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There are a lot of reasons to love Southern New Hampshire. 

People who live in the Granite State like the abundance of opportunities for outdoor recreation. Tourists talk about the quaint towns and brilliant fall colors. 

Physicians who call Southern New Hampshire home have plenty of other reasons to claim that the area is the perfect place to live, practice medicine and play. 

Here’s a look at three reasons why physicians love living there:

Engaged, insured patients

If national studies are to be trusted, the people who live and work in New Hampshire care about two things that directly effect physicians: education and health care.

A 2015 report published online ranked New Hampshire as the seventh best-educated state in the country, with more than 92 percent of adults having at least a high school diploma and 35 percent achieving at least a bachelor’s degree. 

People in the Granite State also value their health. According to an analysis done by Medscape, more than 60 percent of the state’s population has employer-sponsored insurance coverage, which is much higher than the national average. In addition, only about 10 to 12 percent of the population lacks health insurance. 

Well-educated, well-insured patients often make the best patients. 

Innovation 

If you are a physician interested in innovating and working to improve the quality of the healthcare industry, Southern New Hampshire is the perfect place for you. 

Hospitals in the area are involved in some innovative and incredibly interesting areas of medicine, including aeronautics and aviation medicine, child protection, improving pre-hospital healthcare and more.You don’t have to live in a large, urban area or work at a large research or teaching hospital to find opportunities to innovate. 

You can do that at a community hospital in Southern New Hampshire, where you’ll be challenged professionally and enjoy an incredibly high quality of life. 

Quality of life

There are two primary ways to measure the quality of life offered by a particular city, state or region. You can ask those who live in the area or you can refer to studies that measure such things as family well-being, tax climate, health, per capita income and education. 

Whatever your preferred method, you are likely to draw the same conclusion about Southern New Hampshire: It offers an unmatched quality of life. 

New Hampshire consistently ranks among the best places to live in the United States. It has ranked as the safest state in the country. It has delivered the lowest poverty rate. It is in the top 10 for several metrics, including per capita income, tax climate and the overall health of its residents. 

And, it has ranked as the number one most livable state in the country. 

All of these variables are measurable and easily compared to those of other states. But, perhaps the best endorsement of life in Southern New Hampshire comes from those who call it home and rave about the lakes, the wilderness, the hiking, the ocean, the lack of a sales tax and all of the charm and charisma that comes from living in a state with the motto “Live free or die.” 

Yes, there are many reasons to love New Hampshire–especially if you are a physician.

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Would you like to find out more about what sort of adventures are available to you in and around Southern New Hampshire?

The health care industry is an ever-changing world or policy, protocols and people. Even on your days off, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest medical news that pertains specifically to physician assistants like yourself. 

Here, to help you stay abreast of important information that could help advance your career and deliver exceptional patient care, is the latest medical news for physician assistants:

Medicare patients may soon have more access to physician assistants

According to a recent story published on DailyNurse.com, President Obama’s administration has proposed a lift on the current ban that prevents physician assistants and nurse practitioners from providing direct care to Medicare patients in their homes. 

If accepted, the proposed change could have a significant impact on both elderly patients and physician assistants. 

Right now, physician assistants are only allowed to provide direct care to Medicare patients in nursing facilities and other inpatient care centers. These limitations on patient access can make it difficult for some elderly Medicare patients to get the care they need–especially in areas of the country where physicians are in short supply. 

For physician assistants, a rule change could lead to greater career opportunities and advancement, more job prospects and the ability to expand their skill set by monitoring patients remotely and providing care for chronic and other conditions in patients’ homes. 

Physician assistants moving into specialty fields 

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when physician assistants were viewed as exclusively primary care professionals. Those days are gone. 

In what might be the most exciting of all the latest medical news stories about physicians assistants, Forbes has reported that more than 70 percent of all physicians assistants are now working in specialty areas of medicine such as surgery and emergency medicine. 

