A midwife is a specialist who can offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, delivery and during the postpartum period. In addition to midwives, doulas also can assist in the same process, but in a non-medical sense. Both midwives and doulas train for their positions, and some also train for pediatric or neonatal nursing. This list of the top 50 midwife blogs on the Internet offer a glance into the lives of midwives and doulas, as well as a look at the support they receive.

Personal Blogs

1. A Midwife’s Muse: This UK midwife is what is known as a “community midwife,” a role that allows her to practice as an RM (Registered Midwife).
2. Birth Change: Lori is a traditional midwife in Southern Utah with a small midwifery business.
3. Birth Place: Stacey provides prenatal care, homebirths and water births, postpartum care and breastfeeding support for the childbearing families of Bozeman.
4. Birth Sense: This is a common-sense guide to normal birth, including a section on Midwifery.
5. Bloody Show: A direct-entry midwifery student writes this blog.
6. Carolyn’s blog: A midwife and midwife educator in New Zealand, shares her enthusiasm for her profession.
7. Fructus Ventris: Alicia the midwife muses about whatever she feels like at the moment.
8. Hands for Catching: This blog is for aspiring and current nurse-midwife students.
9. In My Mother’s House: This blog features Sheila Simms Watson’s writing, also known as “The Miami Midwife.”
10. Lisa Barrett – more than a midwife: Lisa maintains this blog as well as a blog about homebirth.
11. Meconium Happens: This mother of eight is a self-proclaimed birth junkie who loves to help others have babies.
12. Midwife Monologues: This is a “soapbox” for several midwives who practice in Charlottesville, Virginia.
13. Midwife Thinking’s Blog: A mother, teacher and midwife who lives in Queensland, Australia, shares her views on on birth and midwifery.
14. Midwifery for Your Life: Stacey works as a certified nurse-midwife who has delivered babies from western Indian reservations to a center-city Bronx hospital.
15. Minority Midwife: A minority nursing and midwifery student shares her thoughts about birthing.
16. Mother Bloom: A midwife, Christy serves at 2nd VP on the Midwives Alliance of North America Board of Directors and is working on her Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Degree.
17. Navelgazing Midwife: This blog belongs to a licensed and certified professional midwife who lives in San Diego, CA.
18. Private Midwife: Homebirth & Hospital Birth: Melissa Maimann is a private midwife in Sydney. She births with women at home and in hospital.
19. Thinkbirth: This mother, grandmother, network, writer and educator also is a midwife. She shares information about her experiences in Australia.
20. Villagemidwife: Visit the blog of this midwife, who has been practicing since 1973.

Doulas

“Doula” is a Greek word meaning “Woman’s Servant.” There are several types of doulas: those who help women and families during childbirth and/or labor and delivery and those who care for women and families following birth. Doulas might train to become midwives.

22. Bellies and Babies: This is a diary of a childbirth educator, doula, mother and aspiring midwife.
23. Birthing Beautiful Ideas: Kristen is a mother, doula, graduate student, feminist and writer.
24. Dou-la-la: This birth advocate, postpartum doula, childbrith educator and birth doula-in-training writes about her interests.
25. Doula Hallie’s Blog & Birth News: Hallie shares news stories and research articles, as well as an over view of what she is up to in the birth world.
26. DoulaMomma: This wife and former attorney offers her thoughts on birth, motherhood and life.
27. Durango Doula Chick: This blog belongs to a birth/postpartum doula who works in Durango, Colorado.
28. Empowering Birth Blog: A doula and student midwife is spreading the message that birth should be empowering.
29. Gloria Lemay: Gloria is a homebirth advocate, doula and health and wellness proponent in Vancouver.
30. Holistic Doula NYC Blog: News, tips and inspiration for holistic mamas and families.
31. Kindred Hands Doula Blog: This blog is part of the services offered by Kindred Hands Doula, which serves Sarasota areas in Florida.
32. Lausanne Doula Blog: This blogger shares her thoughts on birth, the doula profession, information about her business, and local resources for moms giving birth in Lausanne, Switzerland.
33. MotherWit: Doula care and doula training from a Montreal doula.
34. Radical Doula: Miriam Zoila Pérez is a writer, blogger and reproductive justice activist.
35. Utah Doula Association: This group now offers a blog in place of a former newsletter.
36. Vancouver Doula: This blogging doula helps you to realize that you have the abilities, wisdom and courage to give birth.

Midwife Advocacy

36. Birth Activist: This blog celebrates non-traditional birthing and child-raising.
37. Citizens for Midwifery: Citizens for Midwifery is a consumer-based grassroots organization promoting the Midwives Model of Care.
38. Ethics for Midwives: Read through this blog to learn about the importance of ethics for midwifery.
39. Friends of Iowa Midwives: This is a statewide, grassroots organization working to promote access to midwifery and out-of-hospital birth in Iowa.
40. International Cesarean Awareness Network: ICAN is committed to preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, provide support for cesarean recovery, and promote vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).
41. Janet Fraser: Janet is the National Convenor of the Australian Homebirth Network, Joyous Birth.
42. Massachusetts Friends of Midwives: MFOM is a non-profit organization working to promote and protect the rights of all midwives and the women and families who birth with them.
43. Midwife Connection: The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) believes that every woman deserves the expert, woman-centered care that midwives deliver.
44. Midwives & Mothers in Action: This blog is part of the MAMA Campaign, advocating for CPMs as a high-value option for quality cost effective maternity care.
45. Our Bodies Ourselves: This link leads to the midwife articles and advocacy features at this blog.
46. Save Birth Choices: This Australian blog is serving the rights of Australian women for birth choices, including midwife advocacy.
47. sfmiles4midwives: Miles for Midwives is a stroller-friendly 5K walk/run in Golden Gate Park on October 10th, 2010 to celebrate National Midwifery Week.
48. Squat: This blog is an extension of Squat: An Anarchist Birth Journal, that talks about parenting, midwifery and non-traditional birthing venues.
49. The Big Push for Midwives: This site includes a blog, library and resources and key information on how to support midwives across the country.
50. Women in Charge: This blog, a project of Wisewoman Childbirth Traditions, intends to empower and encourage women to take charge of their bodies, their babies and their births.

