Pot and Pregnancy Warning
Pot and pregnancy can be a dangerous combination The legal use of marijuana is growing, with three U.S. states and the District of Columbia now endorsing legal marijuana use. An additional 21 states allow use of medical marijuana under physician prescription and supervision. The brain is a sensitive organ vulnerable to a variety of insults. This is particularly true during periods of brain development from conception through adolescence. Studies of pot’s effect on adults cannot be generalized to pregnant women, children or adolescents. This growing trend for marijuana legalization has not come without a variety of emerging adverse consequences. A recent review of the unexpected adverse health effects of marijuana legalization in Colorado found a spike in marijuana-related burns and increased emergency room visits related to high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels and vomiting. Children have also been vulnerable to growing environmental exposure to pot. Legalization of marijuana in Colorado has resulted in a spike in emergency room and hospital admissions related to children accidentally ingesting edible THC products. Concern regarding pot and children extends to pregnancy and the developing fetal brain. Despite growing acceptance of marijuana in adults, very little is known about the effect of pot exposure during pregnancy. What we do know is unsettling. Pot use by pregnant mothers, or second-hand exposure to smoked marijuana, leads to fetal exposure as the active ingredients in pot cross the placenta barrier. Pot contains chemicals related to natural chemicals involved in fetal brain development. Normal fetal brain development requires a precisely-timed, specific-dose exposure to unique chemical signals. Chemicals in pot may disrupt this process and lead to abnormal development and to abnormal migration of fetal brain cells. Research into fetal pot toxicity is very much in an early stage. What we know is much less than what we don’t know. Given the potential for fetal brain toxicity with pot it is best to err on the side of caution. General medical consensus exists that pot should be avoided during pregnancy. Pot-smoking female adolescents and women who are considering pregnancy need to stop the use of marijuana. If this can’t be accomplished on their own, they should find an addiction specialist or treatment center that can provide expert care. Click here to read the article in Addiction.com. A new study A new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that 7 percent of pregnant women use marijuana during pregnancy based on health surveys involving nearly 500,000 U.S. women. Pot use during pregnancy has doubled since 2002, research shows. Dr. Nicole Saphier warns that pot and pregnancy can be a dangerous combination. The purpose of the study was to determine if there was an increase in marijuana use among pregnant women, as we are witnessing a rising number of states where marijuana has been legalized for medical and recreational use. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug during pregnancy. Based on 467,100 respondents surveyed between 2002 and 2017, the prevalence of daily cannabis use increased among pregnant (and non-pregnant) women ages 12 to 44 years. It was also higher among women in their first trimester of pregnancy, which is a crucial time in fetal development. Because of concerns regarding impaired fetal development, as well as maternal and fetal exposure to the adverse effects of smoking, women who are pregnant or contemplating pregnancy should discontinue recreational marijuana use and discuss the potential risks with their doctor if using it for medicinal purposes. Many organizations and growing numbers of elected officials – including Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts...
Read MoreHappy New Year 2016!
We welcome you to join us in making 2016 an even better year for all of us in our personal health and in our relationships with our families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, as well as in learning how to live meaningful lives of service to those around us! His Branches Health Services is looking forward to continued growth, and we’re counting on your support and prayer along the way as we: work more closely together as teams to meet your needs. grow our Patient Centered Medical Home and make it even more “home-like.” learn more about the advanced capabilities of our new Medent EMR system. expand our national certifications beyond Meaningful Use and PCMH to FQHC status. recruit another physician to join our staff who likes to deliver babies. understand more about applying living faith in all that we do. God bless you all! Source...
