Anger management in health care; life and death diagnoses; training body and brain for endurance – Morning Medical Update

‘The most hideous and frenzied of all the emotions’

Anger is not good for the health of doctors and patients. While it cannot be avoided, it can be managed. Read this article with explanations and strategies from two physicians about dealing with anger in yourself, colleagues and patients.

Diagnoses and death row

Medical diagnoses deal with life and death. Here’s another reminder of that. Medical diagnoses are at the heart of the case of Robert Roberson, the Texas man sentenced to die because of the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. The ruling hinges on three diagnoses – shaken baby syndrome or another cause of Nikki’s death, and Roberson’s diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. To learn more about abusive head trauma in infants, here’s a link to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

A sound mind in a sound body

Brain endurance training is a technique elite athletes use to improve their stamina. A new study out of England and Spain found it can be helpful for older adults as well. The key is training the body and brain with a combination of physical and mental exercises. The researchers said a larger sample size is needed but early results were promising. Here’s the study and an accompanying news release.