We have joined the 21st Century, and are now on Facebook. Please do come on over and start following our Online Nurse Practitioner Programs page to receive regular updates and to connect with fellow nurse practitioners.

The hard-working health care professionals we have today get a lot of help from amazing medical devices. The doctors, nurses and others from more than a century ago — and especially those from more than two centuries ago — would be amazed at the things that we can do in health care today. No matter your health care specialty, you have probably benefited from medical innovations. Here are 25 of the greatest medical innovations in history:

Devices

There are a number of interesting medical devices that contribute to our ability as a society to treat different conditions and diseases. Here are some of the interesting medical devices and tools that we have access to:

1. Artificial heart: One of the biggest accomplishments in medical history was the invention of the artificial heart. For the most part, the artificial heart is used as a bridge for transplants.
2. Robotic catheter: A robotic catheter can be used in a number of systems, including for cardiac surgery and urology, in order to help where hands can’t go.
3. Handheld medical scanner: This medical device can help health professionals to provide detection, as well as measure wounds. A handheld medical scanner would be portable and powerful.
4. Bone injector dill: If you need to have medicine or some other fluid injected into your bone, a bone injector drill is the way to have it done.
5. Antennas for medical devices: Skin antennas make use of RF communications to help medical devices work together. The connections use little power, and send signals along the skin.
6. Dialysis machine: The artificial kidney machine has helped many awaiting kidney transplant. Dialysis helps remove toxins from the body, just as the kidneys are supposed to.
7. Lens implants: The ability to improve vision through lens implants is one of the great medical innovations.
8. Artificial joints: The ability to replace joints can be helpful in a number of years. Artificial joints, such as for hips and knees, represent huge medical innovation and advancement. It increases quality of life, as well as helps prevent falls that can be painful and debilitating.

Technology

Advances in medical technology allow us to have access to a number of advantages that help increase the ability to diagnose and treat conditions.

9. Electrocardiography: The use of electricity to learn about the heart has led to a number of advancements in cardiac-related treatment. Since the heart has electrical current, using this technology makes since when it comes to monitoring.
10. X-ray: The ability to see inside the body is an amazing technology that makes it possible for increased diagnosis. We have advanced from original x-ray technology to levels of increased accuracy and ability.
11. Nano healing: Nanotechnology offers a number of interesting opportunities. And now, new nanomaterials can be used to stop bleeding.
12. Electronic health records: Increasing patient access to medical history, electronic health records represent a great innovation in medical technology. Less error, and the ability of doctors to access patient information, is a great help.
13. Laser surgery: The use of lasers in surgery and for other procedures has reduced invasiveness as well as reducing healing time. Eye surgery has especially benefited.
14. MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging makes use of different technology than x-rays to see inside the body. Magnetism and radio waves are used, instead of harmful x-rays. It’s a way of seeing what’s inside, without doing as much damage.
15. Ultrasound: The use of ulstrasound technology has been very beneficial. Not only can it be used to help assess fetal development, bu ultrasound can be used to diagnose and monitor a number of conditions.
16. Mammography: Improving the ability to detect cancer and other issues, a mammogram is technology that is helpful. By taking pictures from different angles and creating a coherent image, it is possible to look for lumps in fatty tissue that could otherwise be difficult to distinguish.
17. Organ transplant: The ability to transplant organs is one of the greatest medical innovations. It allows people to get a new lease on life through the help of healthy organs. Advances in preservation and transport have only added to the way that organs are transplanted.

Drugs

No matter how you feel about the pharmaceutical industry, it is important to note that some of the best medical innovations have been in the area of drug treatments and therapies.

18. Penicillin: One of the biggest medical innovations was the development of drugs from a certain kind of mold. While it probably won’t cure STDs, as the advertisement claims, Penicillin has led to a great man advancements in antibiotics.
19. Insulin: The discovery of insulin, and use to treat diabetes, is one of the great medical innovations out there. Being able to create it and administer it to control diabetes has saved thousands of lives.
20. Aspirin: Hippocrates left notes of using willow bark to treat pain, but it wasn’t until the 19th Century that we ended up with Aspirin, which isolated the ingredient in willow bark that made it so potent.
21. Oral contraceptives: “The Pill” made it possible for easy birth control (as long as you remembered to take it). It has provided a way to avoid unplanned pregnancies, as well as offered other health benefits. The Pill led to other contraceptives, including the patch.
22. Vaccination: Prior to the discovery of the ability to vaccinate against certain diseases, millions died from conditions we consider preventable. Polio, malaria, small pox and tuberculosis are among the diseases almost eradicated in the developed world thanks to vaccination.
23. Statins: The development of statins to help control cholesterol is an important innovation, helping to reduce heart disease and other problems related to high cholesterol.
24. Smart pill: Smart pills are designed to be tracked, and then deliver the proper medicine to a targeted place in the body — wherever it is needed. This pharmacological advancement is truly a medical innovation.
25. Viagra: Named as one of the great medical breakthroughs on a survey in 2001, Medscape reported that Sildenafil (Viagra) is considered a great innovation. This is because it has helped alleviate a medical condition while improving quality of life for thousands of men (and women) around the world.

