PEMBlog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

This is a blog post designed to disseminate the important work of Choosing Wisely , an initiative of the the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, the goal of which is the spark conversations between clinicians and patients about what tests, treatments, and procedures are needed – and which ones are not.

Diagnosis 122

Diagnosis Diagnose Hospital Clinic 122

Center for Family Medicine

MARCH 28, 2025

Medication and physical therapy If lifestyle changes cannot reduce pain significantly, pain management is a useful tool. Physical therapy (PT) is a non-surgical, natural remedy for arthritis. With PT, a specialist helps the patient go through a series of stretches, exercises, and modalities to reduce pain and improve function.

Medical 52

Medical Physicals Management Treatment Plan 52

ABIM

MAY 18, 2025

As a Latina IBD patient, I’ve come to understand that my experience has been shaped not only by the disease itself, but through the lens of culture, identity and the disparities that influence how patients, like myself, are seen, treated and supported. This burden of the disease is being felt by patients and healthcare providers.

Diagnose 40

Diagnose Healthcare Diagnosis Physicals 40

Common Sense Family Doctor

MARCH 18, 2025

Smith, a general internist and professor of medicine and psychiatry at Michigan State University, explains why our medical system consistently prioritizes physical over emotional health and presents some ambitious proposals for how to rectify this harmful disparity. This relatively slim volume is divided into three parts.

Mental Health 52

Mental Health IT Primary Care Primary Care Physician 52

Plum Health

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

It's a different way of doing healthcare, one that puts patients at the center. The Challenges of Accessing Mental Health Care I've heard countless stories from patients who have struggled to get the mental health care they need. One of my patients, Sarah, had been struggling with anxiety for years.

Primary Care 52

Primary Care Mental Health Primary Care Physician Healthcare 52

Imperial Center Family Medicine

JUNE 9, 2025

When your doctor diagnoses you with high blood pressure, they will likely recommend medications and lifestyle changes based on your risk of complications. Increasing physical activity: Regular exercise helps you slim down and boosts heart health. Losing extra weight: Carrying excess weight strains your heart and blood vessels.

Management 52

Management Medical Treatment Plan Family Medicine 52

Imperial Center Family Medicine

JUNE 9, 2025

When your doctor diagnoses you with high blood pressure, they will likely recommend medications and lifestyle changes based on your risk of complications. Increasing physical activity: Regular exercise helps you slim down and boosts heart health. Losing extra weight: Carrying excess weight strains your heart and blood vessels.

Management 52

Management Medical Treatment Plan Family Medicine 52

Vida Family Medicine

JUNE 26, 2025

At Vida Family Medicine, I’ve helped hundreds of patients improve their blood sugar without extreme dieting or cutting out the foods they love. Pre-diabetes is a condition where your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. What is Pre-Diabetes? The main culprit?

Management 52

Management Diabetes Family Medicine DO 52

BMJ

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

doi: 10.1136/fmch-2021-001139 Prediabetes, a health condition with blood sugar levels higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes, increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Provider’s advice and person’s perceived diabetes risk would contribute to the lifestyle change behavior.

Diabetes 40

Diabetes Management Healthcare Patient-Centered 40

Vida Family Medicine

APRIL 4, 2023

As a primary care physician, I see many patients who struggle with their relationship with food. The patients that I see are often highly motivated to take good care of themselves to prevent or control a chronic disease. We are currently accepting new patients, visit our website to learn more and become a patient.

Relationship 52

Relationship Mental Health Primary Care Physician Diagnose 52

PEMBlog

OCTOBER 16, 2023

During that initial visit, her physical exam was notable for generalized abdominal tenderness. She was diagnosed with constipation. The family declined an enema in the ED, and she was discharged home on a miralax cleanout to follow up with her PCP. OHVIRA Syndrome The patient’s ultrasound revealed an obstructed hemivagina.

PCP 69

PCP PCP Diagnosis Diagnose 69

AMMD

MARCH 13, 2025

These include our physical environment, jobs, relationships, traffic, and unexpected events. Move your body : I like taking walks with my family and dogs. I battled thyroid disease in medical school after being diagnosed with Graves’ disease. A little bit of stress is natural and can come from internal or external factors.

