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Antibiotic Therapy for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Adults

Community acquired pneumonia accounts for 600,000 hospital admissions a year. Many patients with this disease are quite ill and have a very high mortality. To save lives, the appropriate antibiotics should be given in a timely basis, but it is not clear what the best antibiotics are and how long they should be given. In this podcast we interview the author of a JAMA review on community acquired pneumonia, Dr Jonathan Lee, author of Antibiotic Therapy for Adults Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia, who performed a systematic review of the literature to determine the best way to treat community acquired pneumonia.





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Treating Geriatric Polypharmacy by Deintensifying Unnecessary Diabetes Treatment

Polypharmacy is a rapidly worsening problem that hits elderly patients particularly hard.  As patients grow older, they need more medications but at the same time become less capable of managing the complexity of drug treatments.  In order to simplify treatment regimens for older patients, it is necessary to consider the evidence supporting treatment of various conditions and when the evidence is not particularly strong, reduce or eliminate medications accordingly.  Diabetes management in the elderly is highlighted in this podcast with specific attention given to deintensifying diabetes treatment in the elderly.

Articles discussed in this episode:










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Histologic Changes in the Esophagus in Patients With GERD

Drs Stuart Spechler and Peter Kahrilis discuss GERD and esophagitis--how they occur and how they are treated. Dr Spechler also discusses a new hypothesis regarding how reflux esophagitis is caused that differs from the traditional teaching that acid and pepsin reflux into the esophagus and burn the mucosa layers.

Related articles:
Association of Acute Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease With Esophageal Histologic Changes
Turning the Pathogenesis of Acute Peptic Esophagitis Inside Out






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JAMA Professionalism: Best Practice--Disclosure of Medical Error

Introducing a new series of JAMA articles on professionalism, discussed from the perspective of how clinicians should address challenging clinical situations and adverse events in their medical practice. In the first episode of the accompanying podcast, JAMA Professionalism: Best Practice, we interview Wendy Levinson, MD, and Jensen Yeung, MD, authors of Disclosure of Medical Error, which appeared in the August 16, 2016 issue of JAMA, as well as Thomas H. Gallagher, MD.




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The High Cost of Pharmaceuticals in the United States

Drug prices continue to rise in the US. Many solutions have been proposed but few have been implemented. Drs. Janet Woodcock from the FDA and Aaron Kesselheim, author of The High Cost of Prescription Drugs in the United States from the Harvard Medical School discuss the role of brand name drugs and generics and how they influence the cost of pharmaceuticals.

Also see The Cost of US Pharmaceutical Price Reductions: A Financial Simulation Model of R&D Decisions by Thomas A. Abbott and John A. Vernon.





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Fluid Resuscitation for Patients in Septic Shock

When managing septic shock, passive leg raising is the best test to determine if a patient is likely to respond to a fluid bolus, better than CVP lines or even bedside ultrasound. Dr Najib Ayas, Associate professor of Critical Care Medicine at the University of British Columbia, discusses shock management from the context of his Rational Clinical examination article in the September 27, 2016 issue of JAMA, entitled “Will This Hemodynamically Unstable Patient Respond to a Bolus of Intravenous Fluids?




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Professional Boundaries: What to Do When Clinicians Ask Other Clinicians to Prescribe Medications for Them

In this episode of JAMA Professionalism: Best Practice, Edward H. Livingston, MD looks at the case of a physician requesting prescription medication from a colleague to examine professional boundaries between physicians and options for managing those boundaries. Shiphra Ginsburg, MD and Wendy Levinson, MD, authors of the related article, join Dr Livingston to discuss the best options for handling this challenging situation. Arthur S. Hengerer, MD, chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards discusses the legal and licensure ramifications of physicians prescribing for other clinicians and Kate E. Engelhardt, MD, and D. Brock Hewitt, MD, MPH, practicing physicians, relate their experience with other clinicians asking them to prescribe medications.




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Pioneering Geneticist Explains Ambitious Plan to “Write” the Human Genome

This Medical News podcast discusses the Human Genome Project-write with Harvard geneticist, George Church, PhD.




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Using Medicare Star Ratings to Select Hospitals

Medicare recently developed a star rating system to help consumers determine the quality of care delivered at various hospitals. This rating system was considered controversial by many. In this podcast we discuss the rating system with one of its critics, Karl Y. Bilimoria, MD, MS, and with Kate Goodrich, MD, the Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at Medicare.

Article discussed in this episode:

The New CMS Hospital Quality Star Ratings: The Stars Are Not Aligned






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Systematic Approach to a New Onset Seizure

Between 8% and 10% of the population will have a seizure at one point in life. It's important to distinguish seizures from other entities that can look like them and, once a diagnosis of a seizure is established, know how to treat them. In this JAMA Clinical Review podcast, we discuss seizures and epilepsy with Jay Gavvala, MD, author of New-Onset Seizure in Adults and Adolescents: A Review.

Article discussed in this episode:

New-Onset Seizure in Adults and Adolescents: A Review

 






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JAMA Medical News: The Nature of Lung Microbiome Research

This podcast discusses the latest research into the workings of the lung microbiome and how it will affect future diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases. Related article: The Lung Microbiome: Key to Respiratory Ills?





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Genomics and Precision Health

Whole-genome sequencing is now easily done for very little cost. It is not known how to interpret the results of this testing. Healthy individuals should not have this performed. If someone has a reason to suspect a particular disease with a known genetic association, then whole-genome or targeted sequencing is reasonable to pursue.










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Humanizing Artificial Intelligence

Interview with Sonoo Thadaney-Israni, MBA, and Abraham Verghese, MD, MACP, authors of Humanizing Artificial Intelligence














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USPSTF Recommendation: Screening for Pancreatic Cancer

Interview with Chyke A Doubeni, MD, MPH, USPSTF member and coauthor of Screening for Pancreatic Cancer: US Preventive Services Task Force Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement