On the heels of my last post, I came across an article on the Men's Health website titled The 20 Unhealthiest Drinks in America. Quite a bold title if you ask me, but then again you didn't ask me. A number of the entries are exceedingly obvious like milkshakes, soda, lattes, etc. The one that took me off guard, #19, The Worst "Healthy" Drink: Glaceau VitaminWater.
What?! How can something called Vitamin Water be bad for you? Mom taught me water is the essence of life (insert Zoolander reference) and vitamins, well, are things I'm supposed to eat. So where did I miss the boat?
I'm insanely obsessed with my weight, not a sweets person and I rarely eat desserts, but my one guilty pleasure is VitaminWater. I love the stuff. Its quite refreshing, not too sweet and doesn't taste like plain old water. It kinda reminds me of Crystal Light, but just doesn't suck. Plus the little paragraph on the bottle explaining the flavor is pure literary genius.
I'm generally able to spot the marketing ploy behind products, but Glaceau got me good. Touche marketing director, touche... you have won this round.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Calories Do Matter
I recently read a well-written TIME magazine piece on childhood obesity that reiterated to me how scary the obesity epidemic really is (the article can be found here). Scary because not only are we as adults overweight, but we are training our children to be just like us. I'm sure lots of people reading this are tired of the constant - nagging it seems almost - by medical professionals and news outlets regarding obesity. Truly, I suspect you will find yourself subconsciously saying, "yeah, yeah, we get it already," as you read this. Well do you? Certainly you've also seen, just as I wrote above, obesity tagged with the word epidemic more than once before. Is this a true statement or merely sensationalism the media often (read: always) uses?
What do I have to offer that is revolutionary? Well likely not much, other than my own experience, BUT if you have never seen the visual representation of how fat we are as a society, then keep reading. Below are CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) graphs of the U.S. adult obesity rates compiled for the last 20 years. In in the interest of time, I've only provided three: 1985, 1995, and 2005. For the full set visit the CDC's website. Quite impressive I must say.
Not so bad, eh?
Wait for it.....
Whether you are a visual learner or more numbers-based, the point comes across loud and clear (and no, more colors are not a good thing), we are one fat society.
Why does this matter? There are many, but my main concern are the TONS of health problems, ranging from mere nuisances to excess death, either caused or exacerbated by excess weight. I won't bore you by listing them all here, but knowing this and simultaneously viewing the grander scheme, it is easy to see the great weight (pun intended) this epidemic is placing on a healthcare system already in a broken state. It is well-known within the medical field that 90% of medical dollars are spent on 10% of the population. Certainly these individuals are not all obese, but if 30% of your population is obese and obesity causes greater health problems, I'd say thats a pretty causal relationship.
An interesting quote from the TIME article I mentioned above.
"A staggering 90% of overweight kids already have at least one avoidable risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or hypertension.... Health experts warn that the current generation of children may be the first in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents'."
The article doesn't list it's sources, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of their statements, but hey, its TIME and if you can't believe TIME, who can you? I can tell you that after being in the hospital more than anyone should be allowed this past year, seeing a patient who is actually of a healthy weight is uncommon and I immediately start thinking of possible etiologies for their immense nutritional deficiency.
7 days left of the 'tern life!
What do I have to offer that is revolutionary? Well likely not much, other than my own experience, BUT if you have never seen the visual representation of how fat we are as a society, then keep reading. Below are CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) graphs of the U.S. adult obesity rates compiled for the last 20 years. In in the interest of time, I've only provided three: 1985, 1995, and 2005. For the full set visit the CDC's website. Quite impressive I must say.
Not so bad, eh?
Wait for it.....
Whether you are a visual learner or more numbers-based, the point comes across loud and clear (and no, more colors are not a good thing), we are one fat society.
Why does this matter? There are many, but my main concern are the TONS of health problems, ranging from mere nuisances to excess death, either caused or exacerbated by excess weight. I won't bore you by listing them all here, but knowing this and simultaneously viewing the grander scheme, it is easy to see the great weight (pun intended) this epidemic is placing on a healthcare system already in a broken state. It is well-known within the medical field that 90% of medical dollars are spent on 10% of the population. Certainly these individuals are not all obese, but if 30% of your population is obese and obesity causes greater health problems, I'd say thats a pretty causal relationship.
An interesting quote from the TIME article I mentioned above.
"A staggering 90% of overweight kids already have at least one avoidable risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or hypertension.... Health experts warn that the current generation of children may be the first in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents'."
The article doesn't list it's sources, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of their statements, but hey, its TIME and if you can't believe TIME, who can you? I can tell you that after being in the hospital more than anyone should be allowed this past year, seeing a patient who is actually of a healthy weight is uncommon and I immediately start thinking of possible etiologies for their immense nutritional deficiency.
