It can be daunting to keep track of new drugs, particularly if the doctor is not prescribing them regularly. During my medical training, I generally was familiar with all of the medicines that patients were taking. Not so anymore. Now, it is more likely than not that when I review medication lists, that some of the drugs are unknown to me. I do my best to remain current in my own specialty – itself a challenge. I am no longer well versed in the medicines used to treat diabetes, heart conditions and various autoimmune diseases, among others conditions. Medical illnesses that formerly were managed with just a medicine or two now have many more options. And the medication lists keep growing. I wonder at times if some of these new pharmaceutical additions truly add a material advantage over existing options. For instance, there is an array of effective heartburn medicines that I believe are largely equivalent to each other with respect to safet...
MD Whistleblower presents vignettes and commentaries on the medical profession. We peek 'behind the medical curtain' and deliver candor and controversy in every post.