Time to Decouple Fear and Health

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FearBlog?

Bernadette Keefe M.D.

“Pseudo-dangers represent further opportunities to avoid problems we do not wish to confront….” – Barry Glassner, The Culture of Fear

Introduction

For a while now, I’ve been concerned about the increasing role that fear has played as a tactic in persuading patients to choose certain treatments in healthcare, and to adopt certain habits. Fear is also, often a dominant driver for patients in their health decision-making process.

Fear, however, is an unwanted distraction when making decisions. In contrast to a calm state of mind, it creates added anxiety and stress, in a citizenry already burdened with increasing stressors. How can adding to this be constructive, or further, even moral? How can healthcare decisions, made from fear, be in any way conducive to optimal health outcomes, or conducive to sustainable well-being throughout our lifespans? 
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Bernadette Keefe M.D. Biography {Abbreviated}

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Updated June 2017 

Social-Media_Bernadette_and_Pele-6 

Dr. Bernadette Keefe

For Unabbreviated Version: See Menu “About” 

Social Media in Healthcare – Consultant & Blogger

Dr. Bernadette Keefe practiced Academic Radiology at UNC Hospitals – Chapel Hill, North Carolina after receiving her M.D., internship and residency training in New York City. Read more on Linkedin.

Dr. Keefe  joined twitter in 2010 to research her son’s sports career. She adopted a 2nd twitter handle, (@walkeredu) and Facebook page, in June 2013, to launch her endeavor: The Walker Education Project. One month later, she created her 3rd, ,and current twitter handle, Dr. Bernadette Keefe at @nxtstop1.

Dr. Bernadette Keefe has curated over 600 conferences around the world, beginning this work in February 2014. Since August 2015, she has used the twitter tool ‘Storify’ to record her curations. Dr. Keefe was co-host of #HCLDR for nearly two years, submitting blogs and moderating the weekly twitter chats. Additionally, she has guest-hosted multiple other tweet chats, and published numerous blogs on her personal website www.bernadettekeefemd.com

Dr. Keefe has helped various medical organizations including the British Geriatrics Society with their Twitter outreach. She has consulted on Twitter campaigns for aging-focused conferences such as the Louisville Innovation Summit.

Dr. Bernadette Keefe is available for consultation, with individuals or professional organizations, on the most efficient use of healthcare Twitter for professional purposes. Please contact her via her website, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

 

 

 

The Illusion of Communication

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A Superb, Brief, Guest Post on Communication. Useful for physicians; an essential aspect of great ‘doctoring’.

RichSimmonds

the-single-biggest-problem-in-communication-is-the-illusion-that-it-has-taken-place-quote-1George Bernard Shaw said ‘The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place’. This same quote was used by Tim Fargo in his foreword to my book ‘Mug and Tweet’ and has been used by communicators over the decades, to question the effectiveness of our communication. I work alongside Steve Maraboli, who is in my opinion one of the greatest Human Behaviour specialists ever, and he always asks that we observe the behaviour of others and more importantly our own behaviour. The real question that needs to be asked by ourselves, of ourselves is: What were we thinking that caused us to say and do what we did? Did our actions communicate effectively? More importantly what was our attitude towards the people we were communicating with, did we take into account what John Maxwell has always said ‘People don’t care how much you know, until they know…

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Fireside Chats – A Celebration of Self Care and Care for Each Other

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Bernadette Keefe MD

A Holiday Post that translates to any gathering with loved ones ~ BK

The Path to Wellness

‘Tis the season of celebration. As we are in a festive month, I’d like to talk about a few celebratory health related ‘fireside chats’ that we might consider when we gather with our families and friends this holiday season. Conversations around health and healthcare are often avoided as they can invite a difficult mixture of bad news, fear, criticism, advice, or unwanted cajoling. I’d like to flip these chats towards celebration by identifying four major things in life that are both good for us, and are, at essence, a cause for celebration.

For this post on holiday “fireside chats; a celebration of self-care”, I chose four major topics to delve into: emotional health, physical exercise, food and food culture and the circle of life. Included within are videos, text and references that I hope hone in on the essence of self care, and the process of creating healthy lives for ourselves, and our loved ones.

