Americans spend more than $300 billion, which includes both medical care and lost productivity. Unfortunately, some people will have to pay more depending on the state in which they live.

Host Dr. Brian McDonough chats with analyst Jill Gonzales from Wallethub, a financial website that calculated the true per-person cost of smoking in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Guest: Robert A. Baldor, MD

Guest: Chadwick R. Johr, MD

This innovative, 30-minute, online activity features a Video Expert Dialogue with two prominent faculty covering important, timely issues and data related to the detection of autoimmune (AI) disorders. The emphasis is on the unique role primary care providers play in diagnosing and managing AI and maximizing patient care. Topics include:

• Overview of connective tissue diseases and ANA testing
• ANA IFA and ELISA
• New tests
• Subserologies with IFA
• Choosing wisely about ANA testing
• Diagnosis of RA, Sjögren’s, Lupus, and Systemic Sclerosis
• Titer Information
• Negative ANA testing
• When to refer

We’ll be discussing autoantibody testing for autoimmune diseases, or more precisely, connective tissue diseases. Our purpose here is to discuss how autoantibody testing, such as the ANA, may be used in the primary care setting to diagnose these disorders. Using the ANA test combined with a good medical exam and a good history, along with signs and symptoms of connective tissue diseases, will help to achieve greater benefits in diagnosing and treating patients.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO

Guest: Thomas C. Wright, Jr., MD

The Cervical Cancer Screening practice environment continues to change for both physicians and patients. Physicians are constantly tasked with evaluating analyses of new data on how best to approach cervical cancer screening for a particular patient demographic; and patients remain confused and unsure if the “new” approaches are better, or even less safe, than the “Pap” that has served as the bedrock for so many years.

This activity previously aired as a ReachMD Live Broadcast, where Dr. Thomas Wright, Jr., addressed these wide-ranging issues in a real-time, question and answer forum.

THIS ACTIVITY IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR CME CREDIT.

Host: Alicia A. Sutton

Guest: Miriam Uhlmann, PhD

Guest: Samar Aboulsoud, MD, PhD, MSc Med Ed, FHEA, MAcadMEd

Due to research and studies, health care teams are improving and understanding cultural sensitivity issues and cultural competence. However, we still have much to learn. At the Alliance for Continuing Education in Healthcare Professions 2018 annual meeting, host Alicia Sutton interviewed Samar Aboulsoud, MD and Miriam Uhlmann, PhD about their presentation "A Means to an End: Achieving Patient Satisfaction Through Culturally Sensitive Communication".

In this discussion, Drs. Aboulsoud and Uhlmann discuss their personal and professional experience with educating health care teams to deepen the medical knowledge and clinical skills of those who provide holistic approaches for patient care. Furthermore, it will challenge clinician’s understanding of what affects their interactions and understandings that can impact patient care, compliance, and outcomes.

Host: Alicia A. Sutton

Guest: Camille M. Fung, MD

Host Alicia Sutton is joined by Dr. Camille Fung to discuss two areas of public health in Utah that were not addressed by the Utah legislature: opioid addiction and overdose in pregnant women and newborn infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Dr. Fung is an assistant professor at the University of Utah, Division of Neonatology.

Tune in to see how Dr. Fung with her colleagues created enduring material to educate healthcare professionals on the unaddressed public health problem of opioid management without any financial resources.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Katherine Baicker

In early 2008, Oregon opened a waiting list lottery for a limited number of spots in its Medicaid program. From the 90,000 people who signed up, the state drew approximately 30,000 names of people who were allowed to apply to its Medicaid program. The results of this lottery have been studied over subsequent years, allowing researchers the ability to analyze the effect of expanding access to public health insurance on health care use and patient outcomes.

Host Dr. Maurice Pickard talks with Katherine Baicker, Dean and the Emmett Dedmon Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. She is one of the leaders of the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, which investigated the effects of the Oregon Medicaid lottery. They discuss some of the conclusions from this study, including how a person’s increased exposure to health care through insurance coverage appears to produce significant, multifaceted, and nuanced benefits to one's health.

Host: Barnett Mennen, MD

Guest: Sarah Hallberg, MD

Carbohydrates are our main source of energy and provide important nutrients for good health. However, they are also the main culprit behind elevated blood sugar and are problematic for diabetic patients trying to control their blood sugar levels.

Host Dr. Barry Mennen sits down with Dr. Sarah Hallberg to talk about carbohydrate restriction as a key to successful weight loss programs. She prescribes that adherence to a low-carb, high-fat diet is vital to patients for controlling their diabetes, with the possibility of being able to come off medications over time.

Dr. Sarah Hallberg is the Medical Director at Virta Health and Founder of the Indiana University-Arnett Health Medical Weight Loss Program in Lafayette, Indiana.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Bob Mitchell

Quite suddenly, Bob Mitchell became very sick. He would endure three near-fatal episodes of ventricular tachycardia due to a heart muscle comprised of 54% scar tissue, as well as heart surgeries, two harrowing months of waiting on the transplant list for a new heart on life-supporting IV drips (during which time a malignant tumor was detected in his kidney), partial nephrectomy surgery to remove the cancer, another month of waiting, a 12-hour heart and kidney transplant surgery, and 100 days on life support in four different hospitals.

Host Dr. Maurice Pickard talks with novelist Bob Mitchell, author of Time for a Heart-to-Heart: Reflections on Life in the Face of Death about his inspiring story of the triumph of hope in the face of the direst of circumstances.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

At the age of 35, Jessica Cross was pursuing a rewarding career and raising a family with her loving husband when she was dealt a crippling blow: suffering a stroke that left her paralyzed on the right side of her body and hospitalized for months.

Two years later, still in rehabilitation, Cross began punching at a keyboard to restore function in her arm and hand. Having little interest in typing mindlessly, this daily rehab exercise soon grew into writing what would become the book, Crossed Lines: What Lies Buried Within the Heart.

Host Dr. Brian McDonough sits down with Jessica Cross to talk about her journey through enduring this stroke, her recovery and rehab, and subsequent activism around education and wellness for stroke survivors.

Jessica Cross is an author, speaker, and Executive Director of Strong Cross Foundation.

Host: Alicia A. Sutton

Guest: Dave deBronkart

From the annual meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Healthcare Professions in Orlando, Florida, keynote speaker Dave deBronkart joins host Alicia Sutton to discuss the evolving roles in the patient and doctor relationship.

Better known as ‘e-Patient Dave’, deBronkart emphasizes key points in the shift from the patient as a passive recipient of care to one where the patient is an active contributor to his or her own care. deBronkart discusses healthy patient:doctor communication and ways clinicians can employ effective techniques.

As a co-founder of the Society for Participatory Medicine and stage 4 kidney cancer survivor, deBronkart speaks globally on how patients should be partners in their care, rather than passive recipients, and how collaboration makes healthcare better for everyone.