7 days left of the 'tern life!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Outside Hospital
I came across a hilarious parody of non-academic hospitals (lovingly referred to as Outside Hospitals for those in the biz) a few months ago during a long Gen Med call. Unless you are in the medical field, you likely won't get the humor, but nonetheless its a must see.
"If you have lungs, we can consult a pulmonologist.... We can consult any specialist to see you for any organ you have..." Love it!
Yes, the video is supposed to be a funny over-exaggeration, but its so very true. This is not about pride on the part of those at academic institutions, that we are in some manner better, but a pervasive opinion (read: fact) based on many many bad experiences. Countless times this year, I have received transfers from community hospitals that arrive with little more than a stack of papers that bear no resemblance to a coherent assessment and plan. Its like an episode of CSI, piecing together what might have transpired during the last 5 inpatient days. The patient says they had test x, y, and z.... any results in the collection of papers sent with the patient? Nope.
Invariably though, when the going gets tough and the community hospital has no idea what they've gotten themselves into, you see "Transfer to the University of _______" scribbled under the 'Plan' portion of daily note.
"If you have lungs, we can consult a pulmonologist.... We can consult any specialist to see you for any organ you have..." Love it!
Yes, the video is supposed to be a funny over-exaggeration, but its so very true. This is not about pride on the part of those at academic institutions, that we are in some manner better, but a pervasive opinion (read: fact) based on many many bad experiences. Countless times this year, I have received transfers from community hospitals that arrive with little more than a stack of papers that bear no resemblance to a coherent assessment and plan. Its like an episode of CSI, piecing together what might have transpired during the last 5 inpatient days. The patient says they had test x, y, and z.... any results in the collection of papers sent with the patient? Nope.
Invariably though, when the going gets tough and the community hospital has no idea what they've gotten themselves into, you see "Transfer to the University of _______" scribbled under the 'Plan' portion of daily note.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Just Me Raising Questions I Can't Answer
I've been one of the fortunate few to be in the MICU (medical intensive care unit) currently. While I really don't consider myself fortunate to have the hardest block last (16 days of 'tern life left!), it is, however, an eye-opening experience to care for the sickest patients in the hospital. I'm generalizing to say the majority of patients roll into the unit mostly dead, but its hard to adequately describe just how profound the medical deficiencies these patients have, and somehow 'disarray' just doesn't cut it. The proverbial "poo hitting the fan" is probably a better descriptor.
It goes without saying, the capabilities of modern medicine have had exponential advances in the last half century. This does not mean, however, that we, as docs, should advance ourselves to the dangerous precipice of dictating life and death. But, it does seem at times that though we are not the authors of life and death, we can temporize it more than just a little. There is no better example of this than working in an ICU.
Almost mirroring the rise of medical advances, the expectations for the medical field are at an all-time high. The iconic example is curing cancer, but my impression from interacting with a host of patients is, as a society, we expect to never get sick, or at the very least never have our life impacted by disease. This became ever more clear to me after hearing the words spoken by the mother of one of my patients. "I want everything done for my son, there should be nothing held back," she said. Without the proper context, an innocuous statement to be sure. I have to be careful because of HIPAA, but what if I mentioned the patient was around my age. Would that change your reaction? How about if I said that he/she had no less than four major body systems not working, one of which being the brain? What if you knew this all came about because of a deliberate action by the patient? And finally, what if I mentioned the patient had no insurance whatsoever. Would that change anything?
Expectations are good, they push us to excel and reach goals we thought previously not possible. But at the same time, expectations are also quite unwieldy when they are out of proportion to reality. This is the frustration I have experienced time and again this year. As a physician I am expected to heal, to cure, to make all right again; but at what cost? At what cost to me? At what cost to other doctors and nurses? At what cost to the hospital? At what cost to society? I'm not speaking entirely monetarily, but certainly that is a piece of the grander puzzle. I can understand society's expectations for medical care, but doesn't quality of life matter too? Sure I can keep a patient alive on a ventilator for years, but is that whats best given their life consists only of bed sores and recurrent infections?
I've entered wholly into the philosophical realm and I don't have an answer for my previous question. Maybe to you, its a stupid question. But then likely, you haven't seen the horrors I have.
It goes without saying, the capabilities of modern medicine have had exponential advances in the last half century. This does not mean, however, that we, as docs, should advance ourselves to the dangerous precipice of dictating life and death. But, it does seem at times that though we are not the authors of life and death, we can temporize it more than just a little. There is no better example of this than working in an ICU.
Almost mirroring the rise of medical advances, the expectations for the medical field are at an all-time high. The iconic example is curing cancer, but my impression from interacting with a host of patients is, as a society, we expect to never get sick, or at the very least never have our life impacted by disease. This became ever more clear to me after hearing the words spoken by the mother of one of my patients. "I want everything done for my son, there should be nothing held back," she said. Without the proper context, an innocuous statement to be sure. I have to be careful because of HIPAA, but what if I mentioned the patient was around my age. Would that change your reaction? How about if I said that he/she had no less than four major body systems not working, one of which being the brain? What if you knew this all came about because of a deliberate action by the patient? And finally, what if I mentioned the patient had no insurance whatsoever. Would that change anything?
