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

Am I Sick Enough to Call Out? The Nurse’s Dilemma
By Laura Webb, BSN-RN, MRP I awoke to the sensation ― no, the profound knowledge ― of choking. Choking on something all too familiar. I was choking on my own blood. I sat up quickly, struggling to clear my throat of the flood of salty bubbles forming in my esophagus. I felt a rush of warmth from my nose and grabbed it, pinching hard with my right hand, staggering out of bed and feeling my way (Source: NurseZone Blog: RN Talk)
Source: NurseZone Blog: RN Talk - May 31, 2013 Category: Nurses Authors: Laura Webb Source Type: blogs

Post #38 The Common Cold
It's been around for centuries, and there is no cure. Millions of people every year are miserable because of it, but there is no vaccine. It is the common cold.Back in the 16th century, folks dubbed it a "cold" because symptoms seemed to pop up in conjunction with exposure to cold weather.Today, science has identified more than 200 different types of cold viruses that are specific to humans.Most children will catch six to 12 colds per year, typically in rapid succession and usually in the wintertime – and this is actually quite normal.Kids with colds can be quite miserable, leaving parents desperate for relief and pediat...
Source: A Pediatrician's Blog - May 15, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Source Type: blogs

Fibro what?
So I was told last September that I have fibromyalgia by my rheumatologist. I had been referred to her by my pain management doctor who had been treating me for my back pain from degenerating disks. I also had pain in lots of other places that was getting worse over the years as opposed to better. His diagnosis to my rheumatologist was myofascial pain or fibromyalgia with possible rheumatoid arthritis.Well the rheumatologist confirmed within ten minutes of meeting me that I had fibromyalgia. My pain doctor had put me on Savella, Lyrica, and Cymbalta at different times in the past to treat my pain. Those are the only medica...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 22, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: symptoms fibromyalgia medication pain treatment Source Type: blogs

The Nose Knows: Smell Disorders
By Amy Campbell Some of my favorite smells are a Christmas tree, chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, and freshly cut pumpkins at Halloween — I can't imagine not being able to smell these delightful things. But according to the National Institutes of Health, between 1% and 2% of people in North America say they have a smell disorder. About 25% of men age 60–69 and 11% of women in this same age range have difficulty being able to smell. Not being able to smell, either somewhat or at all, can be dangerous, as our noses alert us to smells that can signal danger, such as a fire, a gas leak, or spoiled food. ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 19, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs

Middle-of-the-Night Insomnia: Purdue's Subjective Symptom Quiz v. My Quantified Self
I just received an email ad from Purdue Pharma entitled "Learn about a prescription treatment specifically for middle-of-the-night insomnia." It's an ad for Intermezzo, "the first and only prescription sleep aid approved by the FDA for use as needed to help treat adults with insomnia when they have difficulty falling back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night." That last part, which I italicized, is a mouthful. So Purdue came up with "Middle-of-the-Night Insomnia," a new name that makes it sound like an "official" medical condition.In case you don't know if you suffer from "Middle-of-the-Night Insomnia,"...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - February 12, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Apps eMarketing mobile medical app Privacy Purdue Pharma Intermezzo Insomnia drugs Source Type: blogs

Three New Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes Approved
By Diane Fennell On January 26, pharmaceutical manufacturer Takeda announced the approval of its Type 2 diabetes drug, Nesina (generic name alogliptin) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is the fourth drug in a class of medicines known as DPP-4 inhibitors, joining Januvia (saxagliptin), Onglyza (sitagliptin), and Tradjenta (linagliptin). Approved simultaneously with Nesina were the drugs Kazano (alogliptin and metformin) and Oseni (alogliptin and pioglitazone [brand name Actos]). DPP-4 inhibitors work to lower blood glucose by blocking the action of an enzyme known as dipeptidyl peptidase 4, or DPP-4. DPP-...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 8, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs

