Anesthesiology Blogs This is an OPML file. It can be used to export all the MedWorm RSS feeds on this topic into your personal RSS reader (usually you have to save this file to your own computer before clicking on an Import OPML command in your own feed reader to upload the file which will then import all the feeds) or it can be used by webmasters to integrate MedWorm feeds with their own website. This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

This page shows you the most recent publications within this specialty of the MedWorm directory. This is page number 15.

It’s up to us
In the critical care specialties we have to make things happen, sometimes this involves life-saving actions that may have never before performed. We must be ready, after all, in the words of Peter Safar, "it's up to us to save the world!" Cliff Reid tells us how.
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 27, 2011 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Anaesthetics Education eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured Intensive Care Pre-hospital / Retrieval Procedure Resuscitation cliff reid emcrit logistics peter safar resus.me scott weingart visualisation Source Type: blogs

Highest Risk for Anesthesia Mortality among Older and Multimorbid Patitents
Is general itself anesthesia dangerous? It depends, in part, on your age and co-morbidities when you undergo an operation (see: Is anesthesia dangerous?). I have always been interested in the mortality rate of general anesthesia but the numbers have been hard for me to find until now. Below is an excerpt from an article on this topic: In pure numerical terms, anesthesia-associated mortality has risen again. The reasons for this are the disproportionate increase in the numbers of older and multimorbid patients and surgical procedures that would have been unthinkable in the past. This is the result of a selective literature ...
Source: Lab Soft News - July 25, 2011 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Source Type: blogs

Healthcare Update 07-25-2011
What? MRSA infection? Get that patient a super mocha latte … STAT! That morning cup of Joe may decrease your risk of getting a “superbug” infection – by up to 50%. Prescription abuse kills. In 2010, more than 80 percent of the drug-related deaths in Oklahoma involved prescription medicines. Yet they’re still on the market and the pediatricians say nothing about it! Meanwhile pediatricians had a fit over cold medications that allegedly killed three children in 2005 and caused them to be largely removed from the market. More patients gone wild. This patient started out wild. He was brought to the emergency depa...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - July 25, 2011 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs

Max news!
Thank you, first of all, to all the folks who sent/commented with tips and tricks for old, arthritic dogs.The vet says two things: 1. It's probable that the trouble with Max's hind legs is arthritis in his hips. HOWEVER. There is a rare degenerative spinal disease that tends to hit German Shepherds, so he's going in for X-rays on Thursday to make sure that it's actually arthritis.2. The memory loss doesn't concern her yet, because it's recent, sporadic, and correlates with the horrible heatwave here. I am to keep a journal of when he goes blank and, if I get more than five or six instances in the next couple of months, to ...
Source: Head Nurse - July 24, 2011 Category: Nurses Authors: Jo Source Type: blogs

Using the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire
Over the past few months I’ve been using the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ-8) as part of a battery of questionnaires used at intake and outcome measures. Along with the CPAQ-8, we use the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale, the Pain Catastrophising Scale, Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire, and Pain Disability Index. The CPAQ-8 consists of two subscales: Pain Willingness and Activity Engagement. Together they measure “acceptance” or psychological flexibility associated with chronic pain. Let me pull this apart a bit. Pain...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - July 24, 2011 Category: Occupational Therapists Authors: adiemusfree Tags: ACT - Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Assessment Chronic pain Coping Skills Coping strategies Interdisciplinary teams Occupational therapy Pain conditions Physiotherapy Professional topics Psychology Resilience Resilience/Health Source Type: blogs

Patient Modesty: Volume 43
Continuing on with the concerns of a former medical student as begun in Volume 42:THE CONCERNS AND EXPERIENCE OF A FORMER MEDICAL STUDENT July 11,2011 I was a [Moderator: school name deleted] medical student. Like many teenagers and young adults, I had never visited a gynecologist or proctologist. I did not come from a medical family either. And because pelvic and prostate exams are not mentioned in the premedical curriculum nor explained to medical school applicants and incoming [My Medical School] students, I did not know about these exams when I first moved to [Moderator: city name deleted] to begin my medical educati...
Source: Bioethics Discussion Blog - July 23, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Navigator Intra-Articular Drug Delivery System Receives FDA OK
Carticept Medical has received FDA clearance for its Navigator Delivery System (Navigator DS). The Navigator DS automates some of the steps involved in preparing and delivering intra-articular pain medication for joint pain. Standard multi-dose anesthetic and steroid drug vials are attached to the top of the device, after which the system prepares the physician-prescribed injections. The screen provides the user with a real-time record of the specified fluid/medication, prescription volume and an image of the syringe displaying the delivery status. The system eliminates multiple needle exposures, minimizes the risk of cont...
Source: Medgadget - July 22, 2011 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Wouter Stomp Tags: Orthopedic Surgery Pain Source Type: blogs