Expectations are good, they push us to excel and reach goals we thought previously not possible. But at the same time, expectations are also quite unwieldy when they are out of proportion to reality. This is the frustration I have experienced time and again this year. As a physician I am expected to heal, to cure, to make all right again; but at what cost? At what cost to me? At what cost to other doctors and nurses? At what cost to the hospital? At what cost to society? I'm not speaking entirely monetarily, but certainly that is a piece of the grander puzzle. I can understand society's expectations for medical care, but doesn't quality of life matter too? Sure I can keep a patient alive on a ventilator for years, but is that whats best given their life consists only of bed sores and recurrent infections?
I've entered wholly into the philosophical realm and I don't have an answer for my previous question. Maybe to you, its a stupid question. But then likely, you haven't seen the horrors I have.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
How To Make A Million Dollars
When I was in college, I took a summer job managing my own franchise of a nationwide painting business in northern Delaware. It seemed like a great opportunity to not only make money but to hone some leadership skills, as I would be in charge of marketing the business, selling the jobs, and hiring subcontractors to actually do the work. The 'training weekend' that followed was quite exciting, as the company brought in success story after success story. One particular speaker said something that has stuck with me to this day. He said, "You only need to improve an existing product by 10% to make a million dollars." I don't know the credibility of such a statement, but it intuitively makes sense. Looking back on it, I did well monetarily and gained much wisdom through the experience, however I am also quite sour towards the company for a multitude of reasons. One of which was the realization that their desire was to lure young, energetic college students in with the promise of success, and in turn exploit them to make themselves more money.
Back to the point. Since that experience, I am incredibly sensitive towards people 'selling me' and recognize immediately when a salesperson is only interested in lining their pocket and not the customer's satisfaction. Being that when I'm not working I'm usually laying on my couch sleeping or watching TV, I've seen my fair share of infomercials this year. My favorite has to be for a product called Lypozyme, just for the sheer ridiculous assertions the company makes. It got me to think, "If your product is bogus, whats necessary to get people to buy it anyway?"
1. Give yourself a legit name.
If you're going to sell anything, you have to appear legit. How about the Obesity Research Institute... straight cash money.
2. Have a good looking person do the selling.
What infomercial have you seen that chooses a hobo to sell their product? None. In most cases its a beautiful and well-dressed woman, but sometimes a shirtless Abercrombie model with the personality of drywall graces the screen. Furthermore, its a fact that people trust you more if you're beautiful. Don't get mad at me, its science.
3. Offer the consumer statistics, no matter how ridiculous.
If you're going to buy a bogus product, you want to have a little fact on your side, so when your significant other says, "Why the heck did you spend money on that?!" you can respond, "But baby 78% people get ripped with this supplement!"
4. Make sure you mention it requires no effort.
This goes without saying, but we are one lazy society. If I don't have to do jack to have the body of Brad Pitt in Fight Club - done; sign me up.
5. The Free Trial
This is an absolute must. Its like asking somebody if they want free cheesecake - who is going to say no? Rhetorical question, because yes I want free cheesecake! Really, what doesn't come with a free trial these days? Life, thats what. Yeah this post just got real folks.
Back to the point. Since that experience, I am incredibly sensitive towards people 'selling me' and recognize immediately when a salesperson is only interested in lining their pocket and not the customer's satisfaction. Being that when I'm not working I'm usually laying on my couch sleeping or watching TV, I've seen my fair share of infomercials this year. My favorite has to be for a product called Lypozyme, just for the sheer ridiculous assertions the company makes. It got me to think, "If your product is bogus, whats necessary to get people to buy it anyway?"
1. Give yourself a legit name.
If you're going to sell anything, you have to appear legit. How about the Obesity Research Institute... straight cash money.
2. Have a good looking person do the selling.
What infomercial have you seen that chooses a hobo to sell their product? None. In most cases its a beautiful and well-dressed woman, but sometimes a shirtless Abercrombie model with the personality of drywall graces the screen. Furthermore, its a fact that people trust you more if you're beautiful. Don't get mad at me, its science.
3. Offer the consumer statistics, no matter how ridiculous.
If you're going to buy a bogus product, you want to have a little fact on your side, so when your significant other says, "Why the heck did you spend money on that?!" you can respond, "But baby 78% people get ripped with this supplement!"
4. Make sure you mention it requires no effort.
This goes without saying, but we are one lazy society. If I don't have to do jack to have the body of Brad Pitt in Fight Club - done; sign me up.
5. The Free Trial
This is an absolute must. Its like asking somebody if they want free cheesecake - who is going to say no? Rhetorical question, because yes I want free cheesecake! Really, what doesn't come with a free trial these days? Life, thats what. Yeah this post just got real folks.
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