According to the Forbes report, the role change for physician assistants is due in large part to doctor shortages, which are only expected to grow between now and 2025, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. 

What does this mean for physicians assistants? In the short term, it means more opportunities to expand your skill set. In the long run, it could lead to increased pay and job security. 

Physician assistants are in demand

It is quite possible that there has never been a better time to be a physician assistant. Government officials and hospital administrators want to increase their roles and responsibilities–which leads typically leads to increased pay–and hospitals and clinics across the country can’t hire them fast enough. 

In September, websites, newspapers and industry journals reported that the fastest growing field in medicine is that of the physician assistant. 

According to the reports, the demand for physician assistants is being driven by two main factors: a shortage of physicians and an increased reliance on team practicing team medicine. Whatever the reason, being in high-demand is good news for anyone who is considering making a job switch or just entering the profession. 

Physician assistants may soon be able to prescribe buprenorphine

It’s no secret that opioid addiction is an epidemic that has touched every community across the country. Local and national leaders have been looking for a way to address the problem, and now Congress is calling on physician assistants to help. 

The American Academy of Physician Assistants reports that Congress passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 in July. In doing so, lawmakers made it possible for physician assistants to prescribe buprenorphine to people suffering from opioid addiction. 

Buprenorphine is widely used to treat opioid addiction and is often preferred over other drugs because it has a lower potential for misuse and overt abuse. 

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The United States is in the midst of a physician shortage. According to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the country will need between 60,000 and 94,000 new physicians by 2025. 

While the shortfall is generally bad news for both healthcare providers and patients, it does present a unique opportunity for newly minted medical doctors who now have more options than ever when it comes to deciding where to start their careers.

Many will seek employment with healthcare systems with large hospitals in heavily populated urban areas. Others will opt for teaching hospitals, where they will be involved with research and shaping the future of health care. Then there are those who will find their first physician jobs at community hospitals, where they will cut their teeth on a variety of cases, build strong connections with the community and have extensive opportunities for growth. 

In fact, the majority of all doctors who work in hospital settings are employed by community hospitals. Some start their careers in other areas, most start in a community hospital and stay there. Here are three reasons why:

1) Opportunities

At first glance, it may seem counterintuitive, but a community hospital often offers new physicians more opportunities than a hospital in a large, urban area. 

The community hospital physician often needs to become a “jack- or jill-of-all-trades” because there are fewer specialists on staff. This means that you’ll be responsible for providing direct care to patients with a broad range of illnesses. 

Physicians who get their first jobs at a community hospital often see cases they didn’t come across in medical school or during their residency sooner than those who start with larger healthcare systems. 

2) Connections

In many communities across the country, the community hospital is the only game in town. People depend on it for all of their healthcare needs–from primary care to acute care to specialty care. This allows community hospital physicians to build deep connections with the patients they serve and the communities in which they live. 

In addition, there is often less bureaucracy at community hospitals, meaning physicians often have more decision-making authority, fewer quotas and are able to have a role in shaping the future of the organization and its role in the community. 

These connections often lead to opportunities to play important leadership roles in the community–from serving on philanthropic boards to partnering with the business community to supporting arts and culture in the area. 

3) Quality of life

Cost of living, commuting, crime and recreational opportunities all combine to create a quality of life, which is important when it comes to choosing where to begin your career. 

While it’s true that physicians practicing in urban or large suburban areas often earn slightly higher salaries than those who practice in community hospitals, it is also generally true that community hospital physicians enjoy lower costs of living, shorter commutes with less traffic and lower rates of stress. 

It is also true that earning a slightly lower salary at a community hospital can actually leave you with more money (and far less stress) at the end of each year because of the lower cost of living and lower cost of real estate. 

Yes, quality of life should be an important consideration when choosing where to start your career–and the quality of life at a community hospital is often higher than it is at a hospital that is owned by a large healthcare system. 

