Lately it seems a rash (no pun intended) of patients have asked me how it was that they contracted their Staph infections. Some had MRSA, others MSSA. Some suffered from bacteremia, others osteomyelitis, and others still were challenged by skin/soft tissue infections in the form of painful and unsightly abscesses. Some had recently undergone ...

''America has spoken'' says Nick Cannon from America's Got Talent and the winner is: The American People! This is the feeling of many when the Supreme Court ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is constitutional. Are the American people really winners? Absolutely! As the healthcare reform unfolds, nurse ...

I don't know how many of my fellow NPs and PAs have seen and or heard about HBO's four-part documentary on obesity in America, The Weight of the Nation, but I can't recommend it enough: it is an awesome and totally relevant examination of health in the States. So many of the individuals profiled in this series were reminiscent of ...

In the last month and a half I have met and treated two women, both newly diagnosed with HIV and previously unaware and unsuspecting of their corresponding diagnoses. In both cases the women contracted it from their former husbands. I say former because one of the men died approximately one month before his wife, patient #1, learned of her ...

There are several divisions to the medical department at the correctional facility, and for the most part, everyone works collaboratively. There is the medical team consisting of myself, my collaborative physician and our nurse, an LPN. Also, there are nurses, an RN and LPN, who distribute the medication, perform physicals, administer TB testing, ...

As NPs & PAs approached the holiday weekend (and with any luck, a few days off), and editor Michelle Perron Pronsati and senior associate editor Jennifer Ford arrived at the AAPA IMPACT conference, our social networks, community pages and articles buzzed with thoughtful comments and many heated opinions. Always a controversial topic ...

Recently our group was consulted in the care of a patient newly diagnosed with HIV. This patient presented to the hospital via the ED with altered mental status. A lumbar puncture was performed and the cerebrospinal fluid was sent off to the microlab for cultures. About 48 hours later, it was positive for Cryptococcus. An HIV test ...

My new position affords me the opportunity to provide care and management of patients living with HIV.  Living is the operative verb. Gone are the days of taking at least 17 pills PO q 24 hours. Patients in the United States, diagnosed with HIV, that commence Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and are medication compliant, will more likely ...

STD screens and treatment are a bread-and-butter public health service. Screenings are usually handled by enhanced-role RNs trained in speculum exams, collecting cultures and wet mounts, though not performing Pap smears. Because our enhanced role RN is the lead nurse for the entire clinic, I do the STD screens when she's covering other ...

Where does the time go? Like an uninvited houseguest, Fall has arrived. As the month creeps forward, the upcoming school year looms larger on the horizon and thousands of 17- and 18-year-olds prepare to depart for college. Many of the young women I have seen in clinic this past month are actively culling together their vaccination ...