Lana Bandoim

In 2017, the world witnessed a cyberattack of hideous proportions. The WannaCry ransomware attack infected hundreds of thousands of computers in more than 150 countries, throwing a wrench in the digital gears of many businesses and bringing several industries to their knees with malicious software designed to block access to files until a "ransom" was paid.

One industry that was hit particularly hard was health care, including organizations such as the National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K...

Article I wrote for Cleveland Clinic Laboratories:

HbA1c is a modified form of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen in the body. When hemoglobin binds glucose at a specific location, it becomes HbA1c. By measuring the percentage of hemoglobin that has become HbA1c, a good estimate of the average blood glucose levels over a period of two to three months is available.6 For most patients, it provides a more reliable and convenient way to measure glycemic control than other methods such as fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT).

Your health-care information is going digital.

Patient portals — secure websites that give people access to medical information — now let you easily check doctor visit summaries, test results, prescriptions, and other personal data, all with a few clicks of a mouse. Some patient portals also give you the ability to directly email questions to your doctor, fill out necessary forms, pay bills, or schedule future appointments. Convenient!

More and more health-care providers are beginning to offe...

Imagine throwing away your glasses or contact lenses and still having perfect vision — without getting eye surgery. Right now, that probably sounds too good to be true. But innovative new eye drops could soon do the trick, restoring your eyesight to 20/20 without any invasive procedures.

Researchers have created eye drops, called Nano-Drops, that correct eyesight problems using something called nanotechnology. The field of nanotechnology involves creating and manipulating materials that are m...

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in surgery has been growing for several decades. During the last 14 years in the United States, patients have undergone 1.75 million robotic surgical procedures. As advances in both AI and robotics continue to impact healthcare, the roles of nurses and advanced practice providers (APPs) may shift in the future.

Emory Healthcare marketing piece for referral physicians.

Finding comprehensive dementia care for your patients

Each year, one out of three patients is referred to a specialist, and the average primary care physician sends referrals to 229 specialists. According to a case study from the Alzheimer’s Association, when primary care physicians are faced with patients who have Alzheimer's disease, they are most likely to get a second opinion or refer them to another health professional.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month, the perfect time to make sure you know about the latest tech helping diabetes patients lead healthier lives. From continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) that are smartphone-compatible to reusable injector smart pens, they all have potential to relieve your patients’ daily struggles.

From smart watches that count calories to underwear that tracks heart rate, devices that keep an eye one’s health are skyrocketing in popularity. In fact, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, a clothing line that monitors heart health claimed the top prize in innovation for wellness products.

When Dr. Sharon Domb, family physician and associate professor at the University of Toronto, started using electronic medical records (EMRs) in 2008, she was considered an early adopter. But the use of healthcare technology has increased dramatically since then, and today, she’s part of the 85% of primary care physicians in Canada who use an EMR.

In her practice, Dr. Domb uses CognisantMD‘s Ocean Tablets that integrate with EMR solutions, which allow patients to complete questionnaires in adv...

National PA (physician assistant) Week is from Oct. 6 through Oct. 12 every year. In addition to recognizing the important work that PAs do every day, this week also gives the healthcare community a chance to look at the growth of the PA profession.
As we celebrate PAs, it’s important to recognize some of the biggest milestones from the past year, while looking ahead at what the future may hold.

White Paper I wrote for Cleveland Clinic Laboratories:

During pregnancy, a woman’s blood contains cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from the fetus. The amount of cfDNA increases during each trimester, but noninvasive testing that uses cell-free DNA is possible starting from week 10 of the first trimester. A cfDNA analysis can reveal the risk of the fetus having trisomies and other aneuploidies, along with determining the sex.

White Paper I wrote for Cleveland Clinic Laboratories:

In a joint statement, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, Perinatal Quality Foundation, National Society of Genetic Counselors and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine point out that carrier screening is an important part of prenatal care. They recommend that healthcare providers offer patients the option of having carrier screening while educating them about the types of conditions covered by the test.

Patient Brochure I wrote for Cleveland Clinic Laboratories:

Noninvasive prenatal screening, or NIPS, is a test you may have while you are pregnant. The test screens your developing baby for chromosome disorders and can determine your baby’s sex. If your healthcare provider determines that you have a high risk of having a child with chromosome disorders, then you may want to have the NIPS test.

Patient Brochure I wrote for Cleveland Clinic Laboratories:

A carrier is a person who has a disease-causing change (mutation) in a gene for a genetic disorder but does not have any symptoms. Usually, the healthy carriers do not have a family history of a genetic disorder. They simply “carry” the gene for the disease.

For some genetic disorders, two copies of a disease-causing change, one from each parent, must be passed on for a child to have the disorder. This means that if two carriers have a child, there is a 25 percent chance that their child will have the

Patient Education Brochure I wrote for Elsevier:

Thrombocytosis is when you have too many platelets (thrombocytes) in your blood. Platelets are tiny elements in the blood that stick together and form a clot (thrombus). Platelets help your body stop bleeding. Some conditions that cause inflammation, such as cancer, may trigger your body to make more platelets than normal.