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Pop Quiz: Are you a ‘good’ patient?

Find Out if You Make the Grade, and Learn Some Tips along the Way It’s not easy being hurt, sick or suffering from a long-term disease or condition, but achieving optimal health can be even more elusive if you believe in the erroneous Good Patient Syndrome. With this syndrome, you may think it’s bad manners…
Q & A: What it takes to work on the front lines of patient care

Paula Miller talks about the challenges and rewards of being a nurse There to get you settled when you arrive, and there to discharge you when you leave, nurses are an integral part of quality care in the field of medicine. We interviewed Paula Miller, director of quality at Bartow Regional Medical Center, about what it…
Healthcare workers in demand

A look at local opportunities from the ground up As baby boomers age, there will be more job opportunities in healthcare in Central Florida. Nurses likely will continue to be in demand, and local schools are offering the training needed. “Students seek our Nursing Program because they know it will give them more than just…

Virtual Care for Cardiac Patients

The new coronavirus sweeping the world has changed life as we know it. While there is a lot that we don’t know about the virus, we do know that people with heart and other conditions are more likely to get seriously ill from it. At the same time, all of us are concerned about patients getting…
Health Impacts of Opioid Addiction on Patients

As a spine surgeon, I routinely see various life-threatening consequences of opioid addiction. These could include severe spinal instability and paralysis that develops from infection, that occurs due to intravenous injections of opioids — by patients who are addicted to opioids. These patients typically started by taking that single initial opioid tablet, and quickly developed…
COVID-19 and the Heart

COVID-19 (coronavirus SARS 2) is obviously an infection that primarily affects the lungs. As we know, this is a pandemic that has affected all our lives. Does it have any cardiac issues directly or indirectly? Direct Problems COVID-19 has been known to cause weakening of the heart in some cases. Thankfully this is rare, but…