Health News
Dr. Long enjoys teaching, and has extensively taught in different settings en route to becoming a physician. She now enjoys teaching her patients.
To receive health tips, feel free to subscribe to our newsletter.
Clear masks benefit communication
April 27, 2021
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (March 11, 2021) looked at how wearing a clear mask (which is transparent and see-through) affected the perception of communication compared with the standard mask. Patients seeing surgeons who wore clear masks were more likely to agree that the surgeon explained things clearly, displayed empathy, and generated trust.
Here's the breakdown. The percentages reflect the patients who experienced the three items measured (clear communication, empathy, and trust) in each category (wearing a clear mask or the standard mask).
Clear mask v. Standard Mask
Clear explanation 95% 78%
Empathy 99% 85%
Trustworthy 94% 72%
What can we learn from this? Presumably the ability to see a full face, including all of the physician's non-verbal cues (especially a smile!), leads to a warmer and more supportive environment and encounter. Next time you visit a physician, ask them to wear a clear mask. At Marta Long MD, we wear clear masks with our Members for this reason. We want our explanations to be clear, and we want you to know we care about you.
Stress, Hair Loss & Immune System
February 21, 2021
As psychoneuroimmunology research emerges, it is becoming clear that there is a relationship between healthy hair growth and a healthy mental state. Short- and long-term stress adaptations via reciprocity pathways between immune changes and neuroendocrine function lead to inflammation that contributes to mood imbalances. This inflammation will also make the mood-labile patient more susceptible to changes in hair growth.
This relationship between stress and changes in skin and hair has been documented for at least 7 decades. Read more
How To Properly Wear a Mask
January 30, 2021
Masks are a critical step to help prevent people from getting and spreading COVID-19. A cloth mask offers some protection to you as well as protecting those around you. Wear a mask and take every day preventive actions in public settings and mass transportation, at events and gatherings, and anywhere you will be around other people. Read more
What are the risks of vitamin D deficiency?
Aug. 27, 2020
Vitamin D deficiency — when the level of vitamin D in your body is too low — can cause your bones to become thin, brittle or misshapen.
Vitamin D also appears to play a role in insulin production and immune function — and how this relates to chronic disease prevention and cancer — but this is still being investigated. Read more
What is Integrated Medicine?
2011
Integrative medicine is grounded in the definition of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Integrative medicine seeks to restore and maintain health and wellness across a person’s lifespan by understanding the patient’s unique set of circumstances and addressing the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect health. Through personalizing care, integrative medicine goes beyond the treatment of symptoms to address all the causes of an illness. In doing so, the patient’s immediate health needs as well as the effects of the long-term and complex interplay between biological, behavioral, psychosocial and environmental influences are taken into account. Read more
Our Mobile Modern Medicine Program is provided by Marta Long MD, a concierge house call physician practice based in Irvine that provides you with the best Ivy-league Yale-trained internal medicine physician and primary care including mental health and gynecology. We provide comprehensive holistic urgent same day or next day consultations when you are sick, dispense antibiotics, and utilize medical acupuncture to restore your health. We are accepting new patients who desire private, attentive and exceptional care.