A nurse practitioner (NP) is a registered nurse that has an advanced medical education as well as advanced training in medical diagnosis and treatment. While they can perform many of the same functions as a doctor, their services are limited to the diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses and chronic diseases, as well as preventative care. In this arena, NPs need all the support they can get in spreading the word about their services. In that vein, this list of the top 30 Web tools that every NP should bookmark offers organizations, journals, online support systems and directories that can help the NP start and maintain a successful career.

Online Support

1. Advance for Nurse Practitioners: This online journal provides practical peer-reviewed clinical articles as well as news and practice advice for NPs.
2. Clinical Evidence: Clinical Evidence is one of the world’s most authoritative medical resources for informing treatment decisions and improving patient care.
3. Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc.: Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc. is an NP-owned company dedicated to helping the nurse practitioner achieve certification and to maintain professional competence.
4. General Practice Online: Stay on top of clinician news with this site, part of Priory Lodge Education, LTD.
5. JAMA Archives: Delve into the archives for the publication produced by the American Medical Association.
6. National Guideline Clearinghouse: This public resource was designed by the government for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
7. NP Central: Learn more about organizations, jobs, and NP education at this site focused on nurse practitioners.
8. NP Clinics: List your clinic at this site’s directory that includes Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Practitioner clinics throughout the country.
9. Resources for Nurses and Families: An intense database filled with a variety of materials. Search for “nurse practitioner” to find specific articles and resources.
10. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners: JNP provides a highly credible resource to help nurse practitioners stay current with the clinical and policy concerns affecting their day-to-day practice.
11. The Journal of Family Practice: This Web site represents a peer-reviewed scientific journal specifically intended to meet the needs of the specialty of family medicine.
12. The New England Journal of Medicine: NEJM is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial opinion on a wide variety of topics of importance to biomedical science and clinical practice.
13. The Nurse Practitioner: This is a journal of American primary care focused specifically to the NP.
14. UpToDate: UpToDate is an evidence-based, peer-reviewed information resource available via the Web, desktop/laptop computer and mobile device.
15. Wellness Nurse Practitioners: Use this site to list your clinic or services.

Organizations

16. American Academy of Nurse Practitioners: AANP represents the interests of the more than 135,000 NPs currently practicing in the U. S. and continually advocates at local, state, and federal levels for the recognition of NPs as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, and personalized healthcare.
17. American College of Nurse-Midwives: ACNM is the professional association that represents Certified Nurse-Midwives and Certified Midwives in the United States.
18. American College of Nurse Practitioners: ACNP’s membership structure consists of both individual nurse practitioners as well as national and state NP organizations.
19. American Nurses Credentialing Center: ANCC provides individuals and organizations throughout the nursing profession with the resources they need to achieve practice excellence.
20. Assocation of Clinicians for the Underserved: ACU encompasses a broad range of health professionals serving diverse patient populations in widely varying practice settings and geographic areas.
21. Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners: AFPNP is a national organization of nursing educators who teach in pediatric, family and school nurse practitioner programs, and who work together on relevant practice and educational issues.
22. Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association: GAPNA (formerly NCGNP) represents nearly 10,000 certified advanced practice nurses who work with older adults in a wide variety of practice settings.
23. National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners: NAPNAP is the professional association for PNPs and other advanced practice nurses who care for children.
24. National Institute of Nursing Research: The NINR is dedicated to improving the health and health care of Americans through funding of nursing research and research training.
25. Nurse Practitioner Associates for Continuing Education: NPACE’s goal is to improve healthcare in the U.S. by providing continuing education and professional enrichment to nurse practitioners, advanced practice registered nurses, registered nurses, and students.
26. Nurse Practitioner Healthcare Foundation: NPHF’s mission is to improve health status and quality of care through nurse practitioner innovations in education, research, health policy, service, and philanthropy.
27. Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health: NPWH is a trusted source of information on nurse practitioner education, practice, and women’s health issues.
28. National Rural Health Association: NRHA is a national nonprofit membership organization with a mission to provide leadership on rural health issues.
29. Society of Critical Care Medicine: This organization is the largest multiprofessional organization dedicated to ensuring excellence and consistency in the practice of critical care. Focus is on a wide variety of professional care, including NPs.
30. The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties: NONPF is the leader in education for preparing a quality NP workforce to meet evolving societal health needs.

You’ve worked hard to earn your MSN degree and worked harder to qualify your career as a nurse practitioner. While you might be tempted to search for nurse practitioner jobs on sites such as Monster.com, other smaller and more personal sites offer jobs specifically for the person who seeks to work in a nursing career at an advanced level. State nurse practitioner (NP) associations, especially, provide great employment resources in most cases, and some of these sites are included in this list of 33 essential nurse practitioner jobs sites.

Many of the sites below also combine the physician assistant with the nurse practitioner. Remember that a nurse practitioner can build a solo practice, while a physician assistant must work under the supervision of a doctor.

