[Shaare Zedek Medical Center's model of an integrated division of internal medicine].

BACKGROUND: The specialty and practice of internal medicine have been subject to serious challenges in the last two decades. METHODS: We describe the integrative model of internal medicine as developed in our hospital, providing solutions to some major challenges. RESULTS: Major components include: (1) Senior physicians and residents are employed by the Division rather than individual Departments of Medicine, allowing for balanced distribution of professional capabilities. (2) Two medical departments specialize in geriatric medicine, while the other departments take care of younger, more intellectually challenging patients. Senior and junior staff members rotate through these departments, allowing for exposure to different patient populations and professional expertise. (3) The backbone of senior physicians is rewarded by a set of incentives, including dedicated time for research. (4) Senior staff from the subspecialties contributes annually 1-2 months as senior physicians in the departments and receive academic and other compensation for their efforts. (5) In cases where medical departments elsewhere are flooded with corridor admissions (a source of frustration and burnout), a short admission unit in the emergency department relieves internal medicine pressures and shortens evaluation and therapy for many patients. CONCLUSION: Our integrative model of internal medicine allows for improved patient and staff distribution, greater satisfaction among patients and family members, greater professional satisfaction among physicians, while resident vacancies are filled with competent residents.

Delayed diagnosis of subacute angle closure glaucoma in patients presenting with headaches.

Subacute angle closure glaucoma (SACG) may lead to chronic angle closure glaucoma and irreversible vision loss. Headaches may be the sole presenting symptom. This study characterizes the medical course and symptoms of patients with SACG in whom headache was the major symptom. This retrospective observational study consisted of 30 consecutive patients, suffering from headaches and diagnosed with SACG, collected from the Glaucoma Service at the Ophthalmology Department of Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel, a tertiary care referral facility. The primary study outcomes were reasons for referral, number of specialists visited and number of imaging studies performed before diagnosing SACG and headache characteristics. The majority of the patients experienced headaches once or twice a week. Four patients suffered a classic SACG pain involving the eye and frontal or hemicranial area. The mean time from onset of headaches to diagnosis was 2.6 years. The main reason for referral to the glaucoma clinic was consultation (53 %), and SACG was suspected by the referring physicians in two patients. Seventy-three percent of the patients were referred to at least three physicians in various medical specialties prior to referral to the glaucoma clinic. Patients usually do not volunteer history regarding headaches and clinicians often do not associate headaches with SACG in the absence of ocular symptoms. SACG should be included in the differential diagnosis in individuals older than 40 years presenting with late onset of headaches. Such patients should be referred to an ophthalmologist.

Vitamin D: a new anti-infective agent?

Before the antibiotic era, treatment of tuberculosis patients was restricted to sun exposure in sanatoria. Years later, it was found that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 stimulates production of cathelicidins, a family of polypeptides found in lysosomes of macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Cathelicidins serve a critical role in innate immune defense, which plays an important role in the suppression of Mycobacterium infections and other pathogens. It is believed that the increased incidence of the common cold and pneumonia during winter is related, in part, to decreased exposure to sunlight, resulting in a decreased synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. An association has been established between low levels of vitamin D and upper respiratory and enteric infections, pneumonia, otitis media, Clostridium infections, vaginosis, urinary tract infections, sepsis, influenza, dengue, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV infections. Accumulating evidence suggests that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 exerts protective effects during infections by upregulating the expression of cathelicidin and ß-defensin 2 in phagocytes and epithelial cells. Vitamin D may be acting as a panaceal antibiotic agent and thus may be useful as an adjuvant therapy in diverse infections.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine among patients attending rheumatology clinics in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative medicine has recently attracted attention due to its widespread use. In a recent study in Israel, almost a half of CAM users in the general population used it for joint diseases or back pain. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of CAM use among patients with defined rheumatic diseases, and analyze the demographic features of CAM users, their reasons for using CAM and the use of specific CAM methods. METHODS: We conducted face-to-face structured interviews of 350 patients attending rheumatology clinics, regarding past or present use of CAM, specifying the various CAM types they used, and reasons for using CAM. Demographic data including age, gender, country of birth and origin, and level of education were also collected. RESULTS: Altogether, 148 patients reported using CAM (42%). In general, homeopathy and acupuncture were the most commonly used types (44% and 41% of the patients, respectively). The mean number of CAM methods per patient was 1.9 +/- 1.1. CAM was more commonly used by patients with advanced education (52% vs. 37% of patients with lower education, P= 0.007). Patients with rheumatoid arthritis used CAM significantly less than patients with other rheumatologic conditions (32% vs. 48%, P= 0.008). CONCLUSION: CAM use is influenced by level of education. The choice of the preferred CAM method among patients with rheumatic diseases seemed to follow the popular CAM methods in the general population, and was not specific to rheumatic diseases.