IT 130

IT Medical Patient-Centered Relationship 130

PEMBlog

OCTOBER 17, 2023

She was seen at an urgent care the day prior to presentation, diagnosed with a viral exanthem, and discharged with oral prednisone. The family denies any sore throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, conjunctivitis. The family denies any sore throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, conjunctivitis. Conjunctiva normal.

Diagnosis 69

Diagnosis Diagnose Clinic Patients 69

GeriPal

JULY 19, 2024

Alex 00:20 And she’s professor of family medicine at USC, deputator at JAGS, and co lead of the bold center of Excellence in early detection of dementia. What hasn’t been shown, Eric, is that if you apply tools like this, clinical outcomes down the road are better for patients. It can’t be diagnosed and adios.

Screening 119

Screening Primary Care Patient-Centered IT 119

PEMBlog

OCTOBER 2, 2024

I’ll make the important distinction between gastritis – which is diagnosed only via endoscopy – and dyspepsia, the term best used to describe the symptoms many patients experience. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is when the patients have severe symptoms that persist and cause long term issues.

Diagnosis 52

Diagnosis Management IT Patient-Centered 52

GeriPal

DECEMBER 2, 2022

She directs UCSF MERI’s patient, family, and clinician support with classes and consultation on resiliency, well-being, and grief. You wrote about how when it comes to talking about patients with dementia, they’re rarely portrayed as resilient. Alex: First three words would be, family and history and diversity.

Community 101

Community IT Individual Patient-Centered 101

GeriPal

MAY 11, 2023

I just thought there was so much we could learn and offer from every sense, from the clinical point of view, from the family point of view, from prevention, from treatment, epidemiology, et cetera. Physical activity is a big one. One might argue they still are. So, that’s how I ended up there. That’s really falling apart.

Physicals 85

Physicals IT Hypertension Education 85

Mere Mortal MD

MAY 22, 2025

People are not usually fond of hospitals, especially if they happen to be the patient. So, the hospital is really not a place anyone wants to hang out for very long, and very rarely are patients hesitant to leave. These patients may end up under my care at the rehabilitation hospital. Thanks for reading Mere Mortal MD!

Hospital 221

Hospital Patients Nurse Practitioner IT 221

Annals of Family Medicine

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

30% of eligible adults do not receive CRC screening, and disparities exist among those with multiple chronic conditions (MCC, having more than one diagnosed chronic health condition that require ongoing medical care). We used ICD-10 codes from patient records and the CMS Chronic Conditions algorithm to categorize MCC status.

Chronic Condition 130

Chronic Condition Screening Physicals Electronics 130

Mesa Family Physician

MARCH 6, 2025

The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to cover a wide range of preventive services without patient cost-sharing. Dr. James Martínez, family medicine physician at Community Health Partners, explains: “Preventive care represents one of the most powerful tools we have in medicine.

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Preventive Care Preventative Care Appointment Screening 100

Edge Family Medicine

APRIL 10, 2025

At Edge Family Medicine , we believe that one of the most powerful tools in healthcare isn’t technology — it’s trust. At Edge Family Medicine , we prioritize relationship-based care that supports your wellness every step of the way. You’re not just another patient — you’re known.

Primary Care 130

Primary Care Relationship PCP PCP 130

Noreta Family Medicine

APRIL 17, 2024

What is the meaning of Family Medicine? As the name suggests, a family physician can take care of your entire family – from the day of your birth (even before!) I love family medicine because as family physicians, we can be trained to provide care for patients in many different settings.

Primary Care 52

Primary Care Board-Certified GP Family Physician 52

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Summary Transcript Summary Think about the last time a patient yelled at you in anger. Dani and Kery present three steps for interacting with an angry patient: Look within: What is this anger bringing up in me? Ask why: What is underneath the anger for this particular patient? Taking care of the hateful patient.

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Patients IT Families Family 109

GeriPal

JULY 21, 2022

Often the work of the certified driving rehab specialist is to assess the older drivers goals, assess prognosis for driving, and help the family navigate discussions around driving cessation (hmmm…sounds like an approach to family meetings). Initially, it was just because there weren’t really answers for my patients.

