Hospital Administrators' Wish List

20. April 2006 William Davis (0)
I've known enough hospital administrators over the years to understand what most of them want.

Of course, most of them want to deliver high quality care to patients in a safe, efficient setting. They want to comply with national standards of performance, attract quality physicians to use their facilities, and appeal to patients as a desirable place to obtain care.

But one fact is hard for many administrators to ignore: 30% of a hospital's revenues and 50% of their profits come from heart services.

So, if your hospital administrator had a wish list, I believe that among their wishes would be:

--More heart catheterizations, angioplasties, stents, and bypass surgery.
--More pacemaker and defibrillator implantations.
--More heart attacks.
--More heart failure with need for intravenous infusions, defibrillators, and bi-ventricular pacemaker implantations.
--More heart valve surgery.

Highly successful hospitals do more of these procedures than less successful hospitals.

Are you getting the picture? Heart care is a business. It's not very different than Target, Home Depot, or McDonalds--businesses eager to sell more of their product. Yes, there is attention to detail, quality, and competitiveness, but the bottom line is "sell more product, make more profit."

Keep this in mind the next time you catch one of the many TV or newspaper ads, radio spots, physician "interviews", or other media pitches in your town. Does Target run ads for the public good or to generate profitable sales? Does your hospital run ads to broadcast its contribution to public welfare or to generate profitable "sales"? Pretty clear, isn't it?
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Don't neglect your magnesium

Don't neglect your magnesium

3. March 2007 William Davis (3)
Magnesium is kind of boring. So most people don't pay too much attention to it.

Magnesium can be important, however. I saw an interesting phenomenon recently. A type I diabetic patient of mine (that is, an adult who developed diabetes as a child), Mitch, was experiencing wide swings in blood sugar: low low's and very high high's (300-400 mg/dl). Mitch's magnesium was only marginally low at 2.0 mEq/L. (Ranges for normal magnesium blood levels are usually 1.3–2.1 mEq/L or 0.65–1.05 mmol/L.) Note that Mitch's blood levels fall within "normal." I do not agree with these "normal" ranges. I shoot for 2.1 to 2.4 mEq/L, which I think is the truly normal range.

In addition to eating plenty of raw nuts and green vegetables, Mitch began supplementing magnesium with magnesium citrate, 200 mg twice a day (our preferred supplement form). He reported that the wide swings in blood sugar were nearly eliminated.

Mitch's dramatic benefit is just a great illustration of how magnesium can help control blood sugar metabolism. A type I diabetic is more sensitive to the effects, but anyone with type II (adult) diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or just a slightly high blood sugar could benefit from magnesium supplementation.

There's a number of ways to accomplish getting sufficient magnesium in your daily regimen. Track Your Plaque members, Be sure to read:


Your water may be killing you at
http://www.cureality.com/library/fl_03-002magnesium.asp

Magnesium: Water to the rescue! at http://www.cureality.com/library/fl_03-010magnesium2.asp
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Comments (3) -

  • magnesium_matters@comcast.net

    3/4/2007 10:01:00 PM |

    1) magnesium increases insulin sensitivity, the ability of the liver and large muscles to sequester sugar in response to insulin. that isn't necessarily a problem in insulin-dependent diabetics but this one is an adult and could be showing some type 2 symptoms (insulin resistance.  Depending on serm magnesium as a guide to deficiency will miss the majority.  insulin dependent and type 2 diabetics lose magnesium every time their sugar rises.  serum magnesium is a notoriously poor guide to magnesium status.  may authorities in the field recomend prophylaxis in any magnesiu-wasting state. 3) citrate is a large molecule.  magnesium citrate is three fourths citrate.  citrate supplementation increases the absorption of magnesium slightly (over oxide) but it also increase the absorption and tissue uptake of aluminum and lead.  i prefer oxide.

    magnesium_matters@comcast.net

  • x.ds

    11/22/2009 1:04:07 AM |

    Why would the benefit of magnesium citrate to type-1 diabetes be due to magnesium and not to citrate ??? Citrate is a good metal chelator. It will lower pancreatic oxidative stress allowing better pancreatic function. Type-1 diabetes like other autoimmune diseases (such as arthritis) is due to oxidative stress and free metals are a major cause of oxidative stress in the body (the first cause by far however is drugs). In laboratory animals for example type-1 diabetes can be generated by giving them cereals and soy, two kinds of food that cause high level of oxidative stress. Link: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-4wvlFXUWaMJ:www.nzfsa.govt.nz/policy-law/projects/a1-a2-milk/a1-a2-report.pdf+A+cereal-based+diet+%28mainly+wheat,+corn+and+soybean%29+called+NIH-07+is+often+used+as+a+standard+diabetes-promoting+diet&hl=en&sig=AHIEtbS5jjkwib8XkUB7hz_-flR3NbgY1g (search the second occurrence of "wheat").

  • buy jeans

    11/2/2010 9:15:37 PM |

    In addition to eating plenty of raw nuts and green vegetables, Mitch began supplementing magnesium with magnesium citrate, 200 mg twice a day (our preferred supplement form). He reported that the wide swings in blood sugar were nearly eliminated.

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