McCarthy & Maher – If it Quacks Like a Duck

snake-oil-salesmenThere’s an old expression used to convey the idea that what appears obvious is frequently the truth.  The expression goes, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck”.  Well, this bit of folk wisdom is not to be trusted.  Especially when it comes to the claims of, well, quacks!  That is, purveyors of bogus medical items.  From phony H1N1 “swine flu” cures online, to aisles upon aisles of homeopathic “remedies”, unregulated by the FDA on shelves in pharmacies across the country, people are frequently taken in by sales pitches that seem completely plausible. Continue reading…

Hospital Worker? Direct Media Inquiries to Public Affairs

guest-blogger2Guest Blogger Zipporah Dvash – Assistant Vice President of Public Affairs and Development, Long Island College Hospital

Do you work in a hospital?  It seems like they’re are always in the news.  Remember that reporters don’t just speak to doctors and nurses – sometimes they wait for staff as they’re coming and going and aggressively demand answers to questions.  When, if ever, should you speak to a reporter?  Would you be violating patient confidentiality?  Can you be fired for speaking to the media without permission?  You’ll never go wrong if follow these Media Do’s and Don’ts below the fold. Continue reading…


One “Flu” Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

syringeI don’t know about you, but I have never been a proponent of the annual flu vaccine. I have always felt that it was really only necessary for the very young and the very old/infirm. But I also know that influenza became pandemic on a faily predictable schedule about once every 30 years or so. And since it has been nearly 40 years since the last pandemic of “Hong Kong” Flu killed 1 million people in 1968-69, I am thinking this year, I ought to at least get my 4 year old innoculated. So I called my pediatrician and they said, “No we don’t have any H1N1 vaccine and no we don’t have any info on when any will be available”. Shocking! Continue reading…

WATCH: Absolutely Amazing Video

As students and people engaged in utilizing cutting edge technologies to learn about rapidly advancing medical science, you will all likely be as astounded by this five minute video presentation.  The perspective it provides on education and employment in the near term is mind-blowing.  The presentation ends with a question:  “What does it all mean?”  Leave your impressions on what it all means in the comments.

Latest Neat-o Advance from the Field of Medicine

vscan-stethoscopeI have always been amazed by how far medical science and technology has advanced in the space of the last decades and wrote a piece back in August illustrating how far medical technologies have progressed since the turn of the last century.  Training for a career serving the healthcare field is really exciting because it is a field that will definitely be home to continuing innovation and technological breakthroughs.   Take for instance the latest device dreamed up by the engineers at General Electric. Continue reading…

Following the Money Part Deux

follow-the-moneyBack in July, before the screaming town hall silliness of Congress’s August recess and before the slow as molasses delivery of Max Baucus’s Senate Finance Committee health care bill, I wrote a piece about how to gauge the progress of health insurance reform legislation.  I pointed out that insiders on Wall Street, who have paid for unfair access to our legislators, would know ahead of the curve which way the reform would go.  This way they could nearly guarantee that they would not lose money from their investments into the healthcare sector whether reform passed or was defeated.  If it looked like reform was imminent, Wall Street would sell their holdings in healthcare companies driving stock prices of insurers down.  If the “Street” figured reform would go down in defeat, they’d buy more of the insurers’ stocks as it would be a safe bet that the gravy train would continue for the highly profitable insurance companies.  Back in July, the prices of insurance company stocks were surging.  The bankers on Wall Street seemed convinced that the public option – the only serious reform device being considered – was all but dead.  What does the insurance sector look like today three months later and weeks from the bill’s eventual passage?  Follow me over the jump to see. Continue reading…

Investing In Green Energy

23493OK so I am DEFINITELY not the next Warren Buffett.  However, I feel pretty smart for having liquidated some poorly performing mutual funds in my 401k account about 5 months ago and using the money ($400) to invest in some 25 shares of General Electric (when it was at $3.56 a share) as well as 100 shares of AIG (when it was 44 cents a share).  I also bought 10 shares of a stem cell research company as I figured that was a sector sure to grow in the future.  Today, my $400 investment into these stocks is worth almost $2000, five short months later.  I bought these things at the bottom of the market when everyone had been selling furiously.  And it got me thinking about where the next “big” investment sector would be found.  I think green energy is it. Continue reading…

Multi-tasking Is Self Defeating

multitaskingOk, I know I will likely raise the ire of readers here who are, by definition, likely multi-taskers.  I mean, online students typically choose the online methodology for learning precisely because they’re too busy with jobs and family to devote so much time to on-campus classes.  So while you’re here reading, toggling back and forth between this blog and your course work, feeding the baby, balancing the checkbook and getting your things together to go back to work tomorrow morning, let me tell you why such multi-tasking is bad for you.  **Ducks and covers to avoid hurled projectiles** Continue reading…

Obama Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

nobel-prizeIn an unforseeable turn of events, President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace this morning.  Not as surprising, folks on the left were proud and folks on the right were incensed.  Jump to read my take and then leave your own comments behind to share with the rest of us. Continue reading…