Great American Smokeout

Tana Loy

Associate Medical Writer

It is amazing how quickly information, and the opinions that come with it, spread in our technology-driven world.  With the advent of social media, we have seen just how quickly mere tidbits of information can explode online, ending up on our news feeds and eventually being discussed amongst ourselves.  With this method of obtaining information, it would be extremely interesting to see how we could have changed the public’s opinion on cigarette smoking had the deleterious information been available online in 1964.  

Next year will mark 40 years since the United States Surgeon General released a comprehensive study revealing the negative effects of cigarette smoking.¹ It took US government until 1971 to ban all radio and television advertisements for cigarettes.¹ In 1965, 42% of adults identified as smokers.²  In 2011, that number dropped dramatically to 19%.³  While a 51% drop in significant, smoking still cost us over $193 billion in 2004.⁴ One would think that the financial costs alone would be reason enough to stop, as per-person costs are estimated at $4,260 per adult smoker in 2004.⁴ However, Americans are still willing to shell out over $10 a pack in some areas.  

What will it take to get the remaining one-fifth of Americans to quit smoking? By now, it is extremely common knowledge that smoking is truly dangerous, and how every part of one’s overall well-being suffers from the effects of smoking. Will telling smokers over and over about the damage second-hand smoke does to those around them, especially their children, light the spark to get them to quit?  Will social ostracization ever be enough of a motivator?  How about higher taxes on cigarettes or smoke-free workplaces?  

Instead of punishing the smokers in our lives, maybe this year we can take a different approach.  This year, let’s encourage our friends to abstain on November 21 for The Great American Smokeout. Let’s pledge to support them by being available to listen when their willpower is tested, or by helping them keep track of their physical and mental changes during their journey to becoming smoke-free.  Let’s celebrate small victories with a special meal or gift to keep them on the right track.  We can offer to join our coworkers in an exercise break instead of a smoke break. For the healthcare professionals with patients who smoke, why not start an initiative to offer a smoking cessation treatment plan every time they come in for a visit? We can become partners in their victory, because their victory affects us all.

ARTCRAFT HEALTH & WELLNESS Artcraft Health Education & Wellness develops innovative, custom solutions to help hospitals and clinics educate patients and their caregivers. We create highly customized solutions with easy-to-understand information that encourages open communication between patients and healthcare professionals. Our educational materials can help you increase patient compliance, improve health outcomes, reduce readmission rates, and ensure full Medicare reimbursement.

 

References

•  http://www.antismokingadvisor.com/anti-smoking-ad-campaigns

• http://www.lung.org/finding-cures/our-research/trend-reports/Tobacco-Trend-Report.pdf

• http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/resources/data/cigarette-smoking-in-united-states.html

• http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/about-smoking/health-effects/smoking.html

 Publication Date November 6, 2013

Caregivers Awareness Month

Tana Loy

          Modern medicine and technology have been a miracle for so many of us. Science has produced drugs, machines, and therapies to lengthen our lifespans and improve our quality of life. This has introduced a new phenomenon to the American culture: caregiving. While providing care for family and friends is not new, the number of people who identify themselves as caregivers has grown exponentially in recent years. In 2009, there were an estimated 65.7 million people in the US who identified as a caregiver.¹ New advances in medicine aren’t the only reasons. The economic downturn has also forced many families to live together, with people providing unpaid care to their loved ones.²

          Our elderly loved ones are not the only demographic requiring assistance with their care. Many people also provide care to their own minor children or other relatives. However, one group of caregiving recipients is often overlooked: our nation’s veterans. 

          November is Caregiver Awareness Month, and on November 11, 2013, our nation celebrated Veterans Day. In a study published in 2010, 17% of caregivers to adults were providing support to veterans.³ As of 2013, there are approximately 11,000 caregivers enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs Caregiver Support Program.⁴ For caregivers of veterans of the post-9/11 era, this program provides a monthly stipend, 30 days of respite care, medical training for the caregiver, health insurance, mental health services, and travel reimbursement.⁵ However, for veterans who became ill or injured before 9/11, caregiving support is much more modest. Recently, new legislation was introduced to expand coverage to caregivers of veterans of the pre-9/11 era.

          Caregivers of veterans, whether or not they receive support, are performing a great service to our country, sometimes with great personal sacrifice. Caregiving is not an easy task, and caregiver burnout is a real condition. Caregivers may experience the following symptoms:

• Feelings of depression
• A sense of ongoing, constant fatigue 
• Decreasing interest in work
• Withdrawal from social activities and friends
• Increase in use of stimulants and alcohol
• Increasing fear of death 
• Change in eating patterns 
•  Feelings of helplessness

If you are a caregiver, Today’s Caregiver⁶ recommends the following tips to help you prevent burnout:

• Participate in a support network 
•  Consult with professionals to explore burnout issues 
•  Attend a support group to receive feedback and coping strategies 
•  Vary the focus of caregiving responsibilities, if possible (for example, rotate responsibilities with family members) 
•  Exercise daily and maintain a healthy diet\Establish "quiet time" for meditation 
•  Get a weekly massage 
•  Stay involved in hobbies

Caregivers are special people, taking on a job that is emotionally and physically challenging. However, there are resources available to help caregivers cope with the stress of caring for loved ones.