Gray Days
It's been a rough 1.2 weeks. Begun,of course, with a sore throat & a mild cough,moved to the runny nose, followed by the 101 degree fevers & the addition of some hard core throat pain, losing my taste on Super Bowl Sunday,(I did not go to the party & how sad is that,when the whole of Baltimore was stark Raven mad?Methinks it may never happen again ) The cough set in & Sunday night I probably got two hours of sleep. Monday I went to the doc & they gave me codeine syrup & an antibiotic for my "sinus infection." Sinus infection-really? Yep,within a day my head felt like a literal bomb & the discharge turned a disgusting color...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - February 7, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs

Dr. David H. Barlow and Aversion Therapy for Gays
Should a professional society honor a highly accomplished investigator who conducted studies in the past that would now be considered unethical? Distinguished professor and clinical psychologist Dr. David H. Barlow was recognized for his achievements by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) last year as the recipient of the 2012 James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award:David H. Barlow has made enormous theoretical and empirical contributions in many areas of clinical psychology. He is best known for his efforts to develop psychological treatments for anxiety disorders. His early work on the treatment of agoraphobia laid...
Source: The Neurocritic - January 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs

Learning About Sick Days
By David Spero How appropriate! I was going to blog about sick days, and then I got the flu myself. I'm writing this from bed, thanks to my laptop. It's not actually much fun, but I guess I'll call it research. It started with a sore throat and runny nose. I just thought I had a cold. Wednesday morning, I was up at my desk participating in a Webinar for diabetes educators. By the time it ended, I was feeling cold all over and started shaking. Went to bed, and haven't been able to get up since. Besides the sore throat, there's coughing, headache, and body aches. But they're not that bad. What's bad is the fever in combinat...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - January 16, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs

Cough, Cough, Hack, Hack, It’s Flu Season Again
While reading one of my favorite magazines yesterday, NATURAL HEALTH, I ran across a small list of facts about the flu compiled by a fellow writer, Kate Wertheimer. Depending on your propensity for yukiness, you may want to read this list with caution however, we’re all out there together getting exposed to all those live viruses who often are being carried by folks with little if any sense about how contagious they are. We’ll get to her list later, which was compiled in New Zealand. Apparently they do a great deal of research in most countries about the strains of viruses they can and will choose for their flu inocula...
Source: Life with Chronic Pain - January 10, 2013 Category: Other Conditions Authors: admin Tags: Flu cold cough cold and flu flu and pain Source Type: blogs

Poo-Poo Platter
This article was, for some odd reason, the front page story in today's Plain Dealer. (Slow post-holiday news day?) Two gastroenterologists from New England are working on a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of fecal transplantation vs placebo in cases of refractory, recurrent clostridium difficile (c. diff) colitis. What exactly is "fecal transplantation" you ask? Just what you what might expect, alas: Transplants can be performed in a number of ways. Most often, doctors use a colonoscopy-like procedure, sedating a patient and depositing liquified, donated stool through...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 3, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD Source Type: blogs

The Tooth Fairy- Malpractice???
Credit: Clark Dunbar/CorbisIn a new article, four London doctors warn of a professional who is committing malpractice and getting away with it: the tooth fairy. They report on an 8-year-old boy who was sent to an allergist because of his epic runny nose. Regular old medical treatment didn't work, so the next step was a CT scan. The scan showed signs of inflammation in the sinuses. But it also revealed something more surprising: a tooth in his left ear canal. It turned out that 3 years before, the boy had woken up "extremely distressed" because the tooth fairy had taken the tooth from under his pillow and jammed it in ...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - January 2, 2013 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs

How to Determine and Document an Evaluation/Management Code
With permission, I am stealing this entire post from Psych Practice, a NYC psychiatrist who was kind enough to go through a step-by-step How To Guide for determining and documenting the Evaluation and Management coding for the new CPT codes we'll be using in January. And thank you to Becca who found this for me. Now if someone could translate it into exactly what one needs to do when using these E/M codes in combination with the psychotherapy codes, that would be wonderful. E;M Coding, in All Its Glory There are three key components to E&M level of care: history, exam, and med...
Source: Shrink Rap - November 25, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Tags: newtag Source Type: blogs

