"I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do the operation on someone else, not you."

--Bill Walton

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Laughter is Good Medicine
It may turn out that the phrase "laughter can cure what ails you" is more than just a cliche. A recent study by UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the nonprofit organization Rx Laughter found that watching comedy shows helped children tolerate pain for longer periods of time, suggesting that humorous distractions could be used to help younger patients tolerate painful procedures such as blood draws or cancer treatments.

In the study, which was funded by a grant from Comedy Central, participants watched funny films and television shows before, during and after the painful task of placing their hands in icy cold water. The group demonstrated "significantly greater pain tolerance" while watching the comical shows. Researchers documented the participants' appraisal of their own pain and the length of time they kept their hand submerged, comparing these statistics to the number of laughs or smiles the participants produced, as well as their ratings of how funny each show was.

In the end, researchers found that watching funny videos increased the tolerance of pain for children but not their ratings for severity of the pain. The researchers warn, however, that because they did not test other types of distractions, it could be that something equally distracting but not necessarily funny would yield the same results. Still, it's good to know that something as basic as good old laughter can help children manage pain just a bit better.

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Detecting Domestic Violence
We all know that violence by an intimate partner happens "all the time," but the statistics are indeed an eye opener. Approximately one in four women and one in seven men report some form of violence by an intimate partner in their lifetimes. Not only does this sort of violence cost the country billions annually in lost workdays and health treatments, but it also adds significantly to the overload in doctors' offices and emergency rooms.

Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed the Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Victimization Assessment Instruments for Use in Healthcare Settings. The compilation gives practitioners an inventory of existing tools to help determine whether a patient has been a victim of domestic violence. It also helps practitioners decide what tools to use for a given population and helps them make appropriate referrals for both the victims and the perpetrators. You'll find the compilation at www.cdc.gov/NCIPC/pub-res/ipv_and_sv_screening.htm.

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82% of all women consult medical professionals first when looking for healthcare information.
--comScore