one of our own
I got this e-mail today from the chairman of the Emergency Department of St. Joseph's Hospital where I work, and which I will share here, lightly edited for privacy purposes.Dear Colleague:On July 4th, after working the night shift in the Emergency Department, Dr. D.G. had a right ventricular hemorrhage with subcortical ischemic changes. He is currently in [the medical ICU] awaiting transfer to [a prominent local rehab center]. Mrs. G was recently informed that D’s insurance does not include benefits for inpatient rehabilitative services. This news follows a difficult financial year for the G family; D has also been supp...
Source: the underwear drawer - July 21, 2011 Category: Anesthetists Authors: Michelle Au Source Type: blogs

Childbirth Hospital Costs: Breakdown of Charges With and Without Insurance
Childbirth hospital costs these days aren't cheap. Some studies suggest the cost of raising a child exceeds $200,000, not including education expenses. Most insurance companies charge women of childbearing age more for their insurance because the actuarial tables say so. Mrs Happy and I now have a 3 month old Zachary in our wings. He is a cute little peanut. His two brothers, Marty and Cooper adore him. Forty-two days after his April 21st, 2011 delivery, we still had not received our explanation of benefits from Blue Cross Blue Shield for the midwife charge. I had previously received a ...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - July 21, 2011 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: The Happy Hospitalist Source Type: blogs

It All Comes Out in the Wash I Hope…
Dad was very seriously concerned about my Maggie last night as well as I was also. It had been about four hours since we had left the Animal Clinic and Maggie still seemed heavily drunk and in a stupor from the anesthesia they had administered to do her checkup. I, personally, was scared to death worried about her – shades of Caramel came to mind which makes me very wary of veterinarians. Maggie is a very active dog and I have never seen her quite so lethargic. Dad asked me a hundred questions about what happened. He didn’t even know mom had gotten this up for us to do. Maggie was fine thi...
Source: The 4th Avenue Blues - July 21, 2011 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Andrew Source Type: blogs

Behavioral Treatment For Migraines A Cost-Effective Alternative To Meds - Medical News Today
Treating chronic migraines with behavioral approaches - such as relaxation training, hypnosis and biofeedback - can make financial sense compared to prescription-drug treatment, especially after a year or more, a new study found. Longtime behavioral therapy researcher and practitioner Dr. Donald Penzien, University of Mississippi Medical Center professor of psychiatry, coauthored the study. He said the costs of prescription prophylactic drugs - the kind chronic migraine sufferers take every day to prevent onset - may not seem much even at several dollars a day. "But those costs keep adding up with additional doct...
Source: Psychology of Pain - July 21, 2011 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Ouchless Needles Cool Skin, Make Injectable Cosmetic Treatments Less Painful
Although injectables such as Botox and dermal fillers have made cosmetic treatments much easier for patients, the needles used in these treatments can still cause pain and discomfort. Traditional local anesthetic creams on the injection site can take over half an hour to take effect, but Louisville, KY-based BellaNovus claims that its new line of Ouchless Needle devices will solve this problem while also minimizing post-procedure numbness. The Ouchless Needle is a small disposable device which numbs the injection site by simultaneously cooling the surrounding skin. From the product page: This patent pending Ouchless™ Nee...
Source: Medgadget - July 21, 2011 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Smit Shah Tags: Anesthesiology Pain Plastic Surgery Source Type: blogs