Nurse Practitioner Job Sites

1. Advance for Healthcare Careers: This site within Advance provides listings for nurse practitioner jobs. Nurse practitioner jobs frequently found in this database include entry level NP and experienced NP jobs in family practice, cardiac care, oncology, neurosurgery and more.
2. Advanced Practice Jobs at AdvancedPractice.com: This site is a section on Health Jobs Nationwide, and focuses completely on physician assistant and nurse practitioner jobs.
3. All Health Care Jobs: A division of Advanced Practice Jobs, this section focuses entirely on nurse practitioner jobs, including CRNA, CNS, NP and Midwife positions.
4. CleanTechies: This job board features professional opportunities in industries like renewable energy, solar, wind, efficiency, green building, sustainable transportation, and the environment. This specific link leads to nurse practitioner jobs.
5. Hospitalist Working: Find a nurse practitioner job by state at this site for medical professionals.
6. iHire Mid-level Practitioners: Search thousands of mid-Level medical jobs from this company’s exclusive job postings, internet job boards, newspapers, and classified ads.
7. LocumTenens: This job board lists nurse practitioner jobs by state, in the Armed Forces and by date posted. Permanent jobs also are listed.
8. NP Jobs: If you’re seeking an NP job, use this site to post your resume, search for jobs and to use job resources.
9. Nurse Crossing: You can search for nurse practitioner jobs at this site by location as well as by job type. NursingCrossing finds more than 75,000 unadvertised jobs on employer websites each week.
10. Nurse Practitioner Jobs: Search for your dream job at this site. Join the site on Facebook to stay on top of new postings.
11. Nurse Practitioner Jobs at Nurse.com: Find jobs in any setting from hospitals to health systems, including career opportunities as a Clinical Nurse Specialist NP, Family Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Care Manager and more.
12. PA Jobsite: Search through nurse practitioner and physician assistant jobs at this site. Follow them on Twitter to stay on top of new postings.
13. USAJobs: This is the only place you can apply for government jobs. The link leads directly to jobs appealing for nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants.

Placement Services and Organization Job Sites

14. 3RNet: The National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network (3RNet) members are not-for-profit organizations helping health professionals find jobs in rural and under-served areas throughout the country. You can find professional nursing positions through this network, including nurse practitioner jobs.
15. AdvancedPractice.com: This list belongs to a full-service locum tenens agency and niche job board exclusively focused on Advanced Practice Professionals. All jobs on this list currently are nurse practitioner jobs.
16. CANP Career Center: The California Association for Nurse Practitioners provides a career center complete with job opportunities within California.
17. Cirrus Medical Staffing: This company looks specifically for nurse practitioners, among other advanced health professionals. The jobs focus on travel nurse practitioners across the country.
18. CompHealth: CompHealth is one of the nation’s largest providers of healthcare staffing services. Search for permanent and locum tenens nurse practitioner and physician assistant jobs at this site.
19. ENP Network Nurse Practitioner Jobs: ENP Network is home to the most popular and largest directory of Nurse Practitioner job opportunities around. Find nurse practitioner jobs by city, state or zip and with keywords. Job listings stay on site for up to ninety days.
20. Florida Nurse Practitioner Network: This organization offers jobs within Florida for nurse practitioners.
21. Maxim Staffing Solutions: This Allied Health staffing solution is dedicated to providing contract, temp-to-perm, per diem, and direct placement nurse practitioner positions.
22. Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners Career Center: This organization features various nurse practitioner jobs within Michigan. Search for a specific job or browse them all.
23. MidWest NP Jobs: This consulting and job service agency focuses on nurse practitioner placement in the Midwest. They have been in the healthcare industry for over 13 years and have worked exclusively with nurse practitioners for the past five years.
24. New York State Nurse Practitioner Association: Jobs listed on this board usually are located in New York. You can find a wide variety of jobs for both physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
25. NPCanada – Advanced Practice Nursing Job Board: This is a Canadian Healthcare System service job board, promoting the nurse practitioner job search. The job board is free but is monitored frequently to ensure that jobs fit the criteria for advanced practice nursing jobs.
26. NursesRx: NursesRx, noted as a premier travel nurse agency, offers its traveling nurses one of the most generous benefits packages in the industry. Compensation packages for NursesRx travel nurses includes highly competitive pay rates; free, private, quality housing and more.
27. Progressive Nursing Staffers: This company recruits experienced nurses to provide patient care in leading hospitals across the U.S. Progressive has provided exceptional healthcare in an expanding number of communities across America.
28. Skilled Nursing Inc. Staffing and Search: Skilled Nursing, Inc. Staffing and Search is a Joint Commission certified firm providing competent, caring nurse clinicians who excel in circumstances where critical thinking, good judgment and effective communication are everyday vital job functions.
29. Smith & Associates Health Care Placements: This company places physician assistants and nurse practitioners only.
30. Sunbelt Staffing: Sunbelt has relationships with various facilities, practices and hospitals across the nation to offer their advanced practice professionals the best nurse practitioner jobs.
31. The Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association, Inc.: Search for nurse practitioner jobs in Vermont through this organization’s site.
32. UCDavis School of Medicine: This is one example of a health system’s school of medicine site that offers jobs to its students and to anyone who tracks the job listings. This particular list focuses on physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
33. Utah Nurse Practitioner Jobs: This site, which focuses on the Utah professional nurse, offers jobs across the state for nurse practitioners.

The iPad is here, and the medical community is seeking a way to make this tool work for physicians, nurses and students. Fortunately, if you already use apps on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you may be able to sync them to iPad from your Mac or PC. The apps run in their original size or you can expand them to fill the iPad screen. In addition, this list of 25 essential iPad apps for health and wellness may help you fill in the app gap.

While many apps for the iPhone or iPod Touch were free, new apps on the market for iPad may cost a dollar or a few hundred dollars — especially those designed for the medical profession. The list below, therefore, is categorized by price so you can learn more about what is available. Some apps also are designed for patient use to learn more about preventative medicine and a healthy lifestyle.