Being a doctor isn’t all about the money. It’s also about opportunities, connections and quality of life, all of which you’ll find at community hospitals. 

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At Elliot Health System we believe in outstanding physician career opportunities and a positive work-life balance, which is why we created a free Outdoor Adventure Guide for anyone considering relocating to the area. Check it out!

Health care is becoming an industry that is increasingly fragmented and specialized. Big paydays (and sometimes rock-star status among patients and colleagues) are hard for newly minted medical doctors to resist, so a growing number are choosing to pursue careers in orthopedic surgery, cardiology, oncology and radiology. 

But, there is one area of medicine that has always attracted a group of caring and talented professionals who are dedicated to treating the entire patient: family medicine. 

The nearly 125,000 family medicine physicians practicing across the United States don’t focus on a specific type of patient, organ or disease. Instead, they provide integrated care for millions of patients of all ages, genders and overall health. 

If you are currently considering what type of medicine you would like to practice, consider becoming a family medicine physician. 

Here’s a look at the top reasons why family medicine physicians are indispensable to our nation’s healthcare system–and why you should join their ranks:

Job security

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, family medicine physicians account for one out of every five office visits in the United States and treat nearly 200 million patients. 

That’s almost 50 percent more than the next most-visited specialty area, meaning that physicians who specialize in family medicine are in high demand and enjoy incredible levels of job security. 

Impact

Few physicians have the ability to positively impact both the health of individuals and the country as a whole like those who deliver primary care. 

Primary care physicians are called upon to address a wide range of medical issues–from the acute to the chronic to the preventative–involving a wide range of patients. They are trained in pediatrics, obstetrics, internal medicine, psychiatry, surgery and community medicine, and the more their patients see them, the lower the cost of their patients’ health care. 

In addition, family medicine physicians provide the majority of care for Americans who live in traditionally under-served urban and rural areas of the country. 

But, to truly understand the impact that primary care physicians have on the country’s overall health, you only need to know that the American Academy of Family Physicians says that increasing access to primary care by one family medicine physician per 10,000 people can result in:

• a 5 percent decrease in overall outpatient visits
• a 5.5 percent decrease in inpatient admissions
• a nearly 11 percent decrease in emergency department visits
• a 7.2 percent decrease in surgeries. 

Yes, if you truly want to make an impact as a physician, you should consider a career in family medicine. 

Variety

Cardiologists focus on the cardiovascular system. Oncologists focus on cancer. Urologists specialize in diseases of the urinary tract. 

Physicians who work in the area of family and primary care medicine may deal with any and all of these issues and areas of the body on any given day. 

If the challenge of working with a wide range of specialty areas sounds appealing, a career in family and primary care medicine might be the right career path for you. 

You will work with a patients from all walks of life who present with a wide range of diseases and healthcare concerns. You will also be able to develop deep, meaningful relationships with your patients that allow you to truly understand and manage their health care over long periods of time. 

This type of variety makes you indispensable to both your the patients you treat and the hospital for which you work. That’s why many family and primary care physicians are able to set their own schedules, decide where they want to work and greatly enjoy the profession.

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Elliot Health System has primary care opportunities available for dynamic providers like you. Learn more below.

It’s possible that no industry generates as much news as healthcare. Primary care physicians have to stay abreast of it all to ensure that they are able to deliver the best possible care and options to their patients, who present with conditions ranging from routine to rare. 

Here is a look at important news that every primary care physician needs to know about. 

Statins not as harmful as reported

For years, physicians have been warned of the dangers of statins. Physicians were told that the cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by an estimated 25 million Americans could cause serious liver injury, cognitive impairment, raised blood sugar levels and muscle damage. 

Not so fast.

A new large-scale review published in The Lancet indicates that the risks have been significantly overstated, and that the benefits of statin therapy by far outweigh the risks. 

That’s good news for every primary care physician who prescribes the drugs as well as the patients who take them. 

