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Medical cannabis is one of those industries with language that can be terribly confusing. Much of the confusion lies in the fact that commonly accepted terms are not necessarily universal from one part of the country to the next. Take the term ‘certification’. Do you know how it applies to medical cannabis?

Harvard Health Publishing refers to certification as the process through which a patient has access to state-legal medical cannabis. They say that doctors cannot prescribe medical cannabis like they would a prescription painkiller or an antibiotic. So instead, they certify patients as being eligible to obtain and use cannabis medicinally.

Recommending Is the Same Thing

Certification is more or less a doctor attesting to the fact that a patient suffers from a qualifying condition and that medical cannabis is an appropriate way to treat said condition. Depending on how state medical cannabis programs are set up, certification can be achieved digitally or on paper. Most states use digital systems.

Utah has deployed what state regulators refer to as the electronic verification system (EVS). This is a digital system through which both medical providers and patients participate in the medical cannabis program. It is more or less a centralized database containing all of the necessary information required under state law.

However, the term ‘certification’ is not the preferred term in the Beehive State. Instead, medical providers ‘recommend’ medical cannabis to their patients. Same thing, different term. Doctors are still required to conduct medical evaluations. They still attest to a patient having a qualified condition. They verify that medical cannabis is an appropriate treatment.

They Do Not Prescribe

Regardless of the term a given state chooses to describe the doctor’s role in medical cannabis, states are careful to make sure that ‘prescribe’ and its derivatives are not used. This is the one universal truth in medical cannabis. It is that way by design.

Remember that cannabis is still illegal under federal law. Therefore, it is also illegal for doctors to prescribe it. No doctor can legally whip out a prescription pad, write an order for medical cannabis, and send it off with the patient to the local drug store. That is not how it works.

Some states, like Utah, license specialized pharmacies to dispense nothing but medical cannabis products. Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake City is one such operation. The company has a second location in Brigham City. Neither location accepts written prescriptions. Instead, patients must have valid medical cannabis cards before they can purchase.

Patients Ultimately Self-Medicate

One of the challenges of certification and recommendation is that patients do not necessarily receive strict instructions about delivery method and dosage. They are left to self-medicate in whatever way seems best to them. On the one hand, this could be good. On the other hand, it could turn out very bad.

Until doctors are allowed to legally prescribe medical cannabis, it doesn’t make any sense for them to attempt to offer concrete instructions for dosage and delivery. Such instructions are better left to a pharmacist, a trained professional who understands pharmacology in relation to the human endocannabinoid system.

At any rate, you now know that a doctor’s certification is little more than a recommendation to use medical cannabis. A doctor choosing to certify a patient agrees that the person has a qualifying medical condition that can and should be treated with cannabis. Other states might use other terms, but they all mean pretty much the same thing. And as long as doctors cannot prescribe medical cannabis, the terms now in play will continue to be used.

Amid the complexity and stress of the modern hospital environment, the patient experience often becomes unintended collateral damage. High patient acuity, chronic understaffing, fragmented communication systems and limited budgets all constrain even the most well-meaning leaders’ ability to truly humanize care delivery. However, rediscovering the sacredness of human dignity and human connection in the process of healing is an ethical and practical imperative that hospital leaders can no longer afford to ignore. 

Confronting the Drivers of Dehumanization 

Today’s hospital patients frequently feel like commodities on an assembly line, subjected to repeated questions, long anxious waits, frequent disruptions, confusing instructions, and caregiver interactions devoid of true empathy and compassion. But at their core, patients are far more than clinical diagnoses to be treated or problems to be pragmatically solved. They are emotional, spiritual beings who are longing to be seen, heard, understood, and authentically cared for as fellow humans. 

An Ethical Mandate for Change

Improving the patient experience is not just an issue of smart customer service strategy in an age of healthcare consumerism. At its foundation, it is a profound ethical mandate centered on upholding human dignity. Hospital leaders have a deep moral obligation to patients as fellow vulnerable human beings – not merely faceless consumers or revenue sources – who enter their doors often at positions of extreme physical, emotional, and social need. 

Ten High-Impact Strategies to Humanize Care 

Though the challenges are complex, tangible strategies and interventions can help breathe new life into humanizing the patient experience. Ten high-impact approaches include:

• Staffing Models that Allow Quality Time: Adjust nurse-patient ratios and clinical workflows to reasonably allow caregivers to invest dedicated time in building trust, rapport, and relationships with patients that cannot be rushed. 
• Integrated Mental Health Resources: The experts at Horizon Health recommend embedding specialists like psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, licensed social workers, and counselors, as well as behavioral health consulting groups, to support patients’ emotional needs and help them process psychological traumas associated with hospitalization.
• Nurse Leader Rounding: Have senior nursing leadership, including the Chief Nursing Officer, regularly round at the bedside to listen to patient feedback in real-time and empower frontline staff to implement immediate experience improvements based on insights.
• Patient & Family Advisory Councils: Actively engage former patients and family members in sharing lived care experiences and guiding enhancement initiatives as equal partners at the leadership table. 
• Soothing Physical Environments: Make intentional design choices that create calming, peaceful, private, and dignified physical healing environments conducive to patient rest, family accommodation, and human connection.
• Caregiver Wellness & Support: Promote and model clinician self-care, work-life balance, psychological safety, diversity awareness, stress resilience and renewal to combat burnout’s erosion of empathy and compassion.  
• Interdisciplinary Team Building: Foster cultures of trust, compassion, and seamless coordination across clinical disciplines through regular team building, communication protocols, and continual improvement processes.
• Leadership Rounding & Shadowing: Ensure executives and leaders regularly round across units and departments to engage staff and shadow frontline workflows to gain true empathy for care team experience.
• Patient Feedback in Real-Time: Use bedside technology and tools to capture patient feedback and needs in real-time and rapidly mobilize responses to prevent downstream issues.
• Ongoing Measurement & Improvement: Track quantitative metrics and qualitative feedback at the unit level to celebrate successes and continuously refine experience enhancement initiatives.

Conclusion

While deeply challenging, the path to redefining and optimizing the patient experience leads to greater humanity, connection, and trust in the sacred relationship between caregivers and those they serve. With bold vision, courage to question the status quo, and compassion as the guide, hospital leaders can bring this new reality steadily closer each day.

According to Bharat Bhise, the obsession with losing weight has overshadowed human fascination with food and different cuisines. Weight loss consistently comes up as one of the top New Year’s resolutions. A lot of people turn to diet pills to lose weight. Let’s check out if they actually help you lose weight. 

The Pills

Weight loss journey and introduction to diet pills – Most health professionals, coaches, and nutritionists agree that the healthiest method of weight loss is regular exercise combined with a well-balanced diet of healthy food in moderate portions. Understanding your eating habits and moderating them is also crucial for losing weight successfully. 

According to the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, increased exercise, a healthy diet, and behavioral therapy can help people lose around 10 percent of their body weight within the first six months. However, some people look for a quicker way of losing weight. 

If you have a BMI of 30 or more, have obesity-related health issues, and haven’t been able to lose a pound every week even after six months of diet and exercise, your doctor may recommend weight loss medications. Things start to go very wrong when you try to take control and start buying over-the-counter diet pills.

Diet pill controversy – Weight loss medications are very controversial for obvious reasons. After serious health problems, too many products have been taken off the market. For instance, Fen-Phen, a combination of phentermine and fenfluramine, was linked to numerous deaths and was linked to damaged heart valves, and hypertension. After a probe from the FDA, the manufacturers recalled their products from the market.   

There are many such cases where severe side effects were linked to weight loss pills and that’s why doctors have also become very hesitant to prescribe them. Moreover, most people lose around 5 to 10 pounds more from taking weight loss medications. While these results are significant to the medical community, they are very disappointing to patients. Moreover, those few pounds are quickly gained back when patients get off those pills.

FDA-approved pills – Weight loss pills from different brands work very differently. Some reduce your body’s capability of absorbing fats from food while others suppress your appetite. Moreover, along with weight loss pills, diabetic medications, antidepressants, and anti-seizure medication is also prescribed to deal with the side effects. 

Usually, for the short term, your doctor may prescribe you FDA-approved pills like Didrex, Tenuate, Fastin, Bontril, and more. For the long term, you may be prescribed FDA-approved pills like Qsymia, Saxenda, Contrave, and Xenical. However, you should avoid over-the-counter weight loss pills since most aren’t FDA-approved. They are usually ineffective at best and dangerous at worst.   

Conclusion

Bharat Bhise suggests that you do your own research and scrutinize diet pills before you purchase them. According to the FDA, most diet pills that promise an easy route to weight loss don’t work. Some of them may even be dangerous. While you should try to avoid obesity, diet pills may not be the answer.

According to Dr Richard Nahas, juicing is the practice of turning whole fruits or veggies into homemade juice. It’s very different from store-bought stuff and has many benefits. Juicing has been on a rising trend in recent years due to its health benefits. Let’s reveal the mysterious benefits of juicing. 

The Benefits

More fibre – Store-bought juices often lack fibres. When fruits go through heavy-duty industrial machinery, the juice that comes out often lacks a lot of fibres. On the other hand, if you eat whole fruits, you get a lot of insoluble fibre that’s great for your digestion. 

If you don’t have the time to eat a lot of whole fruits, you can turn them into a juice or smoothie. Turning fruits into juice strips away a lot of insoluble fibre. However, you still get plenty of soluble fibres that help to lower bad cholesterol in your body. With smoothies, you get all the benefits. 

Helps with digestion – A few times, your body’s digestive capacity takes a hit. You may be recovering from surgery or due to some other problems, your body may have a hard time digesting a lot of the regular food you eat. That’s where natural homemade juices come in. Since they are in liquid form, your body doesn’t need to put a lot of effort to break them down into nutrients.