Preparing for Surgery
How should you prepare if you need surgery? Your surgeon will give you specific instructions. But here are some general guidelines. A healthy body heals faster. So if possible, get your body into shape. Exercise and stretching programs are key. Eat less junk food, and more protein and fiber. Several weeks before surgery, stop taking anti inflammatory drugs that could cause unnecessary bleeding, unless your surgeon wants you to. If you take herbs, check with your doctor. Some can complicate anesthesia and should be stopped. Stop or reduce smoking and alcohol consumption. It’s important that you go into surgery in a positi...
Source: Your ER Doc - July 20, 2011 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Your ER Doc Tags: General Health Source Type: blogs

Cough Drop V
An ambulance arrives and two brilliantly experienced paramedics jog down the steps towards me. I’m feeling better already and shoving a giant IV into that elbow when Mark barks out horrible, deep coughs that seem to come from somewhere behind his navel. Still gasping for breath, he chokes and hacks until without warning his mask suddenly fills with bright red bloody foam. People talk about colours that “don’t exist in nature” and had I not seen it come from a man’s body, I’d say it was OTT, but the blood that sprays from his mouth is so vibrant and vivid that it can only be highly oxyge...
Source: Trauma Queen - July 18, 2011 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: Kal Tags: Ambulance Source Type: blogs

July Moneygrubbin':
Mary is a friend of my pal Lara's friend Nikki. Mary is 38, and was diagnosed two years ago with stage 3B tongue cancer. For those of you who aren't fluent in solid-tumor staging, that's not good at all.Mary has been in remission since March of this year. She recently started hyperbaric treatment to help rebuild the bone in her jaw. A word (or many) about hyperbarics:When you have chemo, and more especially when you have radiation, to kill off a cancer in your head or neck, everything suffers. All the structures in your head and neck are affected, especially cells that replace themselves quickly, like those in your salivar...
Source: Head Nurse - July 17, 2011 Category: Nurses Authors: Jo Source Type: blogs

Cough Drop IV
While this is going on I’ve hit the Priority button on my radio, I’m going to need specialist help to get Mark out of here. I’d love to put him on a spinal board and hoist him out of here on helpful shoulders but with the hypoxia his breathing problems will surely give him I’m not sure he’ll be cooperative enough to lie still while we lift him out. I’m also unhappy with the idea of him squirming or seizing halfway up those bloody steps. We’ll need a high line team to get him out of here…and probably a flying squad medical team to anaesthetise him first. My radio bleeps an...
Source: Trauma Queen - July 17, 2011 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: Kal Tags: Ambulance Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 18th 2011
This study also provides the first reported evidence of entire organ regeneration through the transplantation of a bioengineered tooth." THREE STUDIES ON THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF HUMAN LONGEVITY The number of research studies that search for genetic and biochemical differences in long-lived human lineages is growing: http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/three-studies-on-the-genes-and-biochemistry-of-human-longevity.php "There are a fair number of these efforts at the present time, a combination of decades-long longitudinal studies which now consist of a cohort of exceptionally old survivors, combined with new studies ...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 16, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Gratitude for the Canadian Healthcare System — From an American Patient
“…our challenge is twofold: We have to find a way to cover all our people; and we have to figure out how to get better value for the US$2 trillion we currently spend on healthcare.” – David M. Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University and Member of the Institute of Medicine -commenting on the US healthcare system. Last month I was invited to speak for a week for The International Certificate Programme in Dual Diagnosis associated with Brock University under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Griffiths & Dr. Frances Owen. Work I’ve developed over the past several years on psy...
Source: World of Psychology - July 14, 2011 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Daniel Tomasulo, Ph.D. Tags: General Health-related Money and Financial Personal Policy and Advocacy Proof Positive Treatment American Patient Applied Economics Canadian Healthcare System Clinic Pharmacy Countries With Socialized Medicine David Cutler David Source Type: blogs

Edwards EV1000 Critical Care Platform Gets FDA Clearance
The course of a general anesthetic has often been likened to an airplane flight – the induction (takeoff), emergence (landing), and whatever turbulence you encounter along the way. Now the cockpit just became a lot fancier with a new monitoring system from Edwards Lifesciences. The Edwards EV1000, which just received FDA clearance, is touted as presenting the status of the patient in an “entirely new, intuitive and meaningful way.” The system integrates the FloTrac arterial waveform analyzer and PreSep/PediaSat oximetry catheters, along with the VolumeView transpulmonary thermodilution method to calcu...
Source: Medgadget - July 14, 2011 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Paul Pisklak Tags: Anesthesiology Critical Care Source Type: blogs