Patients, physicians, nurses and students can view all the medical apps available for download for the iPad at iTunes, as well as through a search on any search engine for “medical apps.” Be sure to check in the left column of each app under “requirements” at iTunes to learn whether the app is available for your iPad.

Free iPad Medical Apps

1. AirStrip OBSERVER Suite: These apps represent the next era of patient monitors for physicians. AirStrip OB is already FDA cleared and the other applications in the suite are in advanced stages of development. Download trials for some apps in the suite are free, and this app may become hospital subscriptions in the future.
2. Brain Tutor 3D: Learn about the structure and function of the human brain by interacting with rotatable 3D models in real-time.
3. Calculate (Medical Calculator): This app highlights tools that are useful in clinical practice and that serve to impact diagnosis, treatment or determining prognosis.
4. Free Primal Anatomy Quiz: Free quiz for self-testing, comes with over 100 questions on three body systems — respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive.
5. Medical Encyclopedia: This app contains 50,000 pages of information that has been reviewed by medical professionals and that is updated regularly.
6. Monthly Prescribing Reference (MPR): This app provides concise prescription and OTC drug information, side effects and interactions for medical professionals and patients.
7. PEPID Flashcards: This app offers free and expanded study tools for medical and nursing students. Another free app includes PEPID, which offers free and platinum clinical decision-support information and tools for doctors, nurses, emergency medical teams, and students.
8. PubSearch: PubSearch is a fast, efficient search tool for scientists, medical professionals and students who rely on the millions of research papers indexed in PubMed.
9. Symptom Checker .MD: Enter a symptom or disease in the search box and results provide clinical medical information matched to the local doctors who can treat that symptom or condition.
10. X-rays: A vast selection of X-rays of the human body for study on abnormalities, fractures and more.

iPad Medical Apps under $10

11. Carter’s Encyclopedia of Health and Medical: The app should be detailed enough to cover all the information a nurse or paramedic is ever likely to need.
12. Instant ECG: Comprehensive Electrocardiogram app with over 90 high resolution ECG examples. This app also contains 30 high-definition full screen movies (without audio) of the most common arrhythmias.
13. Medical Lab Tests: The application is designed primarily for doctors, nurses and medical students, but can be used by anyone who wants to know the meaning of different blood tests.
14. Mediquations Medical Calculator: With 214 formulas and scoring tools and a intuitive interface, Mediquations is the smart choice for anyone looking for a medical calculator.
15. My Health Records – Health n Family: Keep track of medical records, appointments and prescriptions and store important medical documents.
16. Papers: Read, organize and share your personal library of research, including a sync with your iPhone and Mac. Quickly find PDF articles from your library and read them in full screen on your new iPad.
17. The Human Body 2: Learn about the nervous, muscle, internal organ and skeletal systems in the body.
18. Xprompt: Forget the interpreter in the emergency room or inpatient or outpatient visits. Each language pack contains approximately 800 medically-themed phrases, and any two languages offered can be combined.

iPad Medical Apps between $10 and $20

19. Human Atlas: The Blausen Human Atlas iPhone application provides point-of-care access to 3D animations of common medical treatments and conditions, (approximately one-two minutes in length) with accompanying narration. For doctors, nurses, students and consumer caregivers, this is the ideal resource for communicating core concepts, right in the palm of your hand and right at point of care. Human Atlas Lite is available for free if you want to learn more about how this app operates before a purchase.
20. Osirix: OsiriX is a true DICOM image viewer that supports standard DICOM communications.

iPad Medical Apps over $20

21. Lexi-COMPLETE: This app provides access to all Lexi-Comp exclusive databases plus complementary licensed content. Includes Lexi-Drugs and Lexi-Interact (latter two apps in another suite for half the price).
22. Modality: Physicians, medical residents and students can prepare for, perform and test their knowledge of the most common medical procedures encountered in a clinical setting with this app.
23. Nursing Central: Although the download is free, a subscription must be purchased before viewing detailed information on diseases, tests, drugs, and procedures. Might be worth the subscription for anyone studying to become a nurse practitioner.
24. The 5-Minute Clinical Consult: This app is a database that contains comprehensive and structured information covering over 700 medical conditions.
25. VisualDx: You can download this app at no cost for a free trial, then pay a one-year subscription. This is the only medical app to show disease variation with multiple images of each disease.

When most people think about their health, they consider how they should eating and exercising. Some might even considering switching to a greener lifestyle in order improve health. However, while thinking about exercising and eating right, many people neglect another important aspect of their health: Sleep.

Indeed, health professionals and researchers are learning more and more about the effects of sleep on health, and this information is changing, a little, the way we think about sleep and its effects. However, from the brain, to the heart, to our own feelings of well-being, sleep has a very real effect. No matter your career or your salary, your sleep habits can affect your health. So, while diet and exercise are important to your health, don’t forget to make sure that you are getting a healthy amount of sleep as well.

Sleep and Your Brain

Your brain uses sleep to rest and rejuvenate. Scientific studies have found that, in some way that isn’t always completely explainable, the brain uses the down time of sleep to categorize the information it has learned during the day. Indeed, some studies even indicate that the brain is still aware of what is going on around it during sleep, still able to receive stimuli.

Additionally, those who do not get enough sleep may find themselves having more memory problems that those you do get enough sleep. Adequate sleep is essential if you want to keep your memory sharp, and be able to recall information when you want it. A healthy brain needs adequate sleep in order to function properly.