Read more about the study’s findings. 

Nasal spray flu vaccine shouldn’t be used

It wasn’t that long ago that local and national media outlets hailed nasal spray as a safe and effective alternative to shots for delivering the flu vaccine. 

It was effective, it didn’t hurt, it only took a few seconds to administer and families would be more likely to have their children vaccinated if the process didn’t include needles, the reports said. 

They were 75 percent correct–but the 25 percent they whiffed on matters the most. 

While nearly every primary care physician across the country was deluged by families wanting the spray flu vaccine for their children, there was a major problem with the product: it was not effective. 

This is according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control. Both made their recommendations after analyzing data gathered from the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network that revealed that the spray vaccine offered just a 3 percent protection rate against any flu virus for children aged 2-17 during the 2015-16 flu season.  

Read more about the recommendations. 

Another possible antibiotic risk revealed

Every primary care physician has likely prescribed antibiotics to children. At the same time, every primary care physician has likely heard about the potential risks of over-prescribing antibiotics to young people, drug-resistant germs being chief among them. 

Now there’s another possible adverse side effect: food allergies. 

New research conducted at the University of South Carolina shows that early antibiotic exposure could increase a child’s risk of food allergies, a condition that has increased by 50 percent among children in recent years. 

According to the study, children who were prescribed antibiotics in the first year of life were more likely to later be diagnosed with a food allergy compared to children where received no antibiotics. 

Read more about the study.  

Women with hearing loss more likely to give birth to preterm babies

If you are primary care physician who is treating a pregnant patient who suffers from hearing loss, you are going to want to be aware of a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that show that your hearing-impaired patient is more likely to give birth prematurely or have a low-birth-rate baby. 

To make matters worse, the study found women with hearing loss were less likely to have private insurance than those without hearing loss. 

The study results led researchers to develop a perinatal health framework that identifies a number of individual and mediating risk factors for poor birth outcomes among patients living with physical disabilities, including those living with hearing loss. 

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They don’t tend to make many TV medical dramas about community hospitals. 

“ER,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “St. Elsewhere,” “House” and “Chicago Hope” have all been top-rated television shows. All feature physicians working to save and improve lives. And, all are set in large hospitals located in some of the country’s largest cities. 

No, they don’t tend to make many TV medical dramas set in community hospitals–but perhaps they should. 

While large hospitals located in densely populated urban areas tend to get all of the attention, community hospitals offer an array of benefits that simply shouldn’t be overlooked by any physician who is considering their career options. 

Here’s why:

Quality of Life

In today’s world, quality of life simply can’t be overlooked–and community hospitals offer physicians an incredibly high quality of life. If you find an opportunity at a community hospital, by all means consider the professional opportunities it will afford. But also be sure to look at the personal opportunities. Is the community hospital located in an area where you can live on several acres? Is it near areas where wildlife is abundant and the great outdoors are easily accessible? Will you be able to easily get to work every day, without fighting traffic? These are all important–but frequently overlooked–quality-of-life benefits that community hospitals offer. 

Unmatched Focus on Patients

Time. It’s a physicians most valuable resource. Unfortunately, too many physicians are finding that they have too little time–especially when it comes to spending time with their patients. Bureaucracy and quotas are taking their toll on physicians at large healthcare systems, where the average time of office visits continue to shrink as doctors work to meet quotas set up by administrators. This isn’t the norm at a community hospital. At a community hospital, physicians typically have more time to focus on their patients. They get to know patients on personal levels. Physicians typically have more information about their patients’ health histories and lifestyles because they get to spend more time with them. 

More Opportunities to Gain Experience

It might seem counterintuitive, but community hospitals often offer physicians with more opportunities to gain valuable experience. Physicians who work in community hospitals typically have to become “Jacks- and Jills-of-all-trades.” There are fewer physicians, so naturally there are fewer specialists. This means that community hospital physicians need to be proficient in a wide range of areas that would likely be passed on to specialists in another hospital setting. The result is that physicians at community hospitals get more opportunities to explore areas of health care they might not otherwise get to explore. 