Trooth.Com – The David Nicholls DDS Interview Part Two
From the website Trooth.Com You remember the FLAP. A number of Utah oral and maxillofacial surgeons have begun a dentistry turf war with a fellow dentist, Heath Hendrickson, over the extraction of wisdom teeth. The surgeons have sponsored a website (Trooth.com) and a billboard on I-15 in Utah County, Utah. The oral surgeons who are listed below have a beef with general dentist, Heath Hendrickson, who refers to himself as Dr. Wisdom Teeth. Monday afternoon, I had the opportunity to speak with David Nicholls, D.D.S., one of the oral and maxillofacial surgeons who comprise the Board of Trooth.Com. Part One of my interview w...
Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog - October 17, 2012 Category: Dentists Authors: Flap Tags: David Nicholls Heath Hendrickson Trooth.Com Source Type: blogs

Mistaken Youth
I could feel the burn arise from my throat. I had been talking for hours. My first day back after a short trip to give grand rounds at the Carolinas Medical Center, I was overwhelmed. Only gone for two days, I was feeling a week behind. My calves ached and my shoulders were heavy. I knew I was coming down with something. Likely a virus of some sort or another. I packed up the computer, and gathered my papers to rush off to the nursing home. The administrator had a four alarm fire that had been building in my absence. It had to be put out. My secretary caught me just as I was ...
Source: In My Humble Opinion - October 10, 2012 Category: Family Physicians Authors: Jordan Grumet Source Type: blogs

The Deadly Threat of Silent Heart Attacks - NYTimes.com
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/the-deadly-threat-of-silent-heart-attacks/?ref=health The Deadly Threat of Silent Heart AttacksFor more than six months, Harriett Cooke had been uncommonly tired, panting when she walked her sixth grade science class to the cafeteria and struggling to keep her eyes open when she drove home at night.One day, during a class trip outside the school, she just couldn't go on. "I sat there on the side, I put my head down on the table, and I knew I shouldn't be feeling like this," said Ms. Cooke, 67, who lives in Durham, N.C.Making excuses, she left and stopped at her d...
Source: Dr Portnay - October 8, 2012 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr Portnay Source Type: blogs

Unexplained pain in woman’s mouth caused her to lose weight, disrupt her life - The Washington Post
The 80th birthday party for Josephine van Es marked two milestones, only one of which was apparent at the time.Held in November 2004 at her daughter's house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., the event was a celebration of her longevity, good health and loving family. It also marked one of the last times van Es can remember feeling well and not beset by the pain that developed soon afterward and has left the inside of her mouth feeling perpetually scalded and with a constant metallic taste."It's awful," said van Es, 87, who says the burning is worse than the taste, which she likens to "sucking on a penny."Her daughter Karen van Es s...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 26, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

What To Expect If You Get The Flu
One of my dear friends just came down with influenza, and she asked me for some advice. Top of mind questions included – When can I go back to work? And when will I get better? So in a nutshell, here’s what I told her (borrowing heavily from the CDC website): The most common flu symptoms are: Fever or feeling feverish/chills; Cough; Sore throat; Runny or stuffy nose; Muscle or body aches; Headaches; Fatigue (feeling very tired) Adults shed influenza virus from the day before symptoms begin through 5—10 days after illness onset. However, the amount of virus shed, and presumably infectivity, decreases rapidly ...
Source: Better Health - September 10, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Health Tips CDC Flu Virus Infection Infectious Disease Influenza Seasonal Flu Vaccine When Can I Go Back To Work? Source Type: blogs

FDA Approves Drug for Diabetes-Related Vision Loss
By Diane Fennell On August 10, pharmaceutical manufacturer Genentech announced the approval of its eye drug Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of diabetic macular edema. In diabetic macular edema, or DME, fluid leaks into an area in the middle of the retina known as the macula, which is responsible for providing crisp vision and fine detail. The macula swells and vision blurs. Lucentis, which is also approved to treat wet age-related macular degeneration and macular edema following retinal vein occlusion, is administered via a monthly injection into the eye by a healt...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 24, 2012 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs

To Hide in the Pig Sty
Diphthera is Greek for: Hide. The term was first used in medicine in 1857 by the Frenchman Pierre Bretonneau. In the very well presented paper by Catherine Frompovich we see the drug company Bait & Switch of promoting the use of vaccines for the loss of pig stink. Now, the first thing that one has to ask is: Who, in the consuming community, complained about pig stink when cooking? There had to be a market pressure for industry to respond (in what we have been conditioned to believe is normal economics) before a huge industry like ritual animal slaughter would respond with a costly intervention. That is where t...
Source: vactruth.com - August 4, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Patrick Jordan Tags: Patrick Jordan Top Stories Antifertility Vaccine Diphthera Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin Serum Sickne tetanus Source Type: blogs

Learning about patients as a phlebotomist
“I swear to God, if you come any closer, I will kill you,” said the 30-something year old, arms as wide as bazookas, eyes as piercing as the very needles I was about to stick him with. He was hooked up to IVs on every limb, had tubes coming out of his nose and going down his throat, but other than that, he was about as physically fit as anyone I’d ever seen.Frightened, sweaty and wide-eyed, I quickly looked at the nurse, hoping she’d tell me what to do next. All the nurses so far had been nice to me, so willing to help. But not this one. With her SpongeBob SquarePants scrubs with neon pink crocs accompanied by a...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 25, 2012 Category: Family Physicians Authors: Kevin Tags: Education Hospital Medical school Patients Source Type: blogs

Chief Violetté and the Headless Trauma
By Birdstrike M.D. It was intern year of my Emergency Medicine residency. I was on my trauma surgery rotation and working at least 100 hours per week (pre-ACGME regulations). To say that I was burned out and sleep deprived would be an understatement. It was three weeks into residency and I had done nothing but change dressings on my Chief resident’s patients’ putrid decubitus ulcers, run to get gauze packets, perform rectal exams, “RETRACT!”, and be the butt of senior resident jokes. I had learned so few real skills in procedures or anything else that I was seriously ready to quit at this point, but in way to...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - July 24, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Guest Posts Source Type: blogs

U.S. News' 'Best Hospitals' get mixed results in our safety Ratings
The top hospital in the U.S. News Hospital rankings released this week is Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The same institution earned a below average score in our recent safety Ratings. That's actually not as surprising as it might seem, since our Ratings and theirs focus on different aspects of hospital care. U.S. News tries to measure a hospital's expertise in treating specific conditions, such as cancer and heart disease. Our safety Ratings focus on how well a hospital prevents infections, readmissions, and other kinds of hospital harm. Massachusetts General is at the top of the U.S. News "Honor Roll," becau...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - July 19, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Consumer Reports News Tags: Doctors & Hospitals Health Source Type: blogs

Body Image: It Takes Balance to Beat an Eating Disorder
By Lori Hanson. I can still remember reading the article. It was describing exactly what I did. It was the early eighties and this was the first I had heard of bulimia. I checked off every behavior on the list except one: I didn’t throw up. I was diagnosed as a non-purging bulimic. I gained 10 pounds in two to three days from bingeing and then begin the regimen of diet and exercise to get it back off again. This was always derailed by the next emotional bump in the road that set me off on the next sugar and carb frenzied binge. I was a functioning bulimic: a successful overachiever by day in the corporate world and a mis...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - July 11, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Body Image bulimia Eating disorder Source Type: blogs

The Moments That Test Us
In the process of becoming a physician, I've seen unspeakable horrors. I watched as the ER trauma bays filled with mangled bodies fresh from a multiple car pile up on the expressway. I felt the splatter of blood on my surgical gown as an abdomen was opened to expose a bleeder. I have been vomited on, urinated on, and spit on. We in the medical profession expect such things. The physical trauma can only be matched by mental anguish. After countless hours of uninterrupted work, I have looked into the eyes of a family member and delivered bad news. Each evening of my career has been punctu...
Source: In My Humble Opinion - July 8, 2012 Category: Family Physicians Authors: Jordan Grumet Source Type: blogs

99255: How To Bill CPT® 99255 Hospital Consult Free E&M Coding Clinic
If you've found this post, you're looking for information on how to bill CPT® 99255, the inpatient hospital consult E&M code. I'm going to give you a free coding clinic on how to do just that. I am a hospitalist who has been in private practice for almost a decade. I have spent hundreds of hours studying the ins and outs of evaluation and management coding. Just remember one thing, Medicare no longer recognizes any of the inpatient consultation codes. You are instead directed to use the initial hospital encounter codes 99221-99223 for any Medicare beneficiary. Some insurance still p...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - June 21, 2012 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs

Sometimes Your Cup is Empty in a Life With Chronic Pain
Anyone who has ever traveled with small children and juice cups knows; what goes in must come out. Our intake into our lives, whether it is food, behavior, what we read and who we hang with, are all part of who we are. All day long it’s intake and output. This is one of the reasons 24 hour television news can be too much intake. We can’t survive this way of life is we fill our “cups” with murder, mayhem and doom. Take a break once in a while to fill yourself with nourishment that comes from a beautiful landscape, a photo from your past, a hug from a child or a big fat gooey hot fudge sundae. There is so much in lif...
Source: Life with Chronic Pain - June 15, 2012 Category: Other Conditions Authors: admin Tags: Chronic pain lifestyle Chronic pain therapy Chronic pain treatment Emotional Health positivity Source Type: blogs

Zinc supplements may shorten the common cold
Catch a summer cold and you know you're in for about a week of feeling congested and crummy. But what if you could get rid of that cold a little sooner? A new study published online May 7th in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests adults who take zinc supplements within a few days of the onset of symptoms may shorten a cold by nearly two days. However, the study also showed that zinc might cause unpleasant symptoms, including nausea and bad taste. The issue of whether zinc could reduce the duration of the common cold has been studied for a few decades. This analysis reviewed the evidence published since the m...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - May 16, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Consumer Reports News Tags: Health Source Type: blogs

Things I Won't Work With: Selenophenol
This fine reagent was mentioned here (disparagingly) in the comments the other day, and I knew that it was time to add it to the list. I've had some other selenium entries before, and they're all here for the same reason: their unsupportable stenches. Everyone, even people who've never had a chemistry class in their lives, knows that sulfur compounds are stinky, of course, but it's a problem that continues as you move down Group XVI of the periodic table. And it's not like plain phenol itself has no odor. It's strong, penetrating, and completely unmistakable. As soon as I get a whiff of the stuff, I'm immediately transpor...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 15, 2012 Category: Chemists Tags: Things I Won ' t Work With Source Type: blogs

Causes Of Bad Taste Sinus Disease
A bad taste in the mouth is not a very good experience. There are times when we can taste our own bad breath. This is not a very pleasing experience. Sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinus cavities located in our head. One of the major symptoms of sinusitis is bad breath and bad taste. This is also known as bad taste sinus disease. Normally, the nose and sinuses produce between a pint and a quart of mucus secretions per day. This passes into and through the nose and picks up dust particles, bacteria and other air pollutants along the way. Tiny hair like structure called cilia which line the nasal cavity sweep the muco...
Source: My Page - May 11, 2012 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Source Type: blogs

Orientation
Today was our first day of daycare orientation. It went better than I expected. Of course, I kept my expectations low.... but that's just the smart thing to do.Some observations:1. There was minimal fussing. Dylan warms up pretty quickly to strangers, and only got fussy after she'd been awake for 90 minutes, which is totally normal for her. 2. She FELL ASLEEP in a bouncy seat. She has actually never done this before, and I was completely shocked and relieved. Especially given the new environment. 3. Of course she only stayed asleep for 20-30 minutes. But, she actually self soot...
Source: The long road to medical school - April 24, 2012 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Can I take a decongestant pill and nasal spray at the same time?
When I use an over-the-counter decongestant nasal spray, like Afrin, can I also take decongestant pills? What should I watch out for? There is probably no need to take them at the same time, say our pharmacist consultants. You don't need to—and, if you do take both, you might get an overload of decongestant. But when suffering from a cold, it may be a good idea to use a spray for the first few days, and then switch to an oral decongestant, if it's still needed. (If congestion is caused by allergies, your best, first bet is an over-the-counter antihistamine.) Nasal sprays are topical decongestants. The active ingredi...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - April 23, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Consumer Reports News Tags: Drug safety Health Medications Over-the-counter Drugs Source Type: blogs