Sleep and Your Heart

Interestingly, sleep can also affect your heart’s health. Studies on the effects of sleep disorders and other sleep issues on the health of the heart are underway, and seem to indicate that certain sleep problems can affect the health of your heart. Sleep is important to helping your cardiovascular system function properly.

Researchers at Harvard report that poor sleep can increase your blood pressure, and increase your chances of heart attack. Sleep can even increase the instance of atherosclerosis — the build up of fatty substances in your arteries. On top of that, lack of sleep increases the proteins that reflect active inflammation, which can also cause heart problems. If you want better health, especially for your heart, it is vital to consider your sleep habits.

Sleep and Diabetes

Another interesting twist related to sleep is its connection to diabetes. A study by Columbia University found that sleep duration (getting inadequate sleep) can increase the chance that someone will develop diabetes. If you already have diabetes, you might find that sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, can actually complicate your diabetes care.

If you are at risk for diabetes due to your weight or diet, getting inadequate sleep may actually result in pushing you over the edge into having diabetes. If you already have diabetes, correctly caring for the condition might be affected by lack of sleep. Getting enough sleep, as part of a healthy lifestyle, can help you reduce the chances of diseases like diabetes.

Sleep and Weight

Your weight can also be impacted by your sleep habits. One Stanford study found that lack of sleep can cause hormonal changes that can result in weight gain. Not only can lack of sleep contribute to obesity (which comes with its own set of health problems), but obesity can contribute to lack of sleep. So it becomes a vicious cycle. On top of that, lack of sleep contributes to rises in a stress hormone called cortisol, something that is thought to be linked to cravings of “comfort” foods high in calories and carbs.

If you want to improve your health by losing weight, sleep can also be a factor. Indeed, getting the right amount of sleep can have an effect on your efforts to reach a healthy weight. Ghrelin is a hormone that can be disrupted by a lack of sleep, and this disruption can lead to higher feelings of hunger. Another hormone, leptin, is also affected by sleep. Increasing the amount of sleep you get can actually help you lose weight.

Sleep and Mood

Your mood can be affected by how much sleep you get. You probably already know that lack of sleep can result in feelings of lethargy throughout the day. But sleep can also affect your mood. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, you are are more likely to have mood swings, and even increase your chances of developing depression.

Sleep can also help you reduce the amount of stress that you feel. Sleep helps you relax and recharge. Lack of sleep can lead to increased stress and anxiety. Those issues come with their own health problems, including higher blood pressure and can even contribute to heart attack and stroke.

Sleep Disorders

There are a number of sleep disorders that can contribute to a lack of sleep, and affect your health. There are some treatments for sleep disorders, such as synthesized melatonin, meant to help induce better sleep in the body.

However, one of the sleep disorders getting the most attention is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder in which the airway is closed off during sleep. This results in small episodes of wakefulness throughout the night. However, these brief episodes are often unnoticed by the affected, and he or she wakes in the morning, wondering why they feel tired and unrested. Sleep apnea, due to the fact that it contributes to less restful sleep, has been linked to heart disease, obesity, hypertension and memory function problems.

How Much Sleep Do You Need?

One of the questions many people ask is how much sleep they need. And, as with so many health questions, healthy sleep quantity depends on a number of factors, including your age and your individual needs. Also included is the quality of sleep that you get. Indeed, your quality of sleep can be just as important as how much sleep you are getting during different stages of development. You should note, though, that as you age, quantity actually does become more important than quality sleep.

Studies into the amount of sleep that we need show that most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. You will need to consider your own needs individually, and try out different lengths of sleep in order to determine what is most likely to work for you in terms of healthy sleep.

Optimizing Your Sleep

It is possible to learn how to optimize your sleep. In order to reduce your chances of developing depression, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other health problems, it is vital that you get enough sleep. For those who are not senior citizens, it is also important to get enough quality sleep.

The following tips can help you improve your sleep:

• Reduce your caffeine.
• Have a relaxation routine prior to going to bed.
• Don’t use alcohol as a sleep aid.
• Get regular exercise (it’s best to do this at least three hours before bed).
• Eat healthier.
• If you nap, take no more than 15 to 20 minutes.
• Use the bed only for sleeping and sex.
• Try to set up a regular sleep schedule that includes bed times and wake times that are consistent.

If you are concerned that you have a sleeping disorder, you can make an appointment at a sleep center. These centers will monitor your sleep for two or three nights (or more) and try and determine the main cause of your difficulty in sleeping. This can be a helpful way to pinpoint your sleeping problems and work out a course of treatment that can help you get better sleep — and lead a healthier life.

You may have heard about first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” pulbic health program that intends to combat childhood obesity in the U.S. What you may not know is that Mrs. Obama had to confront the possibility of childhood obesity in her own children as a working parent. We wondered what else we might not know about Mrs. Obama’s public health campaign, so we compiled a list of facts about her program to share with you.

The initiative has four core plans: better nutrition information, increased physical activity, easier access to healthy foods and personal responsibility. The list below is divided into those four categories, and each link within those categories leads to news articles or to more information about that topic.

