Interview with Alex R. Kemper, MD, MPH, MS, author of Follow-up Testing Among Children With Elevated Screening Blood Lead Levels, published in the May 11 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. Summary Points: 1. About half the children (six years and younger) with elevated blood lead levels did not receive follow up testing. 2. Nonwhite children, and those living in urban as well as high-risk lead settings, were less likely to receive follow up testing compared to their counterparts. 3. Follow-up testing for children with high blood lead levels is essential for managing lead poisoning and for maximizing cognitive development. 4. Interventions are needed to overcome disparities in care.

Interview with Melanie A. Thompson, MD, and Paul A. Volberding, MD, authors of Antiretroviral Treatment of Adult HIV Infection 2012 Recommendations of the International Antiviral Society-USA Panel. Summary Points:

• Antiretroviral treatment is recommended and should be offered to all persons with HIV, regardless of CD4 cell count.
• Particular attention should be paid to the design of an antiretroviral regimen for persons with concurrent conditions, such as viral hepatitis, opportunistic infections, and other medical diseases, because of the potential for drug interactions.
• Monitoring of entry into and retention in HIV care, adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and quality of care indicators are recommended and should be used to increase care engagement and quality.

In this narrative medicine essay, a primary care physician describes his patient’s struggle with obesity, sees himself in his patient, and wonders if his own struggles with weight loss impede his patient’s efforts to lose weight.

In this narrative medicine essay, an attending physician shares his observations of how the changing nature of electronic medical record (EMR) hospital progress notes—often entered out of sequence and becoming ever longer and more unreadable—can hamper interacting with patients and providing patient care.