Article
The testing we order should help, not hurt
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
One should always ask: Is the result of this test going to help me make better decisions?
Article
New—and surprising—ways to approach migraine pain
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
Who would have guessed that timolol eyedrops could be effective for acute migraine?
Article
Home BP monitoring is essential
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
Office BPs are notoriously inaccurate, because it is exceedingly difficult to measure BP properly in a busy office setting.
Article
The power of the pause to prevent diagnostic error
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
I recall vividly a diagnostic error I made years ago. I was treating a patient for hyperlipidemia but my partner recognized it as a case of severe...
Article
A-fib prevention, treatment, and screening: Where does the evidence lead us?
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
The dilemma is that your patient with a wearable exercise monitoring device will know she has a potentially dangerous condition, but there is no...
Article
Keeping an open mind about functional medicine
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
Does functional medicine combine “the worst features of conventional medicine with a heapin’ helpin’ of quackery”? Or is it still in its infancy...
Article
Despite ‘getting it wrong’ we must continue to do what’s right
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
There is no question that everyone in the United States— and most likely, the entire world—will eventually get vaccinated against COVID-19 or get...
Article
When the evidence suggests that placebo is best
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
- Richard Guthmann, MD, MPH
What they discovered is that no type of injection therapy has been proven to be better than a saline injection.
Article
Let’s talk about healthy aging (but where to begin?)
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
It may be effective to use the “chat technique” and ask open-ended questions, such as: How are things going for you?
Article
Moving patients beyond injury and back to work
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
I suspect that we tend to be pessimistic about our ability to influence patient outcomes because we are uncertain about the best course of action...
Article
To screen or not to screen children for hypertension?
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
In this issue of JFP, Smith et al recommend following guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics to...
Article
A thoughtful approach to drug screening and addiction
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
Use of cheap street fentanyl, rather than prescription drugs, accounts for nearly all of the increase in opioid overdose deaths.
Article
Systemic racism: An editor’s note
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
This month’s editorial was jointly written by the editors of 10 prominent family medicine publications, including JFP, and is being published...
Article
Whole-person care: Our foundation, our future
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
We can no longer go “halfway” into whole-person care.
Article
When patients don’t get the care they should
- Author:
- John Hickner, MD, MSc
The outcome might have been much different if there had been further delay.