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	<title>Poked and Prodded Blog &#187; Dena Rifkin, MD</title>
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		<title>Poked and Prodded Blog &#187; Dena Rifkin, MD</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com</link>
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		<title>Hospitals Get Ready to Treat &#8220;Holiday Heart&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/12/04/hospitals-get-ready-to-treat-holiday-heart/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/12/04/hospitals-get-ready-to-treat-holiday-heart/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart failure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kidney disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kidney failure]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthpoked.wordpress.com/?p=4810</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

During my medical training, I always seemed to find myself at the Veterans’ Affairs Hospital around Thanksgiving or Christmas. The day of the holiday itself was usually eerily quiet: We’d scrounge some holiday goodies from the nursing desks, eat a cafeteria dinner, and watch football or reruns of It’s a Wonderful Life, just like everyone [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=4810&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/12/04/hospitals-get-ready-to-treat-holiday-heart/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<title>New Statin Study: What It Really Means for Your Heart Attack Risk</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/20/new-statin-study-what-it-really-means-for-your-heart-attack-risk/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/20/new-statin-study-what-it-really-means-for-your-heart-attack-risk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cardiovascular disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crestor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart attack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pokedandprodded.health.com/?p=4310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

There&#8217;s a study out this week that&#8217;s gotten major headlines: Therapy with a statin may lower cardiovascular disease risk by about 50%, even in those with normal cholesterol.  Sounds great, right?  Not so fast.  This may indeed be good news, but it&#8217;s much more complicated than the headlines suggest.
First of all, let&#8217;s [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=4310&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/20/new-statin-study-what-it-really-means-for-your-heart-attack-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Kidney Doctors Take Philadelphia by Storm!</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/14/kidney-doctors-take-philadelphia-by-storm/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/14/kidney-doctors-take-philadelphia-by-storm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:42:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dena ri]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[doctor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kidney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pokedandprodded.health.com/?p=4060</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

I just returned from the major kidney disease conference—the American Society of Nephrology meeting. It may sound far-fetched, but there are enough kidney doctors in the United States to fill almost every hotel room in Philadelphia. The restaurants were swarming with us, the convention center overflowing. The airport had a sign welcoming us.
What do we [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=4060&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/14/kidney-doctors-take-philadelphia-by-storm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<title>Do Patients Get Better Care When They Look Like Their Doctors?</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/30/do-patients-get-better-care-when-they-look-like-their-doctors/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/30/do-patients-get-better-care-when-they-look-like-their-doctors/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patient doctor relationship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patient race]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthpoked.wordpress.com/?p=3636</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[


I saw a young man from Portugal, a new immigrant to the United States who didn&#8217;t speak English, a couple weeks ago in the hospital. He really needed a long-term physician. Like many such patients, he didn&#8217;t have access to health insurance here, and he hadn&#8217;t seen a doctor for more than three years. He [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=3636&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/30/do-patients-get-better-care-when-they-look-like-their-doctors/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>I See the Failure of the Health-Care System Every Day</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/23/i-see-the-failure-of-the-health-care-system-every-day/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/23/i-see-the-failure-of-the-health-care-system-every-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthpoked.wordpress.com/?p=3524</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past three weeks, each issue of The New England Journal of Medicine has featured viewpoints on the pressing health-care policy issues facing the next administration. These topics (in case you haven&#8217;t heard) include health insurance and rising health-care costs, and how to balance them economically, ethically, and politically.
I see the insanity of the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=3524&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/23/i-see-the-failure-of-the-health-care-system-every-day/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<title>The Best Way to Prepare for Medical School: Get a Job</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/15/the-best-way-to-prepare-for-medical-school-get-a-job/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/15/the-best-way-to-prepare-for-medical-school-get-a-job/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:00:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical students]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pokedandprodded.health.com/?p=3264</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
I like to listen to the conversations of the twentysomethings working in my department. They do everything from coordinating research activities to recruiting patients for new studies of kidney disease. Most have finished college and are thinking about medical school. At the lunch table, they talk about postcollege premedical classes (here&#8217;s an example of one [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=3264&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/15/the-best-way-to-prepare-for-medical-school-get-a-job/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Are Doctors Short on Empathy?</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/03/are-doctors-short-on-empathy/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/03/are-doctors-short-on-empathy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:00:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[doctors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patients]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthpoked.wordpress.com/?p=2928</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A number of news outlets have picked up an article, published in last week&#8217;s Archives of Internal Medicine, which suggests that physicians &#8220;miss&#8221; opportunities to express empathy and compassion in discussions with cancer patients. The researchers noted 384 &#8220;empathetic opportunities,&#8221; but only about 10% of those received an empathetic response.
The article was fascinating, but I [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=2928&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/10/03/are-doctors-short-on-empathy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<title>How to Take Care of the Very Old and Still Preserve Their Independence</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/26/how-to-take-care-of-the-very-old-and-still-preserve-their-independence/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/26/how-to-take-care-of-the-very-old-and-still-preserve-their-independence/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:00:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elderly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hospitals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://healthpoked.wordpress.com/?p=2536</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We treated a very old woman in the hospital this week. She was nearly 100, but looked ageless, sitting by the window and watching the world go slowly by her. She had gotten unsteady and short of breath at home and was waiting for us to make things better.
There&#8217;s something regal about the very old. As [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=2536&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/26/how-to-take-care-of-the-very-old-and-still-preserve-their-independence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<title>How Should We Honor Death in a Hospital?</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/19/how-should-we-honor-death-in-a-hospital/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/19/how-should-we-honor-death-in-a-hospital/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hospital]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pokedandprodded.health.com/?p=2343</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, I wrote about going to the hospital at night to see a very sick patient. I saw him only once, and this week I found out that he died a few days later.
When I logged in to the hospital&#8217;s computer system to check lab results on another patient, my &#8220;census&#8221;—the list of patients [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=2343&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/19/how-should-we-honor-death-in-a-hospital/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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		<title>The Quiet Focus of a Hospital at Night</title>
		<link>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/12/the-quiet-focus-of-a-hospital-at-night/</link>
		<comments>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/12/the-quiet-focus-of-a-hospital-at-night/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dena Rifkin, MD</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Doctor's POV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dena Rifkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pokedandprodded.health.com/?p=2059</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at the hospital late one night last week, seeing a patient in the intensive care unit. It&#8217;s oddly relaxing sometimes to be at the hospital late—not as much hustle and bustle, and no need to fight for a chart or a computer. There were just a few on-call interns and residents clustered around [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=pokedandprodded.health.com&blog=2779996&post=2059&subd=healthpoked&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/09/12/the-quiet-focus-of-a-hospital-at-night/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dena Rifkin, MD</media:title>
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