For otolaryngologists, who are often the first-line of defense in diagnosing and treating many common respiratory ailments, differentiating the potential culprits behind sneezing, wheezing, stuffy nose, heavy chest, and chronic cough demands an ever-growing need to recognize and identify underlying conditions that include allergies and asthma.
The $1.1 billion earmarked for comparative effectiveness research in the economic stimulus bill passed on February 13 could be a sound investment in improving health care’s efficiency, cutting costs, and improving patient outcomes.
In this age of increasing reliance on diagnostic technologies to better see pathologies of the body, there is a confounding problem of seeing too much, with too little understanding of what one is seeing and whether what one sees poses a problem.
Medical residents used to work shifts so long that fatigue blurred their vision, clouded their judgment, and overall put them on the brink of mental and physical exhaustion.
At the 2007 annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), investigators from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Kansas reported on a needs assessment that identified a number of issues related to improving the formal assessment of operative competency among otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons.
Roger L. Crumley, MD, MBA, Professor and former Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, and current President of the American Laryngological Association, has no doubts about the advantages of laryngeal reinnervation over other treatments for unilateral vocal cord paralysis.
Under intense and growing scrutiny of relationships between industry and physicians, academic health centers, medical professional organizations, and physician practices are grappling with how to guide physicians in their dealings with industry.
As evidence accumulates on the benefits and added value of videostroboscopy in the diagnosis of voice problems, many otolaryngologists are turning their attention to whether or not they want to invest in this technology-in terms of both the cost in buying the equipment and the time and skill needed to analyze correctly the many types of lesions one can see using this tool.