The Community Hospital and You

Just because Hollywood seems to ignore the community hospital doesn’t mean you should. If you are looking for a career opportunity that offers a high quality of life, the time you want and need to provide every patient with exceptional care, and opportunities to explore all that health care has to offer, consider community hospitals. They just might be great settings for you. 

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Elliot Health System is a community hospital. Join us!

As you are all too aware, becoming a doctor takes hard work and dedication. Being a doctor requires the utmost skill. Almost everyone respects and admires you. Your job allows you to have a life-changing (and even life-saving) impact on others. And of course, the income can be lucrative as well. 

As it turns out, however, many doctors find themselves less than enamored with their career choice. For some, this realization comes early on. For others, it arrives later, perhaps not until they reach their 40’s or 50’s. Then there are doctors who have had long, satisfying careers but are simply ready to try something new. 

Perhaps you recognize yourself in one of these categories and you’ve been thinking about doing something other than practicing medicine. But, how can you make that happen?

You already know that change can be hard, especially when it involves moving from one career to another. It can be done, however, if you’re prepared to engage in some soul-searching and stepping outside of your comfort zone. Taking an honest inventory of who you are, what you want and what you consider important are critical if you hope to make a smooth physician career change.

1. Why is it that a physician career change appeals to you at this time in your life? Reasons commonly expressed by physicians include:

• “It’s just not what I thought it would be” 
• Stress and/or burnout
• Concern that the practice won’t be successful
• Health (of either self or a loved one)
• Worry about medical malpractice 
• Increased administrative and regulatory burdens
• The simple desire to do something else. 

Be completely honest with yourself. For this exercise, think only about what’s true for you, not what others think or what you believe they might think.

2. Is a change really what you want?

It is unwise to make a physician career change until you have identified your real motivation for doing so. After all, perhaps all you need is simply a change of scenery, not a complete overhaul of your professional life.

A new office might be in order or maybe a different field. Some physicians find that they want to move into management or the business side of health care (pharmaceutical sales, consulting, research and development, just to name a few options). 

3. What would you like to do instead?

So you want to be a rock and roll star? Paint? Teach at a college or med school? Get an MBA? Clarity regarding your intention is critical. Basing a decision on “what you want to be when you grow up” on a whim will not serve you well. 

4. What skills do you need to acquire in order to make the desired change? 

If you don’t know what it will take to to commence a new career, you cannot possibly hope to get there. Research the jobs/professions that interest you to ascertain the barriers to entry, whether you believe you can overcome them and, if so, how to do so. Then start doing what needs to be done. When it comes to changing your career, inaction is not action. 

5. What is preventing you from making a physician career change? 

Considerations that can impede a physician career change are varied. Among the most significant? Other people. Consultant Celia Paul explains: “Once you’ve become a doctor, you’re supposed to have it made. It takes real courage to break with everyone’s expectations.” 

No matter the reason, if you don’t believe you can overcome it, your physician career change will not go smoothly. 

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Perhaps you’ve been considering a move to a community hospital. If so, consider the opportunities within Elliot Health System.

Bringing new physicians into the fold is usually an exciting time for a medical practice, whether it’s a small country practice, a large urban care center or anything in between. However, onboarding a new practitioner can also create the fertile ground for frustration, missed opportunities, and even failure.

Integrating new physicians into any health care environment requires diligence, patience and foresight. While recruiting the right candidate sets the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship, the ability to retain that candidate is the brick and mortar that will largely determine whether the relationship is ultimately successful.  

According to the Medical Group Management Association, the turnover among new physicians has been estimated to be 25% for the first three years of employment. MGMA further reports that the cost of lost revenue, recruitment fees, signing bonuses, the cost of interviewing and relocation and other start-up costs for a new physician can total as much as $750,000.

