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Wards

General medicine ward rotations comprise the core experience of the internal medicine residency. Interns admit, diagnose, and manage patients with a broad range of internal medicine problems, while serving as the primary caregiver of the medical team. Residents lead teams of two interns and oversee management decisions, teach interns and medical students, and guide their team through clinical decision making. There are multiple educational opportunities provided through conferences, formal and informal daily rounds, and afternoon teaching sessions. During ward rotations, each team of interns and residents has two dedicated general internal medicine or subspecialist attendings who lead teaching conferences with particular focus on current medical dilemmas on the ward. Teams are arranged and located geographically by Firms, meaning that most of the team’s patients are located on one or two floors of the hospital.

Surviving Colic

The Witching Hour, the Arsenic Hour … whatever you want to call it, ask any parent of a newborn what the hours between 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. might look like, and chances are high that they will tell you it’s not pretty … a warm, fuzzy Facebook moment … not so much.

Physical & Occupational Therapy Services at Chestnut Hill

BIDHC Chestnut Hill's Physical and Occupational Therapy offers services to treat a range of conditions and injuries. Learn more about our clinic and team.

How to support a friend through cancer

Your friend has been diagnosed with cancer. How can you best support them? Here are some specific suggestions for helping a friend who is battling cancer.

Helping a Friend with Cancer

Cancer Statistics: Don't Get Hung Up on the Numbers

Knowing your cancer prognosis is important, but be wary of statistics. A cancer prognosis based on the median survival can fall either way.

Is Cancer Due Mainly to Bad Luck

We know that there are only a few cancers that can be linked to behaviors: some lung cancers are the most obvious example. The culprits then are smoking and asbestos exposure; it is important to remember that many other lung cancers are not related to either thing, and fall into the bad luckcategory. Some head and neck cancers are associated with (and associatedis different than caused by) the combination of heavy smoking and drinking. As hard as we try to identify other carcinogens and pin our cancers on dry cleaner fluids or DDT or diets heavy in animal protein....there is really no hard data. We know about some gene mutations and the increased risk of cancer; the best known are the BRCA mutations and the higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer. That leaves luck, or the lack thereof.

NICUs: Working Together to Help Their Patients

In Massachusetts, there are 10 medical institutions with Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). A Level III NICU is capable of caring for the sickest of newborn and preterm babies. Massachusetts is one of just a few states where these NICUs share information in an effort to help ensure the best outcome for their patients – the tiniest and most vulnerable. Learn more about the NICU at BIDMC in Boston.

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy

BIDMC offers pelvic floor physical therapy for patients dealing with urinary or bowel frequency, urinary or fecal incontinence, pain or prolapse. Learn more.

Long Term Effects of Neuropathy

This is discouraging. As most of you know, neuropathy can be a side effect of some chemotherapy drugs, most often the Taxanes. Although it does not happen to everyone and although the intensity is highly variable, some people have real difficulties: pain and numbness and an inability to "feel the ground" or to manage some simple hand/finger tasks. It can be quite disabling and frustrating if you can't button your shirt or feel that your balance is really impacted by your foot numbness. Like most other body things, we don't really notice something until it goes wrong. As we walk, we don't appreciate the feeling of the ground or a rug or a ladder underneath our feet--but take away that sensation, and we are really handicapped.

New Treatments for Lymphedema Available at BIDMC

Plastic surgeons at BIDMC in Boston are bringing new hope to cancer patients by offering innovative procedures for preventing and treating lymphedema.

Intimacy Through and Beyond Cancer

Intimacy means being close with a partner, family member or friend. Find ways to connect with the important people in your life while going through cancer.

Scalp Cooling and Hair Loss

This topic has been discussed before, but it is getting more attention as evidenced by a brief article in Jama Networkyesterday. This coincided with a decision here to begin a three month pilot program to offer appropriate patients up to $500 to purchase a set of cooling caps. We do have a freezer in the Infusion Area, but the logistics are difficult. A woman must begin wearing the cap 30-60 minutes before the infusion and continue doing so for a similar period of time afterwards. The caps must be changed every 30 minutes. This clearly means that there needs to be a companion who is responsible for the fetching and changing; neither the patient nor the infusion nurse can manage this.

No Spoiling

At some point in our pre-parenting lives, most of us have heard that you can’t spoil a baby. So why is it then, that as soon as we become parents, any progress in our slowly developing parental self -confidence is completely shaken when anyone makes the accusation, “You’re going to spoil that baby.”