Read MoreOur New Care Manager
We invite you to join us in welcoming John Scruton, RN, BSN, to our office staff as our new Care Manager, replacing Babette Burgan. Supported by our clinical care teams and under-girded by the URMC clinical consortium we belong to, Accountable Health Partners, John brings his strong faith and a wealth of education and experience to our interdisciplinary position. As a Registered Nurse incorporating his Masters Degree studies in Public Health, he has been working with our care teams since March to identify and proactively manage the care needs of high risk patients in our practice. Among other tasks, his role includes providing assessment, care coordination, advocacy and coaching for identified patients that are at risk for hospital admissions or emergency room visits. In a recent article in the AHP News, John reflected on his nursing and complex care management experience as follows: I was educated at a private college in Florida [Pensacola Christian College] where excellence and holistic nursing care were heavily emphasized. I remained in the area after graduation and worked at a local hospital where I dove into the world of medical surgical oncology. It was there that I gained an appreciation for care that reaches beyond a set of doctor’s orders. Understanding the patient clinically and then seeing where he or she could be with judicious help and extra attention made an impression on me. Once I moved to New York, I took a position in bone marrow transplant nursing at Wilmot Cancer Institute, where a culture of excellence, caring, and shared responsibility prevailed. I think the greatest lessons learned there were that no one is truly unreachable, and no one should ever be knowingly left in the cracks. If you see an issue, you own that issue, even if it isn’t your patient. Once I joined the AHP care management/ His Branches team, I continued to build upon my skills by focusing on those having difficulty remaining engaged in their medical plan of care. Helping patients to do those things that they cannot do for themselves as well as tapping into their motivations and values in the service of realizing their health goals lies at the heart of good care management. It is important to understand the bigger picture of a patient’s life outside of the 20 minutes or so that a physician sees them. There is a life that goes on outside of the walls in which practitioners practice, and a great need to incorporate key aspects of that life into a workable care plan. Engaging patients to keep appointments and co-create their plans of care (with our team), establishing agreement with following prescribed medication and treatment regimens, and the like are all sign posts on a journey toward health that I attempt to bolster based on a patient’s needs and preferences. Through both patience and persistence, we go along on this journey, coordinating appointments, sending reminders, collaborating with specialists and outside organizations, in an effort to reach a place where we are all working in concert to support patients in reaching their highest level of health possible. Care management may take the form of a phone call, face-to-face office, or home visit where I explore with patients what they understood from their appointment with our office, or from that of a specialist. In the event they lack understanding, I either locate educational materials and engage them with it, or I work with the appropriate party to follow up with the patient to answer questions and clarify misunderstandings. The work often requires going the extra mile for patients while staying mindful that there...
Read MoreAll Saints’ Eve Fun
The sense our staff has of working together side by side day after day has come to resemble that of a family that appreciates and enjoys each other’s company and support. Today was no exception. In cheerful recognition of Halloween (or Hallowed Evening, the day before All Saints’ Day on the traditional church calendar), Dr. Mack showed up in his usual professional attire but was soon discovered to have worn his true colors underneath, those of Super Doctor! Source link
Read MoreOur New Care Manager
We invite you to join us in welcoming Babette Burgan, RN, MSW, to our office staff as our new Care Manager. Supported by our clinical care teams and undergirded by a generous CMMI Practice Improvement grant, Babette brings her strong faith and a wealth of education and experience to her interdisciplinary position. As not only a Registered Nurse but as a trained and experienced Licensed Master Social Worker, she is already working with our care teams to identify and proactively manage the care needs of high risk patients in our practice. Among other tasks, her role includes providing assessment, care coordination, advocacy and coaching for identified patients that are at risk for hospital admissions or emergency room visits. Welcome aboard, Babette! Source...
Read MoreHBHS Awarded CMMI Grant
We’re delighted to announce that His Branches Health Services is one of several primary care sites chosen to participate in a generous one-year Practice Improvement grant administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Administrated by the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency, the grant has allowed us to hire a half-time Patient Care Manager, Babette Burgan, RN, MSW, who joined our staff in July. In addition to Babette’s services, we’re being assisted by a Practice Improvement Adviser, Sue Swift, and a team of supportive advisers that are providing technical assistance and implement strategies to maximize Babette’s success and help us develop our data management system. What a gift! Source...
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