At first blush, this might seem hard to believe, perhaps even ridiculous. After all, we expect a well-educated professional to hit the ground running, so to speak. Consider, however, that effectively incorporating new physicians into any practice can be “a 90 to 180-day process that requires attention to hundreds of details.” One simply cannot expect a doctor to intuit the ins and outs of functioning in a new environment.

“Trial and error” is not the way to onboard new physicians. There is just too much at stake. On the other hand, well-structured onboarding can actually work on two fronts:

1. By helping the doctor successfully acclimate to a new working environment;
2. By providing existing personnel the ability to integrate that new physician in a manner that isn’t disruptive to the existing operation of the practice or facility.

Meeting those two objectives will go a long way towards creating a lasting relationship between the doctor and employer, one which leads to a stable environment in which patients are likely to feel comfortable.

The following steps will help demonstrate that a new physician is a welcome and valuable asset to the practice and not just simply a necessary addition.

Thorough orientation is key – Although most employers do more than provide keys to the facilities and show a new hire where the washroom is, most orientation procedures are woefully inadequate because they do not address such things as:

• H.R. Practices (personnel policies and procedures regarding vacation requests, sick time, parking, benefits, etc.)
• Office procedures (ordering supplies or scheduling a board room, for example)
• I.T. connectivity, access, permitted/prohibited use and technical support
• Financial practices of the office (revenue expectations, accounts payable/receivable, bonus structure)
• Workflow in the office/staff responsibilities
• Insurance and licensing requirements, credentialing (coverage, who is responsible for payment, deadlines, etc.)
• Chain of command/complaint

Marketing – Have the new doctor create a bio to which other relevant information can be added such as focus of the practice, availability, etc. The following should also be considered: 

• Website update
• Postcards/mailings to existing patients
• Announcements in industry publications/advertising

Staff integration – More than a simple introduction on the doctor’s first day of work.

• Onboarding is a two-way street. Much as doctor’s offices and care facilities should make new physicians comfortable in their new work environment, the same applies to making office staff comfortable with new hires.
• Both admin and medical staff will want to know why the doctor has been hired and what they can expect from that individual.
• The more a practice provides early opportunities for relaxed and informal interaction, the greater the likelihood of creating a working environment comfortable for all involved and conducive to providing the best medical care and treatment available.

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It’s a national epidemic that is wreaking havoc on people from all walks of life, their families and, yes, physicians. 

It’s opioid dependence, and sooner or later it is likely to touch your professional life if it hasn’t already. 

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly 2.5 million Americans had a substance use disorder involving opioids in 2014. In addition, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that the number of Americans who say they have engaged in non-medical use of prescription painkillers–thus putting themselves at risk for opioid dependence–each month totals 4.3 million. 

Yes, sooner or later you are likely to be faced with patients in the throws of opioid dependence. They will present a variety of challenges, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, including psychological symptoms, physical symptoms and concerns about effectively managing pain. 

For these reasons, it can be difficult for physicians to diagnose, treat and support patients in the throes of opioid dependence. 

Here are five tips to assist you:

1. Acknowledge the dependence 

Getting your patient to acknowledge the opioid dependence is a critical first step for several reasons. It allows you to treat the patient with a greater level of precision. It gives you peace of mind that the treatment decisions you will make are more likely to be effective and less likely to do more harm to your patient. In addition, it allows you to treat both the addiction or dependence as well as the condition that brought the patient to you in the first place. 

2. Be aware of withdrawal

Patients who are dependent on opioids can be incredibly challenging to treat. They can be moody, mean and even menacing. This often results in physicians feeling like they would rather call a psychiatrist to deal with the patient. Obviously that’s not a practical solution–nor is it legal. That’s why it’s important for physicians to be aware of withdrawal symptoms and be as sympathetic to the patients as possible. 