References:

1. Caregiving in the U.S.: Executive Summary (November 2009). Publication of National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with AARP. http://www.caregiving.org/pdf/research/CaregivingUSAllAgesExecSum.pdf.Accessed October 23. 2013.
2. Waseem F. Family caregivers on the rise, study says [news article]. USA Today Web site. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/20/number-of-family-care-givers-increases-according-to-study/2438827/. Published June 20, 2013. Accessed October 23, 2013.
3. Caregivers of Veterans – Serving on the Homefront. Report of Study Findings: November, 2010.
4. Publication of the National Alliance for Caregiving and United Health Foundation. http://www.caregiving.org/data/2010_Caregivers_of_Veterans_FULLREPORT_WEB_FINAL.pdf. Accessed October 23, 2013.
5.  Freking K. Veterans' caregivers cut out from federal benefit [news article]. Huffington Post Web site. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/veterans-federal-benefit_n_3868068.html. Published September 4, 2013. Accessed October 23, 2013.
6. VA Caregiver Support: Services for family caregivers of post-9/11 veterans. United States Department of Veterans Affairs Web site. http://www.caregiver.va.gov/support_benefits.asp. Updated August 10, 2012.  Accessed October 23, 2013.
7.  Seligson MR. Caregiver burnout. Today’s Caregiver Web site. http://caregiver.com/articles/caregiver/caregiver_burnout.htm. Accessed October 23, 2013.

ARTCRAFT HEALTH & WELLNESS Artcraft Health Education & Wellness develops innovative, custom solutions to help hospitals and clinics educate patients and their caregivers. We create highly customized solutions with easy-to-understand information that encourages open communication between patients and healthcare professionals. Our educational materials can help you increase patient compliance, improve health outcomes, reduce readmission rates, and ensure full Medicare reimbursement.

Is alternative medicine complementary to integrative health care?

How’s one to know?

Gene S Lysko

Medical Writer

A dynamic and evolving approach to medicine is gaining acceptance among both patients and health care providers. It’s called integrative medicine. At its core are 3 fundamental concepts that are commonly referred to by the following terms:

•  Alternative,
• Complementary, and
• Conventional medicine

Patients and health care professionals sometimes mistakenly use these terms, often combining or interchanging them. The result can be confusion about, and even outright dismissal of, several beneficial forms of health care.

Let’s begin to clarify the conversation by defining the basic concepts. The NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), charged with defining the usefulness of complementary health approaches and their roles in health care, recognizes that there’s some misunderstanding. As a result, NCCAM defines the complementary approach as one that uses a nonmainstream approach together with conventional medicine. Alternative, according to NCCAM, refers to using a nonmainstream approach in place of conventional medicine. 

While NCCAM does not concisely define integrative medicine or health care, it suggests that the phrase “complementary health approaches” is a more appropriate substitute. Clear?

Some clarity about integrative medicine

Duke Medicine, as reported by US News and World Report, defines integrative medicine as “…the practice of medicine that focuses on the whole person and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals, and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing.”

In this context, integrative medicine is a combination of state-of-the-art, conventional medical treatments, and other therapies known to be safe and effective. Fundamentally, integrative medicine should be viewed through the lens of health and wellness, rather than being predicated on a disease model.

How is integrative medicine different from conventional medicine?

One way to illustrate the differences is to compare them side by side. Duke Integrative Medicine (dukeintegrativemedicine.org) provides just such a clean snapshot of the differences.

What integrative medicine does	What conventional medicine does
Optimizes an individual’s health	Manages disease
Treats the whole person	Treats the patient’s symptoms
Identifies the risk and minimizes it	Finds the problem and fixes it
Uses high-touch, whole-person approaches	Uses high-tech, biomedical interventions
Proactive; anticipates possible health issues and promotes prevention	Reactive; reacts to existing health issues

Integrative medicine also works differently than conventional medicine. These differences may be summarized and compared as follows:

How integrative medicine works	How conventional medicine works
Plans for wellness and optimal health across the individual’s life span	Intervenes as needed
Supports patients to help them reach optimal health goals	Relies on the patient to reach his or her own health goals
Guided by a partnership between patient, physician, and a team of specialized experts	Directed by the physician

Some specifics

NCCAM divides its complementary health approaches into 2 groups: natural products that include herbs, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics, and mind and body practices. Mind and body practices include diverse methods administered by a trained professional or teacher. Examples of mind and body practices that are safe and effective include:

•  Acupuncture
• Healing touch or biofield therapies 
• Hypnotherapy, a state of focused attention and altered consciousness 
• Massage therapy
• Meditation and other mindfulness techniques 
• Movement therapies such as Pilates and Structural Integration 
• Relaxation techniques including guided imagery and deep breathing 
• Spinal manipulation
• Tai chi and Qigong 
• Yoga

Integrative medicine and you

The trend toward integrative medicine is happening right now, and its acceptance is rapidly growing among health care providers and health care systems. While evidence is lacking in some areas, the safety and effectiveness of complementary and alternative health care practices are well known and established in others. Whether you are a patient or a health care provider, you may benefit from an understanding of the movement toward integrated medicine. 

That’s where Artcraft Health Education can help. We provide education for both patients and health care professionals. Visit our website at www.artcrafthealtheducation.com to learn more.