Newt Regenerative Capacities Do Not Diminish With Age
Another good reason for researchers to better understand the biochemical roots of regeneration in lower animals such as newts and salamanders: "Goro Eguchi has shown that a newt's healing powers don't diminish with age. As long as they live, they retain the ability to efficiently regrow their body parts (or at least, the lenses of their eyes), even if they have to do so over and over again. We've known about the abilities of newts and other salamanders for over 200 years, thanks initially to Lazzarro Spallanzini, an Italian biologist and Catholic priest. But the limits of this ability have been unclear. Spallanzani once am...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 12, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Survey: 99.5% of Hospitals Report Drug Shortages
Two new surveys give a snapshot of how bad the drug-shortage problem has become. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has called the recent rash of shortages “unprecedented.” Today, the American Hospital Association and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reported what their members are saying. (The WSJ wrote about this issue earlier this year.) The AHA says that 99.5% of the 820 community hospitals that responded to the group’s June survey reported experiencing at least one drug shortage in the past six months. A full 44% reported shortages of 21 or more different drugs. All treatment ca...
Source: WSJ.com: Health Blog - July 12, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Katherine Hobson Tags: Drugs Hospitals Pharmacists Research Source Type: blogs

Teachable Moments in the Life of a Cigarette Smoker
Child surgery makes smoking parents more likely to try quitting. Here’s a strange one: Doctors at Mayo Clinic wanted to find out whether children undergoing surgery had any effect on the smoking behavior of their parents. And it did—but the effect appears to be short-lived. The Mayo researchers began from the already well-tested proposition that smokers who have surgery are more likely to quit smoking. In fact, they quit at twice the rate of smokers who haven’t had surgery. Not hard to understand, intimations of mortality and all that. They pass through a teachable moment, the scientists write in Anesthesiology, d...
Source: Addiction Inbox - July 8, 2011 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs

The Problem with Benzodiazepines
Last night I came across a medical student web site that included a link to a post of mine from a couple years ago, that described my feelings about Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, and other benzodiazepines. The people commenting at that site appreciated my comments, and my comments were ‘seconded’ by other physicians. Here’s the post again, for those who missed it the first time: Twelve Things I Hate About Benzodiazepines Author: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Because of several highly publicized deaths from combining Suboxone with benzodiazepines or “benzos”—a class of sedative medications that includes X...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - July 8, 2011 Category: Addiction Authors: SuboxDoc Tags: addiction anxiety benzos other blogs risks side effects tolerance Source Type: blogs

What Fresh Hell Was That? or, My Day At Holy Kamole.
My doctor doesn't do surgery at Sunnydale, because apparently they don't have the right sort of laparascopes, or the walls aren't sufficiently lined with gold, or something. So Der Alter Jo and I were at Holy Kamole at oh-dear-thirty yesterday, her limping on a busted knee and me casting the side-eye at everything, for Animal's eviction.Preop nurse, resident, attending, preop nurse again. More urine, more blood. Cute little backless dress. A fond farewell to being able to bend over easily for a while.A brand-new nurse intern started my IV and did a slammin' job. I have veins like hoses in the backs of both hands, so when s...
Source: Head Nurse - July 7, 2011 Category: Nurses Authors: Jo Source Type: blogs

Amazing Spider-Man #661: A Medical Annotation
Amazing Spider-Man #661 “The Substitute, Part One” Christos Gage, writer Reilly Brown, penciller Isoflurane is an inhaled anesthetic used for both induction of anesthesia (knocking patients out) and maintenance of anesthesia (keeping them out). It also works as an analgesic (pain killer) and a bronchodilator (opens up constricted airways — useful for people with asthma). The original inhaled anesthetics used in surgery were flammable and had the unfortunate tendency to cause explosions. Sure, the anesthesia was good, but does that really matter when the entire operating room in on fire? A new generatio...
Source: Polite Dissent - July 7, 2011 Category: Family Physicians Authors: Scott Source Type: blogs