More nutritious than store-bought stuff – Buying a few juice packs from the supermarket is very convenient. You can simply pick a few packs during the monthly or weekly grocery shopping. However, supermarket juice packs contain a lot of preservatives and none of the fibres. 

While you need to put in a bit of effort for juicing whole fruits and vegetables at home, it’s worth it since you get a lot of benefits. You have control over the quality of the product and aren’t just drinking adulterated cheap stuff that does nothing for your health.

More antioxidants – Homemade juices contain more antioxidants. Studies have shown that freshly squeezed juice has more antiviral and antioxidant compounds compared to store-bought alternatives. Some studies also found that fresh apple and berry juice contains more ellagic acid compared to store-bought packs. Ellagic acid is a naturally occurring tannin that works like a powerful antioxidant and has several cancer-preventive properties.

Combat eating disorders – Eating disorders don’t just affect your physical health but affect your mental well-being as well. Overcoming binge eating is very important since it can quickly lead to obesity and negatively affect your self-esteem and self-confidence. That’s where juicing can help. 

Drinking juices helps you feel full and combat your eating disorders effectively. While some argue that water does the same, water doesn’t provide your body with any energy and keeps you hungry which makes your eating disorder worse. Fruit juices help you feel full while providing your body with small doses of energy.     

Conclusion

Dr Richard Nahas suggests that you indulge in juicing to reap all the above-mentioned health benefits. It allows you to consume a lot of nutrients in a quick and easy manner and doesn’t contain preservatives and other chemicals present in store-bought juices.

The medical word is never far from the cutting edge of innovative technology. Every technological trend that revolutionizes other areas of life and work will always have a bearing on medical science. In fact, very often it is precisely for medical applications that much new technology is actually developed. Research and development are part of the medical world – the imperative to find new ways of caring for patients and saving lives is just too strong – and medicine never lags behind technology. In fact, it is nearly always at the forefront of it.

This is something that has far-reaching implications for new healthcare graduates. Health Jobs Nationwide, an online health jobs board, says that competency with advanced technology is already a requirement for most healthcare vacancies. But not only that, but it is also an item of well-known wisdom that everything a graduate has learned before beginning work has the potential to become obsolete very quickly. Many healthcare professionals now making use of advanced communication technology in order to provide telehealth care, for example, would have learned nothing about this during their studies or training. That is how fast things move.

It is absolutely no surprise, therefore, that augmented reality, which refers to the experience of real-life stimuli with computerized information and graphics overlaid, is already making an impact in the healthcare world. Those poor medical professionals about half way through their career are just going to have to come to grips with this technology too. And there will be something else in a couple of years!

What is Augmented Reality in Healthcare?

Augmented reality is a diverse technology that works on the fundamental principle of integrating digital information onto the user’s real-world environment. This information can take many forms, but for healthcare it is most commonly visual information (graphics) overlaid onto the visual perception of the user.

Where healthcare is concerned, the most important thing is simulation. Medical procedures can rarely be “practiced” without a patient actually requiring one – and what patient would like to be practiced upon! With augmented reality, we can simply get so much closer to the real thing without endangering life. You will notice that many of the augmented reality technologies now being realized revolve around precisely this potential.

The medical world is never far from the cutting edge of innovative technology. Every technological trend that revolutionizes other areas of life and work will always have a bearing on medical science. In fact, very often it is precisely for medical applications that much new technology is actually developed. Research and development are part of the medical world – the imperative to find new ways of caring for patients and saving lives is just too strong – and medicine never lags behind technology. In fact, it is nearly always at the forefront of it. If you’re interested in staying updated on the latest developments in medical technology and pharmaceuticals, this website provides a wealth of information. It covers various topics, including the impact of innovations like Cialis 5mg on modern healthcare.

Examples of Augmented Reality in Healthcare

So, how is augmented reality being used in healthcare right now? Here are a handful of examples:

Education

The potential for augmented reality in medical training goes far beyond simulated surgeries. Students can now use the technology to explore the human anatomy with a body that doesn’t really exist. Holograms are better than cadavers because they can be programmed to behave like a living body, not a dead one.

Simulated Environments

NASA is already training astronauts with augmented reality. The exact same principle is sure to be used to train paramedics in precisely the same way. The technology certainly exists to create a super-realistic disaster or accident scene, something that will mean better trained paramedics on day one of the job.

3D Printing

3D printing is where augmented reality gets as close as possible to actual reality, as it involves the creation of real-world objects – just ones which are models of real things. Imagine a 3D printed heart that you can operate on, or a prosthetic limb printed with every detail of a real leg. This technology is almost certainly on its way.

The examples given above should be more than enough to convince anyone that, perhaps more than any other new technology, augmented reality has a secure place within medicine. Make no mistake, we are going to see more of it.