Better Nutrition Information

1. More than 31 million children eat lunches provided through the National School Lunch Program, plus more than 11 million participate daily in the National School Breakfast Program. Many children eat half of their daily calories at schools.
2. The new Healthier US Schools Challenge Program (HUSSC) has established rigorous standards for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity, and nutrition education. HUSSC provides recognition for schools that meet these standards.
3. Over the next school year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will double the number of schools that meet the HUSSC Challenge and add 1,000 schools per year for two years after that. Few people know that the USDA allocates almost 70 percent of its budget to food programs.
4. To help meet the goal of increasing the number of schools that meet the HUSSC Challenge, major school food suppliers have agreed to meet the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations within five years to decrease the amount of sugar, fat and salt in school meals, increase whole grains and double the amount of produce they serve within 10 years.
5. Recently, the Administration unveiled its plans to enhance the nutrition and wellness of tens of millions of school children through the updating of the Child Nutrition Act.
6. The Administration also announced a proposed increase in the federal budget of $1 billion per year for the next ten years to improve the quality of school meals, increase the number of kids participating (especially in the breakfast program), and to make sure schools have the resources they need to make changes.

Easier Access to Healthy Foods

7. More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. These areas are known as “food deserts.” Find out if you live in one of those food deserts through this Food Environment Atlas.
8. Lack of access to proper nutrition is one reason why many children are not eating the recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Lack of food security and prevalence of hunger among American children is even more widespread.
9. A recent USDA report showed that in 2008, an estimated 49.1 million people — including 16.7 million children, lived in households that experienced hunger multiple times throughout the year.
10. As part of the President’s proposed FY 2011 budget, the Administration announced a new program — the Healthy Food Financing Initiative — a partnership among the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services, which will invest $400 million per year to provide financing to bring grocery stores to underserved areas and to help places such as convenience stores carry healthier foods.
11. Grants also will help bring farmers markets and fresh foods into underserved communities, boosting both family health and local economies through the Farm to School program and The Food Trust.

Increased Physical Activity

12. Children need 60 minutes of active and vigorous play every day to grow up to a healthy weight. If this sounds like a lot of time, consider that 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7.5 hours per day to using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies.
13. To increase physical activity, today’s children need safe routes to walk and ride to school, parks, playgrounds and community centers where they can play and be active after school.
14. Plans are in the making to alter the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge so it’s not just about how athletic kids are — how many sit-ups and push-ups they can do — but how active they are each day.
15. The Presidential Active Lifestyle Award is provided through the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. This challenge for both children and adults is to build healthy habits by committing to regular physical activity five days a week, for six weeks. Measuring daily activity for six weeks isn’t easy, and this effort deserves recognition.
16. As part of the First Lady’s commitment to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation, the Council will double the number of children in the 2010-2011 school year who earn a “Presidential Active Lifestyle Award” by engaging in regular physical activity.
17. Professional athletes from a dozen different leagues are moving to help ensure kids get 60 minutes of active play each day through sports clinics, partnerships, public information campaigns and more.
18. Other athletes, such as Apolo Ohno, have begun their own initiatives to help teens build a healthier future.

Personal Responsibility

19. Unless something is done to reduce childhood obesity, America’s children are on track to live shorter lives than their parents for the first time in U.S. history. Parents play a key role in making healthy choices for their children because the earliest decisions regarding food and physical activity occur in the home.
20. The goal is to eliminate “food deserts” across the country within seven years. This spring, LetsMove.gov will unveil special tool kits and strategies to help increase access to healthy, affordable food in communities across the country as well as in the schools.
21. Encourage your school to participate in the HUSSC Challenge. Schools can participate in this model program by learning about the range of educational and technical assistance materials that promote key aspects of the Dietary Guidelines, including a Menu Planner for Healthy School Meals.
22. Encourage your doctor to help. The American Academy of Pediatrics will educate doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses across the country about obesity to ensure they regularly monitor your child’s Body Mass Index, provide counseling for healthy eating, and even write a prescription for parents laying out the simple things they can do to increase healthy eating and active play.
23. By the end of this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will complete guidance for retailers and manufacturers to adopt new nutritionally sound and consumer friendly front-of-package labeling.
24. Since more adults are now reading food labels, this is a good time to make sure that labels are accurate and honest for you to use in your own purchases.
25. The USDA plans to revamp the famous food pyramid symbol and online interactive tools. A 2.0 version of the MyPyramid.gov site will offer families a host of tools to help put the Dietary Guidelines into practice at school and at home.

While the hazardous news about smoking cigarettes has made its rounds from generation to generation, people still purchase cigarettes and they still smoke them. While smokers may have a death wish or they may become addicted, the people who do not smoke are affected as well with what is known as second-hand smoke. The following statistics show how tobacco is used globally and nationwide, and how smoking affects the public as a whole.

When you click on the images or links below, you can learn more about each smoking and second-hand smoke issue. In many reports, it appears that many smokers would like to quit, but that those smokers often cannot afford or know about smoking cessation programs and aids. Doctors and Nurse Practitioners are encouraged to teach patients about smoking-cessation programs and aids and to instruct patients and their families about the health issue involved with smoking and second-hand smoke.