Pain In The Neck? Studies Show Botox Won't Help
Botox has always had a cosmetic reputation, but at times it is used as an injectable muscle relaxer. Basically, The Botulinum toxin (BoNT) operates by temporarily stopping muscles contracting and therefore reducing muscle tightness or spasm. However, after numerous clinical studies, it has been found that this means of treatment does not aid in neck pain relief at least. Scientists who reviewed nine trials involving a total of 503 participants have published their findings this week. Dr Paul Michael Peloso, who works as a director of clinical research at Merck, in New Jersey, USA states: "It's always important to ...
Source: Psychology of Pain - July 6, 2011 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Question to Ask About Surgery
Are you embarrassed to ask your doctor questions? Please don’t be. It’s your body. You have a right to know what’s going on – especially if you’re having surgery. There are some basic questions you should ask. First, get a simplified explanation of the surgery, and why it’s needed. What outcome can you expect? Does it need to be done right away? What happens if it’s not done? Are there non-surgical options to consider? Ask your doctor what the risks are. What kind of anesthesia will be used. What’s the recovery process? Are there preparations to be made? Don’t hesitate to ask your surgeon how many times h...
Source: Your ER Doc - July 6, 2011 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Your ER Doc Tags: General Health Source Type: blogs

iBag Urine Bag Tweets When It Is Getting Full
Wireless technology is penetrating all sorts of aspects of our world and culture. According to MedCity News, Future Path Medical received FDA regulatory approval to market a urine bag with wireless capabilities. The tiny computer that attaches to the traditional bag measures the fill status and temperature of the fluids inside, and transmits that information via standard IP to any device that wants to receive it. Could be very convenient for caretakers not to have to check up on the status of the bag. iBag™ combines a low-cost fluid sensor with an optional thermistor-based catheter, software and wireless communications ...
Source: Medgadget - July 6, 2011 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine Surgery Telemedicine Urology Source Type: blogs

More Myths, Diabetes and Otherwise
By Jan Chait Sorry for the abrupt ending to my last blog entry. I had planned to finish it on Sunday, but got tired and postponed my plans for Monday morning. Monday, I overslept and didn't have time to work on it before heading for the hospital to get my kidney stone out — which it was, successfully. Aside from feeling for a few days like the surgical team had played a few innings and used my kidney for third base, I'm doing much better now. Now, I did get into an argument with the anesthesiologist in the operating room. That's not a good thing to do. I was "out" for a l-o-n-g time. For the first time, I couldn't...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 6, 2011 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs

Homeopathy in Haiti, a year and a half later
What did the poor Haitians ever do to deserve this? Think about it. A year and a half ago, they suffered through an enormous earthquake that will take them decades, maybe even a lifetime, to recover from fully; that is, if they ever do recover from it fully. Since then, they've received massive amounts of international aid, which is good. What's not so good is that, along with that aid have come a bunch of quacks. I first noticed the incursion of the quackiest of quacks, namely homeopaths, into Haiti only a couple of weeks after the quake. This group of homeopaths was patterned after the famous and effective charity group...
Source: Respectful Insolence - July 6, 2011 Category: Surgeons Tags: Medicine Source Type: blogs

pecking order, level 2
So I joined my anesthesia group three years ago, which makes me the most junior member of my practice. And as such, I have had the Junior Person Desk.I took that picture my first day of work. (See on the chair my old OR sneakers, which have since disintegrated from overuse/dry gangrene--I have a new pair of the same sneakers now, but in fuschia. OR sneakers should always be a color on which blood will not be visible. My brief stint with khaki sneakers lasted all of two days for that very reason.) Anyway, it's a perfectly fine desk, but the shortfalls of its location reflecting my status in the...
Source: the underwear drawer - July 5, 2011 Category: Anesthetists Authors: Michelle Au Source Type: blogs

IMG friendly residency programs in all specialties
by applicantguide (Posted Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:39 am)To ensure the highest number of interviews you have to apply to the same programs where IMGs were interviewing in the last 5 years. These programs are updated based on 2011 match. Don't hesitate to email me for any questions. Don't hesitate to get the lists in the specialties you are applying for to avoid staying without interviews. Don't apply blindly or apply to programs "you think are IMG friendly" as many repeat applicants do. If you have low scores and old YOG you definitly need to get these lists to apply widely.Even if you have good profile, these lists will help y...
Source: Med Student Guide - July 1, 2011 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

