“Sound Medicine,” also available via podcast and Stitcher Radio for mobile phones and iPads, covers controversial ethics topics, breakthrough research studies and the day-to-day application of recent advancements in medicine.
Can iPhone technology ease back pain? Patients with chronic back pain will benefit from AdaptiveStim, a new technology based on the same mechanism that tells your iPhone how to adjust its image based on whether it’s positioned horizontally or vertically. The motion sensors integral to this technology are capable of detecting whether someone is stretching, standing or sitting and then adjusting the neural stimulation based on movement, to most effectively ease pain by masking the feeling of pain. Robert Prince, M.D, pain management specialist with St. Francis Medical Group Spine Specialists, is trailblazing the first use of this technology in Central Indiana. He visits “Sound Medicine” this week to share the background of spinal stimulators and the advances this technology promises for quality of life.
What does the Affordable Care Act mean to young adults? With the recent Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, “Sound Medicine” takes time to examine the potential impact of the ACA on young adults, a group commonly overlooked in terms of health care. Frequent “Sound Medicine” contributor Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, M.D., director of the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at Indiana University and Wishard, discusses the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that insure more young Americans and the potential changes young adults can expect to see in terms of preventive and primary care.
What symptoms are associated with psychosis? Although the public’s perception of psychosis usually consists of a person who is unhinged and verging on violence, the psychiatrists’ definition is far more refined. Alan Breier, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine, shares the background of psychosis from a clinical standpoint and signs of schizophrenia to look out for in young adults. Schizophrenia is the focus of practice at the IU Psychotic Disorders Program at Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital, where Dr. Breier teaches and treats patients.
How has the treatment of mental illness evolved? The treatment of the mentally ill in contemporary America is vastly different than the insane asylums of the 1800s. The co-authors of “Dr. Edenharter’s Dream: How Science Improved the Humane Care of the Mentally Ill in Indiana 1896-2012” — Alan Schmetzer, M.D., acting chair of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine and Lucy King, M.D., emerita professor of psychiatry at IUSM — discuss the legacy of Dr. Edenharter and the transformation of psychiatric care in Indiana over the past century.
“Sound Medicine,” co-produced by the IU School of Medicine and WFYI Public Radio (90.1 FM) and underwritten in part by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, is aired on the following Indiana public radio stations: WBSB (Anderson, 89.5 FM), WFIU (Bloomington, 103.7 FM; Columbus, 100.7 FM; Kokomo, 106.1 FM; Terre Haute, 95.1 FM), WNDY (Crawfordsville, 91.3 FM), WVPE (Elkhart/South Bend, 88.1 FM), WNIN (Evansville, 88.3 FM), WBOI (Fort Wayne, 89.1 FM), WFCI (Franklin, 89.5 FM), WBSH (Hagerstown/New Castle, 91.1 FM), WFYI (Indianapolis), WBSW (Marion, 90.9 FM), WBST (Muncie, 92.1 FM), WBSJ (Portland, 91.7 FM), WLPR (Lake County, 89.1 FM) and WBAA (West Lafayette, 101.3 FM).
“Sound Medicine” is also broadcast on these public radio stations across the country: WLRH (Huntsville, Ala.), KSKA (Anchorage, Alaska), KTNA (Talkeetna, Alaska), KUHB (Pribilof Islands, Alaska), KUAF (Fayetteville and Fort Smith, Ark.), KIDE (Hoopa Valley, Calif.), KRCC (Colorado Springs, Colo.), KEDM (Monroe, La.), WCMU (Mount Pleasant, Mich.), WCNY and WRVO-1 (Syracuse, N.Y.), KMHA (Four Bears, N.D.), WYSU (Youngstown, Ohio), KPOV (Bend, Ore.) and KEOS (College Station, Texas).