Women’s Healthcast

Health literacy – how well we can find, understand, and apply information to help us make health decisions – affects many areas of our lives. Reading nutrition labels in the grocery store, following instructions on prescription bottles, being able to tell whether an article shared by a high school acquaintance on social media is accurate – these are just a few of the ways health literacy pops up day-to-day.

On this episode, Dr. Heidi Brown of the UW-Madison Department of Ob-Gyn and Jordan Spencer, medical student at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences talk about where to find accurate health information, resources for building health literacy skills, and how low health literacy exacerbates preexisting health disparities.

Dr. Brown and Jordan recommend MedlinePlus and the MedlinePlus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing as tools to strengthen health literacy.

Let us know what health issues you'd like to learn about! Email the Women's Healthcast team with your suggestions.

Economic policy has a significant effect on our individual health. And policies are not always equitable. Dr. Tiffany Green joined the Women's Healthcast to discuss ways systems and structures affect health: how health and economic security are cyclically linked, how COVID-19 has highlighted many structural inequities in our country, and important work she is doing in Dane County to improve Black maternal and infant health.

Dr. Green is a health economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Green's recommended resources for understanding health policies:

Health Affairs

Dear Pandemic

September is Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month. On this episode of the Women’s Healthcast, Dr. Ryan Spencer talks about endometrial cancer, the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States.

He shares risk factors for endometrial cancer, what diagnosis and treatment look like, and ways to reduce your risk of developing this type of cancer. Dr. Spencer also discusses his research into the national disparity in funding for gynecologic cancers compared to other types of cancer.

Dr. Spencer is a gynecologic oncologist in the UW-Madison Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the UW Carbone Cancer Center.

As we learned on the last Women’s Healthcast, preterm birth is fairly common. But the rate of preterm birth is elevated for Black women in the United States, with approximately 13.8% of babies born preterm, according to the March of Dimes.

Dr. Jasmine Zapata joins us on this Women’s Healthcast to talk about what being born prematurely can mean for children’s health outcomes, the significant racial gap in preterm birth rates as well as Black maternal and infant mortality, and some steps to help providers rebuild trust in the medical system for Black women.

Dr. Zapata is a newborn hospitalist with UW Health and an assistant professor in the UW-Madison Department of Pediatrics

Preterm birth is fairly common, with one in eight women going into labor prior to 37 weeks of gestation, which qualifies as preterm. 

On this episode of the Women’s Healthcast, Dr. Janine Rhoades talks about what causes preterm labor, what options are available to slow or stop labor, and what people can do to reduce their risk of delivering their babies early. Dr. Rhoades is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist in the UW-Madison Department of Ob-Gyn.

After giving her keynote lecture “What’s My Impact?” at the UW-Madison Department of Ob-Gyn’s Resident Research Day in early 2020, Dr. Amy Young joined the Women’s Healthcast to talk about the importance of inquiry in medicine, how she helps medical learners take their curiosity a step further, and why this spirit of lifelong learning means better care for patients.

 

Dr. Young is the Chief Clinical Officer of UT Health Austin, and Vice Dean of Professional Practice at Dell Medical School.

Hypertension, or chronic high blood pressure, affects nearly half of U.S. adults. On this episode of the Women’s Healthcast, maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Kara Hoppe and research manager Jamie LaMantia talked about what causes hypertension, how it’s often treated, and why high blood pressure can be a concern in pregnancy.

To learn more about or participate in the MyHEART study examining high blood pressure management in young adults, you can call 608-261-1880, email myheart@hip.wisc.edu, or visit myheartmychoice.org/ResearchStudy.

To learn more about or participate in the Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy study, you can reach the research coordinators’ office at 608-417-4218.

To celebrate LGBT Pride, we’re re-airing one of our most popular episodes: Safe Spaces: Making OB-Gyn Care LGBT-Friendly.

For many LGBT people, past discrimination or concerns about discrimination from medical professionals can deter them from seeking health care. Pride Month (and every month) is a great time to look at how we make health care settings safe and inclusive spaces.

On this episode of the Women’s Healthcast, Dr. Ruth Yemane discusses reproductive and sexual healthcare for LGBT patients. She also shares her suggestions for how health systems can work harder to make sure  lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people feel safe and comfortable throughout their healthcare experiences. Dr. Yemane is an academic specialist in general ob-gyn at UW-Madison.

Our healthcare system mounted a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, which included pausing or delaying some non-essential or elective care, ramping up telehealth or video visits, and limiting in-person appointments for patient safety. It’s May 20 now, and at least in Wisconsin, we’re getting ready to loosen some restrictions and bring people back into clinics.

On this episode, three doctors in the UW-Madison Department of Ob-Gyn discuss safety precautions and changes to prenatal, obstetrical, general women’s health, and gynecologic cancer care, as well as what’s happening the clinical research world.

1:00-24:48 - Dr. Makeba Williams discusses prenatal care, labor and delivery, contraceptive care and women's health screenings

24:49-37:40 - Gynecologic oncologist Dr. Lisa Barroilhet on balancing continuity of cancer care with reducing the risk of COVID-19 exposure

37:41-43:33 - Dr. David Kushner provides an overview on clinical studies opening back up, and safety precautions for participants as well as research staff

Stress, anxiety, grief, peace, joy, fear - pick an emotion, and it's likely been part of your COVID-19 pandemic experience. On this episode of the Women's Healthcast, Dr. Julianne Zweifel talks about the broad range of emotional responses people might be having right now, what behaviors might be influencing our feelings, and her tips for managing stress and anxiety. 

Dr. Zweifel is a health psychologist in the UW-Madison Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is also part of the UW Ob-Gyn Wellness Committee, a group that has been hard at work this spring pulling together a wide variety of mental and physical wellness resources. Take a look at their website to find some of the resources Dr. Zweifel mentions in this episode: https://www.obgyn.wisc.edu/wellnessresources