A.M. Vitals: Medicare Will Pay for Dendreon’s Provenge
Coverage Decisions: Medicare will cover Dendreon’s Provenge for certain forms of advanced prostate cancer, calling the $93,000 treatment “reasonable and necessary,” the WSJ reports. (Here’s the decision memo.) Medicare will also continue to cover Roche’s Avastin for breast-cancer patients, even if the FDA follows the advice of its outside advisory committee and revokes approval for that use, the New York Times reports. Anti-Obesity Laws Challenged: Local laws requiring restaurants to eliminate trans fats, label menus with calorie counts and institute other anti-obesity measures are being banne...
Source: WSJ.com: Health Blog - July 1, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Katherine Hobson Tags: Cancer Drugs Obesity Health-Care Overhaul Medicare Source Type: blogs

Electronic medication prescribing: The Magic Bullet Theory of IT-Enabled Transformation once again bites the dust in the real world of medicine
Computers once again are proving not to be the plug-and-play-panacea they've been made out to be in the complex world of medicine. The Magic Bullet Theory of IT-Enabled Transformation once again bites the dust in the real world of medicine:Errors Occur in 12% of Electronic Drug Prescriptions Matching HandwrittenBloombergBy Michelle Fay CortezJun 29, 2011As many as 12 percent of the drug prescriptions sent electronically to pharmacies contain errors, a rate that matches handwritten orders for medicine from physicians, researchers said.An analysis of 3,850 computer-generated prescriptions written over a four-week period fou...
Source: Health Care Renewal - June 30, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: Healthcare IT failure magic bullet theory ePrescribing Source Type: blogs

Programs May Prevent Tooth Decay In Tots
A toddler's tiny teeth are destined to fall out in later years as their permanent pearly whites grow in. But for some children, especially those from low-income families, cavities and poor oral health lead to complicated dental problems long before they even graduate from their cribs.Programs designed to incorporate tooth decay prevention as part of a child's regular checkup with the doctor could be a big step toward improving infants' and toddlers' dental health, say University of Florida researchers, who received a $293,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study whether such programs in Florida and Texas a...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - June 28, 2011 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs

STILL FIGHTING IT….
Karen’s endurance totally amazes me…..she is still fighting the nausea and blah from last weeks chemo…..tomorrow morning she has a scope of her bladder and I am hoping this will refresh her and allow her to get some good fluids in her system….she will be under anesthesia …..they are going to be looking at her [...]
Source: Carin' For Karen - June 27, 2011 Category: Cancer Authors: karen Tags: Life in general Source Type: blogs

A teachable plastic surgery moment from Wimbledon 2011: Treating the "gummy smile"
I was checking Sports Illustrated's web page to get the updates from Wimbledon and they showed a smiling picture of German, Sabine Lisicki, who'd just won her quarterfinal match.MS. Lisicki demonstrates a phenomena known as a "gummy smile" which is produced most often by an overly tight band of tissue under the upper lip called the frenulum. Release and lengthening of this band is commonly performed during rhinoplasty procedure (at least in my hands) and produces an instance and sometimes dramatic correction of the smile with much less show of the gums and upper teeth. This surgery takes about 1 minute to do and can be per...
Source: Plastic Surgery 101 - June 27, 2011 Category: Plastic Surgeons Authors: Dr. Rob Oliver Jr. Source Type: blogs

Healthcare Update — 06-27-2011
A different kind of deadly epidemic. Armed robberies at pharmacies rose 81% between 2006 and 2010. Then number of pills stolen now tops 1.3 million. Not surprisingly, the criminals are taking opiates such as oxycontin and Norco. One New York robber walked into a pharmacy and shot without warning – killing the pharmacists and two customers. Many times it isn’t your negligence that causes the car accident – it’s the other person’s negligence. Here could be one reason why: Eleven percent of day drivers and fourteen percent of night drivers have drugs in their system. Six percent of day drivers and ten percen...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - June 27, 2011 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs

Work-life balance means quality over quantity
by Deb Beaulieu, FiercePracticeManagement In case you missed it, an op-ed published in the New York Times, "Don't Quit This Day Job," by anesthesiologist Karen S. Sibert, MD, fired the first shot in a barrage of opinions that fellow anesthesiologist Michelle Au, MD, quickly dubbed as the "Mommy Wars: Medical Edition." The debate centers around the growing prevalence and potential ramifications of part-time physicians. Although part-time work has gained some popularity among male doctors nearing retirement, the majority of part-timers are women, with 40 percent of female doctors between the ages of 35 and 44 reporting in...
Source: hospital impact - June 26, 2011 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs

Medical Students Deterred From Primary Care
Primary care physicians are getting paid more, two surveys agree, while hospital employment is rising. Internists earned $205,379 in median compensation in 2010, an increase of 4.21% over the previous year, reported the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA’s) Physician Compensation and Production Survey: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data. Family practitioners (without obstetrics) reported median compensation of $189,402. Pediatric/adolescent medicine physicians earned $192,148 in median compensation, an increase of 0.39% since 2009. Among specialists, anesthesiologists reported decreased compensation, as d...
Source: Better Health - June 25, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: RyanDuBosar Tags: Health Policy Research Compensation Health Care Reform Hospital Employment Hospitalist Income Internist Medical Group Management Association Medical Students Merritt Hawkins MGMA Money Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Source Type: blogs

Tonsils, Tubes, and Adenoids
This is the 2nd time I’ve written this post, so I’m probably not going to hit it all this time because my attention span just isn’t that long. To say we started today off early is an understatement. The Hornsby’s are generally opposed to getting up prior to 6 A.M., but today we got up at 4:45. We got ready, ate some breakfast, and then woke little man up. Our poor JL couldn’t eat or drink until after surgery. He never asked for any breakfast, but he did keep telling us he was thirsty. We had to continue to tell him as soon as he saw the doctor and got the tube put in he could eat and drink as much as he’d like....
Source: Deaf Village - June 24, 2011 Category: Other Conditions Authors: Our blog... Tags: Hearing Loss vm Source Type: blogs

Patients Continue To Receive Inadequate Pain Relief After Surgery, But Innovative Techniques Could Aid Pain Management - The Lancet Series On Pain
Despite new standards, guidelines, and educational efforts, acute pain after surgery continues to be undertreated worldwide, with up to 75% of surgical patients in the USA still failing to receive adequate post-op pain relief, according to the first paper in The Lancet Series on pain. The findings also reveal that chronic pain after surgery is a bigger problem than previously recognised, affecting up to half of patients undergoing common operations. However, new pain medications and techniques under development could help improve symptom relief for patients. In the paper, Christopher L Wu and Srinivasa Raja ...
Source: Psychology of Pain - June 23, 2011 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Errors in Medical Claims Processing Cost Health Care System Billions Each Year
Here’s a health insurance headache most readers can relate to: My son took a bad fall in an indoor soccer game this winter and fractured his wrist and pinkie toe. He was diagnosed and treated in a specialized emergency room at an orthopedic hospital that accepted our health insurance; in total we were there a very reasonable two hours and my son left sporting a wrist cast, sling and a surgical shoe. Before leaving I stopped by the reception desk to find out about co-payments and other charges we might have incurred: “Don’t worry,” the billing clerk told me, “we will submit all the charges to your insurance.” Th...
Source: Health Beat - June 23, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Naomi Freundlich Source Type: blogs

Variations In Retrieving A Foreign Body From The Stomach
I have observed extreme variation in how my colleagues manage GI foreign-body retrieval from the stomach. Some always use general anesthesia and endotracheal intubation; others (myself included) use conscious sedation. Some use an overtube to withdraw the object into if possible; others simply pull it up to the endoscope and use the endoscope to guide it through the esophagogastric junction and upper esophageal sphincter. The reasons for this variation are clearly related to the perceived risk of airway compromise or gastrointestinal wall injury during withdrawal of the object from the stomach. So my questions to you are:...
Source: Better Health - June 22, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: DrMBrianFennerty Tags: Opinion Airway Compromise Anesthesia Endoscopy Gastroenterology Gastrointestinal Wall Injury GI foreign-body retrieval Overtube Removal of foreign body Sedation Stomach Source Type: blogs