Smokers

1. Smoking Contributes to Top Six of Eight Causes of Death: At the world’s current population, about 57 million people die each year. Smoking contributes to six of the top eight killers. This chart shows tobacco usage globally (Russia tops the list with over 59 million smokers, and the U.S. falls in the top of the bottom third, with 57.2 million users), and how tobacco use contributes to the top eight causes of death.
2. Smoking More Prevalent in Low-Income Countries and Homes: Globally, the use of tobacco products has increased, although it is decreasing in high-income countries. More than 80 percent of the world’s smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. In this chart, is shows that the likelihood of smoking generally increases as annual incomes decrease in the U.S.
3. Tobacco Use in U.S. decreased 1900-2002; Lung Cancer Death Rates Increased for Women: According to this chart, U.S. consumption of cigarettes has decreased between 1900-2002, as well as the age-adjusted lung cancer death rates for men. For women, however, lung cancer rates have increased over time.
4. Current Smoking Patterns Basically Unchanged from 2007-2008: According to this report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), smoking prevalence did not change significantly from 2007 to 2008. And, smoking prevalence was highest among adults who had earned a General Education Development certificate (GED), while smoking prevalence was lowest among adults with a graduate degree.
5. U.S. Slow on Tobacco Bans: This map from 2007 shows the countries (in blue) that ratified the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The countries shown in red have signed the convention, yet failed to ratify it. This includes the entire U.S. On a state-by-state basis, however, there is more progress, as you’ll learn when you click on the image.
6. Do Higher Prices per Pack Contribute to Less Smoking? This map, contributed by GOOD magazine, shows where people are smoking in the U.S., and the average cost of a pack of cigarettes. Is there a correlation between higher prices and less smoking? In Wisconsin, where cigarettes cost $5.01 per pack, the number of smokers per population is 20.8 percent. In Kentucky, where cigarettes cost $2.90 per pack, the concentration of smokers per population is 28.6 percent.
7. Smoking-Attributable Health Care Costs Rise in West Virginia: This chart shows a distinct rise in health care costs in West Virginia between 1998 and 2004, all directly attributable to smoking. Adjustments were made for Consumer Price Index inflation used for Leonard Miller model and medical information used for the Vincent Miller model.
8. Numbers for U.S. Deaths Attributable to Smoking: The numbers on this chart show that about 443,000 U.S. deaths each year are directly attributable to smoking. The largest problem, according to these statistics, is the prevalence of lung cancer, with ischemic heart disease close second. This chart, however, does not indicate any deaths caused by second-hand smoke.
9. Smoking is Single Most Preventable Cause of Disease and Death in U.S.: According to the statistics provided by the Healthy People 2010 government site, cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. Smoking results in more deaths each year in the United States than AIDS, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, homicide, suicide, motor vehicle crashes, and fires combined. This chart shows the goals of the government to reduce the number of adolescent and adult smokers in 2010.
10. Navy Women Smokers Found to Produce Less in Workplace: In a recent study on women in the Navy, it was discovered that women who came in as daily regular smokers were less likely to finish their full term of enlistment, they had early attrition, more demotions, more desertions and more unauthorized leaves of absence than non-smoking women in the Navy. The smokers in this study also achieved a lower overall pay grade.
11. Do As I Say, But Do It On Your Own: This chart shows that 47.9 percent of smokers were advised to quit smoking, yet only 27.5 percent were offered help to quit smoking by healthcare professionals during the past 12 months. To be effective, advice to quit smoking must also include offers of assistance.
12. Tobacco Companies Spend More on Advertising than States Spend on Prevention and Cessation: In the fiscal year 2010, the U.S. states will collect $25.1 billion from tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, and will spend just 2.3 percent of it on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. When federal grants are added to the mix, the total funding for state tobacco prevention programs nationwide comes to $629.5 million. When you click on the image to the right to learn more, you’ll discover that tobacco companies spend, on average, $20 on marketing for every $1 that states spend on anti-smoking efforts.
13. How Much Do Tobacco Companies Spend on Advertising: These statistics from 2005 show that tobacco companies peaked with advertising costs in 2003, but that advertising expenditures in 2005 were still more than the $12.7 billion spent three years earlier in 2002. The image links to an article that compares cigarette vendors to drug pushers.

Secondhand Smoke

14. Secondhand Smoke Contains More than 4,000 Chemicals: this chart, provided by the CDC, shows the chemicals, toxic metals and poison gases that are contained in secondhand smoke. Many of these chemicals are toxic and cause cancer. You can find a list of these chemicals at Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.
15. Passive Smokers at Risk: Numerous studies suggest that a passive smoker, or a non-smoker who inhales second-hand smoke from a smoker on a constant basis, runs the risk of a 25 percent increase in lung cancer and heart disease compared to people who have never inhaled second-hand smoke.
16. Number of People Exposed to Second-Hand Smoke Higher than the Number of Smokers: According to the CDC in this chart, the number of adult U.S. cigarette smokers equals 45 million, whereas the number of nonsmoking Americans exposed to second-hand smoke accounts for 126 million people. At least 22 million U.S. children aged 3-11 years are exposed to second-hand smoke.
17. Secondhand Smoke Costs in Dollars and Deaths: Second-hand smoke is responsible for nearly $10 billion annually in costs and creates numerous adverse health effects for nonsmokers. Second-hand smoke is responsible for more than 70 thousand nonsmoker deaths from coronary heart disease and lung cancer.

While the quality of healthcare in the U.S. is 37th worldwide, healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is second only to Marshall Islands. Much of the money spent on healthcare in the U.S. is not for medications, tests or treatment, but for administrative costs. Countries that have cut healthcare administration costs spend less on healthcare, yet many have much better quality healthcare than the U.S. — thus the growth in medical tourism. Further compounding matters in the U.S. is the impending shortage of nurse practitioner careers, which is driving up their salaries.

Click the image below to enlarge.

Embed this image on your website

<a href=”http://masterofhealthadministration.com/2010/u-s-healthcare-quality/” mce_href=”http://masterofhealthadministration.com/2010/u-s-healthcare-quality/”><img src=”http://masterofhealthadministration.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ushealthquality.jpg” mce_src=”http://masterofhealthadministration.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ushealthquality.jpg” title=”U.S. Healthcare Quality” alt=”U.S. Healthcare Quality” width=”900″ height=”3092″ border=”0″ /></a>