IT 102

IT Family Families Diagnosis 102

GeriPal

JUNE 27, 2024

How, though, do we navigate anxiety and help our patients who may end up in the anxiety spiral that becomes so hard to get out of? So it tends to be future oriented and tends to show up as a physical sensation in our body. Something I’ll often point out to patients is, you know, how do you identify your emotions?

Illness 129

Illness IT Diagnosis Patient-Centered 129

GeriPal

JANUARY 30, 2025

In one corner, weighing in at decades of experience, well known for heavy hits of bedside assessments, strong patient-family relationships, and a knockout punch of interdisciplinary collaboration, we have in-person palliative care consults. But watch out! Travel time can leave this champ vulnerable to fatigue and no-shows.

Telehealth 105

Telehealth Patient-Centered IT Patients 105

Family Physicians of Greeley

OCTOBER 2, 2023

One of the scariest things to ever hear is that you or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer. Would you be surprised to learn that 1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime? Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer In the United States. What puts you at risk for breast cancer?

PCP 40

PCP PCP Diagnose Family Physician 40

Imperial Center Family Medicine

APRIL 7, 2025

The decision of how frequently you should get a cholesterol screening largely hinges on various risk factors such as your age, sex, health conditions, lifestyle factors, and family history. More frequent screening may be necessary if a child has obesity, diabetes, or a family history of high cholesterol or cardiac disease.

Screening 52

Screening Healthcare DO Family Medicine 52

GeriPal

OCTOBER 17, 2024

We talk about what is heart failure, particularly HFpEF, how we treat it (including the use of sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2’s), and how we should apply guidelines to individual patients, especially those with multimorbidity who are taking a lot of other medications. When I see a patient? Matthew, I get the lyrics.

Primary Care 113

Primary Care Patient-Centered IT Patients 113

GeriPal

JUNE 15, 2023

” And Bing responded, I should ask about how AI can help identify patients who need palliative care and reduce hospitalizations, what are the benefits and challenges of using AI in decision-making, communication, palliative care, and how could AI support the quality of life and dignity of patients for those who are receiving palliative care?

IT 99

IT Patient-Centered Patients Healthcare 99

GeriPal

JULY 28, 2022

This is my early father’s day gift from the family. But at that time I was struck by how in that field, there wasn’t a focus or really interest in symptom management and support for patients and their families. Alex: I’ve got to show you the back of the Jersey. Eric: Yeah. Alex: That’s right.

Illness 110

Illness Hospital Patient-Centered Patients 110

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

As she said, when you think about the hardest patients you’ve cared for, in nearly all cases there was some aspect of psychological illness involved. Then, “Keep your hand up if you frequently refer patients with cancer pain to a psychologist?” That rings true to me. All hands go up. All hands go down.

Mental Health 122

Mental Health Patient-Centered Illness Screening 122

GeriPal

JUNE 9, 2022

We can’t possibly meet the needs of all people with newly diagnosed serious illness. But definitely always had the bug to be the one to jump into the family meetings in the ICU, lead them. Patients have all sorts of problems. And while they identified thousands of patients and enrolled. What does “early” really mean?

Consulting 99

Consulting Patient-Centered Diagnosis IT 99

GeriPal

JUNE 13, 2024

Accreditation In support of improving patient care, UCSF Office of CME is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Illness 133

Illness Patient-Centered Patients IT 133

GeriPal

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

So, the question becomes, what, if anything, should we do differently in the primary care setting to diagnose the disease? We address the following questions with Nate: Has anything changed for the primary care doctor when diagnosing Alzheimers? And when I asked the patient, well, what happened, the test was sprung on them.

Primary Care 95

Primary Care Diagnosis Screening IT 95

GeriPal

JUNE 16, 2022

Alex: Today we are delighted to welcome Chrissy Kistler, who is a geriatrician researcher in the Department of Family Medicine and Vision of Geriatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 50 to 70% of people who are diagnosed with UTIs probably don’t have a UTI. Alex: This is Alex Smith. Is that right? Eric: Yeah.

Management 122

Management IT Medical Patient-Centered 122

GeriPal

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Have you ever had that moment when talking to a patient, when you realized that the phrase you just uttered, which you’ve uttered a hundred times before, came out rote and scripted? And in response, the family or patient looked at you like you were from another planet? Summary Transcript Summary. Yeah, I’ve been there too.

Illness 101

Illness IT Patient-Centered Patients 101