Licking Cancer – new blog
The voices of head and neck cancer survivors are small in number but courageous in spirit. This new voice is from a new blogger, and Englishman being treated in France. Donald is just starting to tell his story, and an interesting perspective it is. Licking Cancer How do you react when you are diagnosed? What goes through your mind? Here’s my diary entry from the day after diagnosis: 13.04.2011 Cancer. I was diagnosed yesterday. I don’t know what to say right now. I found a lump on the left side of my neck about two months ago, went to the doctor six weeks ago and now I know. I felt a sinking emptiness w...
Source: Being Cancer Network - June 22, 2011 Category: Cancer Authors: admin Tags: Guest Post * Living with Cancer Newly diagnosed head & neck cancer Source Type: blogs

New Allied Healthcare Ventilators Are Designed for Mass Casualty Scenarios
St. Louis-based Allied Healthcare has released a line of ventilators designed for mass casualty situations. During natural or man-made disasters, hospitals may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients needing life support, and clinical staff typically not qualified to provide life support may be required to assist. Additionally, electric power may become unavailable for stand-alone mobile ventilators that can operate for extended periods of time and demand continuous electricity. The Allied Mass Casualty Ventilators were designed for such situations, and they feature simple operation, long battery life, and are able ...
Source: Medgadget - June 21, 2011 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Anesthesiology Critical Care Emergency Medicine Military Medicine Source Type: blogs

malice
Well, if you haven't seen this yet, it's not for lack of me telling you about it, that's for sure.Again, I wish we'd had more time to talk about an issue that clearly could have filled up the whole hour and then some, and I don't think I've ever spoken in public at any point in my life and not wished afterwards that I'd been more eloquent, but...it was fun. I hope it sparks a lot of discussion, and I hope that people outside of medicine can try to empathize, even just a little bit, with the bigger issues at play. Since I've started writing outside this blog a little more (see most recently, my stint writing for ...
Source: the underwear drawer - June 20, 2011 Category: Anesthetists Authors: Michelle Au Source Type: blogs

Wiley: Clinical Pain Management: A Practical Guide
Clinical Pain Management: A Practical GuideEditors: Mary E. Lynch, Kenneth D. Craig, Philip W. H. PengClinical Pain Management takes a practical, interdisciplinary approach to the assessment and management of pain. Concise template chapters serve as a quick reference to physicians, anesthetists and neurologists, as well as other specialists, generalists, and trainees managing pain. Based on the International Association for the Study of Pain's clinical curriculum on the topic, this reference provides to-the-point best-practice guidance in an easy-to-follow layout including tables, bullets, alg...
Source: Psychology of Pain - June 20, 2011 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

When A Routine Case In The EP Lab Goes Awry
Easy case. Seen it a hundred times. Old guy (or gal). Comes into ER. Found “down.” “Hey doc, looks like his hearts goin’ slow. I think he (or she) needs a pacer.” “On any meds that might do this?” “Nah.” “How’s his (her) potassium?” “4.3, normal.” And like lots of times, you head in. Glad you can help. Call-team’s on their way, thanks to you. Called the device rep to make sure they can be there just in case, too. Cool as a cucumber. Nothin’ to it. Been here, done this. You arrive to a guy (or gal) that looks pretty good. Maybe h...
Source: Better Health - June 20, 2011 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: DrWes Tags: True Stories Cath Lab EKG Electrophysiology EP Lab ER Flouro Heart Rate P Waves Pacemaker RIght Bundle Branch Rhythm Source Type: blogs

Better By Mistake: An Interview with Alina Tugend
Afraid to make a mistake? Don’t be. According to author Alina Tugend, the best way to become an expert in your field is by making mistakes, lots of them, but to cooperate with the brain on learning from them. In her new book, Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong, explains the science of making mistakes and why learning from them is vital in a culture of perfectionism. Tugend has been a journalist for nearly 30 years and for the past six has written the ShortCuts column for the New York Times business section. She has written about education, environmentalism, and consumer culture for numerous publica...
Source: World of Psychology - June 20, 2011 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: Brain and Behavior General Industrial and Workplace Interview Motivation and Inspiration Psychology Random Brain Bits Research Self-Help Business Section Cards Consumer Culture Contributor Decks Dopamine Gambling Journalist Source Type: blogs