A few of my friends have been throwing around that the CDC “quietly” updated its statistics in the middle of the night, without telling anyone, to say that only 6% of COVID deaths were real. “All the other reported deaths were caused by PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS.” I’m sure the CDC was dressed in black surrounded by […]
Clostridium/Clostridiodes Difficile
Clostridiodes difficile is a pretty big problem, causing quite a bit of morbidity and mortality every year, and it’s becoming more and more common. It can be pretty tricky to treat. C. diff is an anaerobic, spore-forming rod and it makes a toxin that contributes to the severity of the disease. It causes diarrhea and […]
Sinusitis
Sinusitis is usually viral. Only use antibiotics if signs and symptoms are greater than 10 days or purulent discharge with a fever greater than 102 degrees. Viral is quick, usually lasting less than a week. Bacterial often has double sickening and purulent discharge. Do not do imaging unless immunocompromised or orbital cranial involvement. Only symptomatic relief for […]
Dissecting a Study: Is Wearing a Neck Gaiter Worse Than no Mask at All?
If anything, the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has shown us that we don’t do a good job at interpreting medical literature. I expect news outlets to get the headlines wrong. They always do. Eating chocolate cake for breakfast isn’t going to make you lose weight. Drinking 8 glasses of wine a day won’t make you look […]
Study Guides/Notes
These notes are just meant as quick study guides and from my personal notes, some of the data is not up to date and should not be used for clinical purposes. I thought I would make it public because it might help someone out! All of these, with a few referenced exceptions, came from my […]
Pneumonia Quiz
ID Student Book List
*The things that are not linked are things I am working on or use external resources for.
Do I Need to Stop My Aspirin?
For decades, American physicians have recommended aspirin to prevent heart attacks, strokes and other vascular events for almost everyone over the age of 40, even those without evidence of a previous heart attack or stroke. Newly released guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association take a more conservative approach to […]
What REDUCE-IT Means to You
A Cochrane review in July of 2018 found no real benefit to fish oil in reducing risks of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular risk. That challenged the conventional belief that this was one over-the-counter supplement that actually worked. However, a few recent studies have contradicted the Cochrane review and found there may be some benefit […]
23andMe the First to Offer Direct to Consumer Pharmacogenomic Testing
Genetics company 23andme announced that they will be offering the first direct-to-consumer pharmacogenomics test starting this year. 23andMe has yet to say when the test will be available to patients and for how much This is the first authorization of a direct-to-consumer report on pharmacogenomics and came through the FDA’s de novo classification process. With this authorization, […]