3. Don’t fret about the dependence

Patients who are opioid dependent rarely get effective pain relief from the dose of opioid they have been abusing. This presents challenges to physicians who are charged with treating the patients’ acute pain. In fact, it can often lead to physicians under-treating patients because they don’t want to make a patient’s opioid dependence worse. Rather than fretting about the dependence, physicians should treat the acute pain immediately–and then address the dependence at a later time (according to an article published on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website). 

4. Stay up-to-date on the latest treatment options

In May 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the very first buprenorphine implant to help patients suffering from opioid dependence. It’s called Probuphine and it’s designed to provide a constant, low-level dose of buprenorphine to patients for up to half a year. It’s believed to be effective–but only if physicians are aware of it and use it. One of the best things you can do to treat your patients who are suffering from opioid dependence is to stay up-to-date on the latest treatments so you can offer them to your patients.

5. Bring in an addiction medicine specialist

Many of your opioid-dependent patients will need behavioral therapy as much as they’ll need treatment for their physical ailments. Don’t be afraid to bring in an addiction specialist to advise you and help your patients. Doing so could mean the difference between seeing your patient become part of the growing number of those who are addicted to opioids and those who recover.

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From a new tool for measuring life-threatening liver disease to why family medicine physicians might misdiagnose heart disease in patients who exercise regularly, there is no shortage of family medicine news. 

Here is a look at three recent stories that every family medicine physician should be aware of:

Doctors develop simple test to detect deadly liver diseases in newborns

Physicians at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital have identified a simple way to detect biliary atresia and other neonatal liver diseases in newborns. The blood test is a game changer for physicians, who up until now have not had an easy way to screen for the hard-to-detect biliary atresia, which is a condition in infants that results in bile ducts inside or outside the liver not having normal openings. 

The new blood test allows physicians to diagnose and treat the diseases earlier, which could result in fewer infants needing liver transplants. 

The physicians’ research was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers note that the study, which took place over a 15-month period at four Houston-area hospitals, needs to be confirmed in larger studies. But, they add, if it is confirmed, it could mean that every infant could now be easily screen for biliary artresia the same way they are screen for other diseases. 

Read more about this medical news on the Baylor College of Medicine website. 

Regular exercise could put patients at risk for misdiagnosis 

Family medicine physicians across the county frequently encourage their patients to exercise on a regular basis. Now a study conducted in the journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging reveals that those same physicians need to be aware of a common side effect to regular exercise–or they might misdiagnose their patients with heart disease. 

Researchers with the British Heart Foundation, Imperial College London and Imperial College’s National Heart and Lung Institute conducted a study that showed that regular exercise can thicken heart muscle and increase the volume of heart chambers, particularly the right ventricle. Both are perfectly normal and healthy bodily responses to exercise–they are also symptoms of heart disease. 

The researchers made their study available via several medical news outlets to make family medicine physicians aware that when thickness and volume occur in tandem, it is likely that it is not the result of heart disease, which occur in isolation. 

Read more about this medical news on the Imperial College website. 

Coming soon: computerized cognitive tests to help assess head injuries

With concussion rates on the rise–especially among adolescents–physicians are looking for new tools to help them assess cognitive skills after head injuries. They soon may have it. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that the agency has permitted marketing of two new computerized devices that help physicians assess a patient’s cognitive functions immediately following a suspected brain injury or concussion. 

The tests, called Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) and ImPACT Pediatric, are the first medical devices that have received permission from the FDA to begin marketing themselves to family medicine physicians. 

According to Carlos Pena, Ph.D., M.S., who is director of the division of the division of neurological and physical medicine devices with the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, the devices provide a “useful new tool to aid in the evaluation of patients experiencing possible sings of a concussion.” But, Pena adds, physicians should not rely exclusively on the tests to diagnose a concussion or determine when a patient can return to physical activity. 

Read more about the devices, which are manufactured by ImPACT Applications, on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website. 

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