Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Paul Raeburn Guest: Robin Osborn, MBA Robin Osborn, of the Commonwealth Fund in New York, has worked for a private British insurer (yes, there are some), has experienced health care in England, and studied health care systems all over the world. Join us as we ask her whether Michael Moore, in his film Sicko, painted an accurate picture of European healthcare.

Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Guest: Michael Murray, PharmD, MPH How can we improve adherence to medications? Dr. Michael Murray will discuss how the pharmacist can help improve adherence to a medical regimen with simple patient interactions.

Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Guest: Michael Murray, PharmD, MPH Dr. Michael Murray, Professor and Chair of Pharmacuetical Outcomes and Policy at North Carolina, will describe a recent study that showed increased medication compliance with simple pharmacy intervnetions.

Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Guest: William Elliott, MD Should we use beta blockers as first line therapy for hypertension? Dr. William Elliott will discuss the current concerns regarding beta blockers for hypertension and the correlation with cardiovascular risk reduction.

Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Guest: William Elliott, MD Dr. William Elliott, Professor of Preventive Medicine at Rush Medical Center, will discuss his meta-analysis linking anti-hypertensive therapy with the incidence of Diabetes.

Host: Renee Matthews, MD Guest: Joan Lappe, PhD In this segment, Dr. Lappe talks about how Vitamin D and Calcium Supplementation decreases the rate of stress fractures in female navy recruits.

Host: Shira Johnson, MD Guest: Bennett Lorber, MD Dr. Bennett Lorver discusses the impact of societal changes on infectious diseases, and how daily lives are in turn affected by infectious disease.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: David Levesque Dr. Larry Kaskel is joined by David Levesque, VP of GLobal Learning at Sonosite Inc. Mr. Levesque will discuss the many varied applications and the new and different uses of the hand-carried ultrasound.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Donald Abrams, MD Dr. Larry Kaskel is joined by Dr. Donald Abrams, Professor of Clinical Medicine, UCSF; Chief, Hematology-Oncology, San Francisco General Hospital. They discuss the potential therapeutic value of cannabis in light of its undesirable delivery system via the inhalation of a combustion product. Dr. Abrams conducted a pilot study to investigate vaporizati...

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Donald Abrams, MD Dr. Larry Kaskel is joined by Dr. Donald Abrams, Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCSF; Chief of Hematology-Oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Abrams discusses his randomized placebo-controlled trial to determine the effect of smoked cannabis on the neuropathic pain of HIV-associated sensory neuropathy and an experimental pain model.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Judith Beck, MD Dr. Larry Kaskel is joined by Dr. Judith Beck of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy. She discusses what research says about the efficacy of cognitive therapy for weight loss and maintenance by understanding how unsuccessful dieters think differently from other people.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Judith Beck, MD Dr. Larry Kaskel discusses Cognitive Therapy with Dr. Judith Beck of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Beck covers the research on cognitive therapy and highlights how it differs from other psychotherapies.

Guest: Amy Ernst, MD FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND ITS PREVENTION.

Guest: Amy Ernst, MD This segment with Dr. Amy Ernst, tenured professor of emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico, explores mechanisms to recognize victims of violence between intimate partners, and the most effective ways to screen patients in your practice who find themselves in this dangerous and unhealthy situation. Dr. Shira Johnson hosts.

Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD Guest: Robert Wachter, MD In this segment, Dr. Robert Wachter talks about patient safety in a hospital setting. He explores the continuum of patient safety models and explains the concept of “Just Culture” which is what he believes to be the ideal model.

Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD Guest: Robert Wachter, MD There are now 20,000 hospitalists nationally, more than many other medical specialties. In this segment Dr. Robert Wachter explores the roles of hospitalists and how hospital care changes when patients are managed by hospitalists.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Sujit Varma, MD One of the most difficult first steps in treating alcoholism is getting the patient to admit that they have a problem. Additionally, their insight and rational thinking is often altered due to the prolonged alcohol abuse. In this segment we will review helpful ways for us to encourage alcoholics to seek treatment.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Sujit Varma, MD Alcoholism can often stymie the treatment of co-existing conditions: Sometimes alcohol is used to self-medicate problems such as anxiety, depression, or insomnia. Other times treating alcoholism can reveal the presence of an underlying condition. Alcoholism and its comorbidities will be discussed in this segment.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Sujit Varma, MD The understanding of alcoholism has changed dramatically over the last decade. So too have treatments for this disease. Today we will discuss the brief evolution of treatments for alcoholism and what is currently being researched for future use.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Sujit Varma, MD Some patients seek help from physicians in treating their alcoholism only to have their doctor sidestep the issue and bridge to a more comfortable topic. What is the current scientific basis for the disease concept of alcoholism? How can physicians use this information to best treat their patients?

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Ray Stricker, MD Lyme disease is an elusive disorder to diagnose and complicated and controversial to treat. Dr. Stricker discusses the dermatologic, neuropsychiatric and rheumatological complications of Lyme disease.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Ray Stricker, MD Healthcare providers who treat Lyme disease can be divided into two groups: specialists usually at large academic institutions and community based primary care physicians. Treatment differs between these two groups both in attitude and in practice. Dr. Stricker discusses how to cut through the controversies to provide the best treatment to our pati...

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Ray Stricker, MD Borrelia burgdorferi, a tickborne spirochete, is the causative agent in Lyme disease. Dr. Stricker discusses the clinical microbiology of this fascinating and often overlooked bacterium.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Ray Stricker, MD From the moment of its discovery in 1975, Lyme disease has been one of those controversial illnesses full of scientific inconsistencies. There are two polarized medical camps according to our guest – the dominant camp believing that Lyme disease is hard to catch and easy to cure and the other group asserting that chronic infection is common. Dr. St...

Host: Bill Rutenberg, MD Guest: Robert Wachter, MD If not pay for performance, what will stay the course? Find out in this segment as Dr. Robert Wachter evaluates the pay for performance model and discusses the challenging road ahead that may keep it from becoming reality.