August 20th, 2017
Podcast 211: On (not) staying the (antibiotic) course
Sometimes — but not all the time — patients can be advised to stop a course of antibiotics if they feel better. Traditionally, the advice has been to complete the entire course, regardless. Why? Because it was thought that stopping early might lead to more antibiotic resistance. That’s changing now, as the WHO and the […]
July 10th, 2016
Podcast 204: Medical marijuana’s effect on Medicare prescriptions
[Note: a transcript of this interview will be added in a few days’ time.] Our guest has strong indirect evidence that medical marijuana has been replacing “standard” drugs in states where it is legal. In doing so, the substitution is saving the Medicare system modest amounts of money. Their evidence, published in Health Affairs, comes from an […]
December 9th, 2011
Podcast 138: Why do kids in the U.S. get so many inappropriate broad-spectrum antibiotics?
When kids go for ambulatory care, they get an antibiotic prescribed about 20% of the time. Half of those antibiotics are of the broad-spectrum variety. What are the factors leading up to this, and what are some resources to turn to for better information on this dangerous situation? Listen in to this 27-minute podcast with the first […]
April 8th, 2011
Podcast 118: Opioid prescribing patterns and accidental overdoses
Two authors of a JAMA study published earlier this week discuss how prescribing patterns for opioids figured in the rates of unintentional overdose. The work was done using data from Veterans Administration records. Briefly, they found that the risk for overdose was directly related to the maximal dose prescribed, however, patients who received only “as […]
About the Podcast
Comments, suggestions, and story ideas welcome. Learn more about Clinical Conversations.
Follow us:
