JAAPA-Journal of the American Academy of Physicians Assistants articles from October 2008

JAAPA-Journal of the American Academy of Physicians Assistants archives from October 2008

PAs for a Healthy America: Vote 2008.(FROM THE AAPA)(Physicians Assistants)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... AAPA launched an advocacy initiative--PAs for a Healthy America: Vote 2008--at the 2008 annual conference in San Antonio and continues to stress the importance of political action in this election season. The project provides PAs with...

TRICARE e-prescribing open to civilian providers.(FROM THE AAPA)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Civilian health care providers can now write electronic prescriptions for military personnel and their families, according to a letter from TRICARE to AAPA President Cynthia B. Lord. PAs and other civilian medical professionals with prescribing...

AAPA joins Healthiest Nation Alliance.(FROM THE AAPA )(American Academy of Physician Assistants)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... AAPA has joined the CDC as part of the newly formed Healthiest Nation Alliance, an effort to make the United States a world leader in health promotion, prevention of poor health, and preparedness for new threats. The goal, according to the...

Do dogs like bones? A time for physician assistant action.(Editorial)
October 1, 2008... Health care futurist Joe Flower posed this question about our canine friends' affinity for bones at the AAPA's Leadership Summit this past summer. As nearly everyone in the audience nodded Yes in response to the question, Flower abruptly...

Product: Alvesco.(New Drug Information)
October 1, 2008... PRODUCT: Alvesco COMPANY: Sepracor PHARMACOLOGIC CLASS: Corticosteroid ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Ciclesonide 80mcg/inh, 160mcg/inh; metered-dose inhaler. INDICATION: Maintenance treatment of asthma as prophylactic therapy in...

A common lesion causes a great deal of worry.(Dermatology Digest)(Case study)
October 1, 2008... [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] * CASE A 44-year-old woman presented to the dermatology clinic with a lesion on her leg. She did not know exactly how long it had been there. She said that most of the time, the lesion produced no symptoms, although...

A day in the life.(Diary entry)
October 1, 2008... The Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center (IHTC) was started 10 years ago by two hematologists who dreamed of a comprehensive clinic that could meet the needs of patients with benign hematologic conditions. They began hiring PAs in the...

Hereditary hemochromatosis: iron overload as an indicator of disease: iron accumulation occurs silently, with manifestations ranging from mild symptoms to severe disease. HH is typically discovered after routine laboratory tests in asymptomatic patients.(CME)(Case study)
October 1, 2008... A 55-year-old male presents to your office for a routine physical examination. He tells you that he has been feeling fired and his bones are achy, but he attributes this to getting old. His medical history is significant for exercise-induced...

An unusual cause of low back and hip pain in a 20-year-old female: this patient's symptoms turned out to be from an uncommon condition--but one that should always be considered in the evaluation of abdominal pain in adults.(CASE REPORT)(Case study)
October 1, 2008... CASE A 20-year-old white female presented to the emergency department (ED) with low back pain that radiated to her left anterior/superior hip. The patient stated that she had had hip pain on most days of the week for the past 4 months. The...

Human papillomavirus infection and the HPV vaccine: what are the facts? If administered before sexual activity has begun, the HPV vaccine can prevent an estimated 7 of 10 cases of cervical cancer. Why, then, has it caused so much controversy?(Report)
October 1, 2008... Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States. Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV, with 6.2 million people acquiring it each year. (1) Estimates are that...

How to evaluate balance disorders in patients in the primary care setting: balance and gait problems may contribute to significant morbidity. A thorough evaluation increases the likelihood of an accurate diagnosis, proper treatment, and reduced risk of falls.(CME)(Report)
October 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Balance requires an ability to integrate sensorineural, vestibular, and musculoskeletal inputs and react with coordinated muscle responses. (1) Balance problems are common, and as many as 8 million patient visits to...

CME posttest.
October 1, 2008... EXPIRATION DATE: OCTOBER 2009 All posttests must be submitted online to AAPA. The CME scoring service is provided at no charge to current Fellow members of AAPA. Others must submit a $20 scoring fee for each posttest using AAPA's...

Global physician shortages and the PA profession.(Research Corner)
October 1, 2008... Health care policy experts generally agree that the United States will face a medical provider shortage in the near future. In recent years, however, other developed nations have also recognized emerging health care provider shortages; and in...

PAs, health literacy, and medication safety.(SOUNDING BOARD)
October 1, 2008... This month, the health care profession observes two important occasions--National Physician Assistants (PA) Week and Health Literacy Month. As frontline health care providers, PAs know better than most how important it is for patients to...

The physician assistant's professional obligations and the values of faith.(PA QUANDARIES)
October 1, 2008... * CASE Guadalupe Benitez had been with her same-sex partner for many years. They wanted to start a family, but Ms. Benitez had fertility problems due to polycystic ovarian syndrome. Her primary care physician referred her to an infertility...

An unusual cause of low back pain in an adolescent.(Diagnostic Imaging Review)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2008... [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] * CASE A 14-year-old male presented to our institution with back pain that had persisted for the past month. He denied trauma, recent strenuous activity, night pain, lower extremity dysesthesias, or bowel/bladder...

Statin therapy works for patients who have type 2 diabetes.(DIABETES MANAGEMENT)(Report)
October 1, 2008... Coronary heart disease (CHD) remains the leading cause of death in the United States, resulting in more deaths per year than the next five leading causes of death combined. (1) Although prevention and intervention efforts have been lowering the...

The practice of medicine: moving beyond the science.(HUMANE MEDICINE)(Column)
October 1, 2008... Nearly 3 decades ago, when I first stepped out into the field of clinical practice, the science of medicine was top priority. Like most PA students from that era, I spent the greater part of 2 years struggling to learn human anatomy and...

Case of the month.(Case study)
October 1, 2008... [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] * CASE A 28-year-old male with a history of mild psoriasis (fewer than two flares a year) and tobacco abuse (1 pack of cigarettes per day for 12 years) presented to the orthopedist for evaluation of pain in the left...