Let’s celebrate the role of self-care in the lives of ourselves, our families, and our friends!

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Popping Pills: A Drugged Nation

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 pill-bottle-bannerBernadette Keefe MD

Excerpts from ‘Limitless’ The Movie (Trailer)

You (can) access 100 % your brain

A tablet a day and I was limitless

What’s your secret? Medication

A perfect version of ourselves…..power…..

What would you do???


The ‘Limitless” Trailer  

Introduction: A pill for every ill.

From teenagers to granny, to the pro-athlete, and everyone in between, the United States is the most drugged nation in the world. A staggering:

70 Million Americans are taking legal mind-altering drugs

Nearly 70% of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug and 20% are on at least five prescription drugs Continue reading →

Sugar High Halloween

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Candy Corn

Candy Corn

Bernadette Keefe MD

It’s Halloween… but:

‘We need to start talking about how our food supply is making many of us sick.”

 “Sugar high” is the term used to describe the cascade of responses after eating a sugar load. A high sugar load, especially a pure sugar load, triggers is a rapid release of insulin to counteract the high blood sugar. With that response, glucose is absorbed into cells and the blood sugar plummets. We feel hunger with the low blood sugar and if we consume a sugary snack or meal, the cycle restarts. The taste of sugar is also ‘addictive’ over time. At this time we have a cultural sugar high, a palate tuned to the taste of sugar, across our nation and indeed the world. It has led to unprecedented levels of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Continue reading →

Tribes and Silos, and, Tribes VS Tribes in Healthcare

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Silos-as-Tribes

 Bernadette Keefe MD

“the point is to be together, to mix our differences”

                          @Bionicohand at @iMaginationCtr

 Introduction

If there is one movement that describes the current wave of disruption in industries from media to healthcare and in-between, it is the breakdown of barriers and democratization of processes. However, to accomplish a smooth transition to more workable, inclusive systems that will serve all, there must be a change in culture, a meeting of the minds.

In the healthcare field, there are many stakeholders/ “tribes”, each holding disparate positions. In order to evolve together, we must tear down our walls and silos and form bridges between our tribes. Such radical action is necessary as many errors and misunderstandings in healthcare are, at their core, communication issues  arising from stakeholders speaking and acting from isolated positions.

Amidst ongoing conversation about healthcare silos and the problems that they might be creating, comes the timely release of Gillian Tett’s, “The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers”. While Gillian Tett comes from a financial background (as U.S. Managing Editor and columnist at the Financial Times) she has been more widely recognized as a superb thinker and writer. (See NY Times book review and APM interview)

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Aging: It’s A Good Thing!

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adventure-is-out-there

 Honoring Active Aging Week 2015, September 27th– October 3rd.

From Active Aging Week website,

“This year’s Theme: Live Your Adventure!  Led by the International Council on Active Aging, Active Aging Week celebrates aging and active living. Each year event organizers engage participants in wellness activities in a safe, friendly and fun atmosphere.”

             my-adventure-book

 

Each day of active aging week has a corresponding theme, thus the “adventure book” has 7 Chapters, each devoted to a specific aspect of wellness in aging. Chapter details follow:

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Boomers, Got Fit (bit)?

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Boomers – Got Fit (bit)?

Best-activity-trackers_banner-r1

Bernadette Keefe MD

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”                              

 (credited to by not said by W. Edwards Deming)

 Introduction

If you are 50 years of age or older you are a baby boomer, that means by 2030, there will be 77 Million people over the age of 65 in the U.S. alone. The U.S. National Institute of Aging has designated September as a Go-4-Life month: a national exercise and physical activity campaign for people 50+. The goal is to empower older adults to become more physically active. The last week in September marks the beginning of Active Aging Week (September 27 – October 3) for the United States, Canada and Australia. Each day is devoted to a specific healthy life habit: from walking to nutrition to social connection.

The importance of our lifestyle/behaviors, to overall health is now undeniable. It is thought that 70% of chronic disease is caused directly or indirectly by the poor lifestyle choices we make. Now we can seamlessly measure our daily behaviors through fitness trackers. Continue reading →