Better Health: Smart Health Commentary

Advertisement

The Whistling Nose: How Can It Be Corrected?

November 6th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips
No Comments »

Though most people like the professional nose whistler shown here require an instrument to enable the nose to whistle, in others it occurs naturally due to unique anatomic features within the nose.

Why might someone’s nose whistle?

Septal Perforation

The most common reason it may occur constantly is due to a hole in the septum (septal perforation). The septum is a wall that divides the right nasal cavity from the left side. Normally, it should be straight and without any openings.

However, when a hole is present in the septum and it is in just the right size and place, whenever air is breathed in and out of the nose, it will whistle. In this situation, the hole is the “window” of the whistle and the nose itself is the mouthpiece.

Correction of this problem is by Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*

Why Are Patients Readmitted To The Hospital Within 30 Days Of Discharge?

January 13th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Opinion
3 Comments »

Bouncing back to the hospital refers to patients who were discharged from the hospital but return during some defined period of time.  This will become important as insurance companies, including CMS, stop paying for patients who are readmitted within some defined period for the same condition.  In medical circles, we usually refer to this as the 30 day readmission rate.

When hospitalist groups were first coming on the scene and were showing reduced length of stay, many folks falsely believed that hospitalists must have a higher percentage of patients bouncing back into the hospital.  I have yet to see any research that indicates such trend every existed. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist Blog*