A Season in Hell - Mark Dery - Boing Boing
On the wall at the foot of my bed, a poster displays the Faces Pain Scale, a series of earless, genderless everymen arranged, from right to left, in increasing degrees of agony.1"The faces show how much pain or discomfort someone is feeling," the caption explains. "The face on the left shows no pain. Each face shows more and more pain and the last face shows the worst pain possible. Point to the face that shows how bad your pain is right NOW."2 The blurb adds, helpfully, that your face need not resemble the cartoon visages in the Pain Scale.It's August 2011. I'm lying in a room at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, waiti...
Source: Psychology of Pain - April 16, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Oxford handbook of ENT and head and neck surgery, 2nd ed.
Scan or click to download Corbridge, R. and Steventon, N. (2010) Oxford handbook of ENT and head and neck surgery, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Corbridge, R. and Steventon, N. (2010) Oxford handbook of ENT and head and neck surgery, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Book Blurb This is a unique and comprehensive guide to ENT aimed at medical students and junior doctors. The detailed management plans and rationale for treatments, along with their advantages and disadvantages are useful for anyone managing patients with ENT and head and neck disorders. Reviews Amazon Access Requirements Requires NHS Athens...
Source: Fade Library - March 27, 2012 Category: Medical Librarians Authors: western4uk Tags: Ooops Missed Category! Ear nose and throat diseases Handbooks Head Neck Otolaryngology Source Type: blogs

A man’s persistent headache proves hard to diagnose and harder to treat - The Washington Post
Driving south on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway bound for his Adams Morgan home in June 2009, Michael Herndon struggled to cope with the implications of what the doctor had just told him.For months Herndon had tried to find out why the headache he developed on Nov. 15, 2008 — he remembered the exact date — had not gone away. The 41-year-old had consulted neurologists and ear, nose and throat specialists as well as an allergist and ophthalmologist, but none of them had figured out what was causing his pain."I was starting to hit a mental and physical wall," recalled Herndon, a consumer outreach specialist at the Commo...
Source: Psychology of Pain - March 26, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Trauma! Initial Assessment & Management
Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog Trauma! Initial Assessment & Managementaka Trauma Tribulation 014Your trauma patient from Trauma Tribulation 013 has arrived… A trauma call was activated and the team assembled. The patient was transferred onto a bed in the trauma bay, and removed from a spinal board used fro transfer. Handover and vital signs are being obtained as the trauma team get to work.As the Trauma Team Leader, you’re going to need to know your stuff to be able to coordinate the team’s initial assessment and management of this trauma patient.QuestionsQ1. What are the 5 key components of the ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 19, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Education Emergency Medicine Trauma ABCDE approach atls initial assessment and management primary survey secondary survey tertiary survey trauma tribulation Source Type: blogs

British Chiropractic Association: Why we sued Simon Singh
The BCA gives a fascinating account of why it sued the writer for libel over article in Guardian, and the aftermath of its defeat ~ The Guardian UK You wouldn’t have thought Chiropracters might claim the “treatment” is effective in disorders such as “colic, asthma and bedwetting”. Chiropractors who believe in the gospel of their founding father are convinced that spinal “subluxations” of the vertebrae impede the flow of our life energy which, in turn, is the cause of most illnesses. Yet there is no scientific basis for the concept of chiropractic “subluxation”. Unsurpr...
Source: Malaysian Medical Resources - March 18, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Palmdoc Tags: - CAM watch - Palmdoc Chiropracter Chiropractic Source Type: blogs

Vaccinate Now?
Flu season is late, but it is upon us. Is it only my experience, or does it seem to be the following: 1. Those patients and parents who most vehemently refuse influenza vaccines are the same ones who complain the loudest about their symptoms and their childrens’ symptoms when they actually come down with the flu. And I wish I had a dollar every time I hear someone say they don’t get vaccinated because “I get sick from the flu shots.” Since the virii in the shots are dead, getting sick from the flu shot is highly unlikely. But hey, enjoy your fever, headache, cough, and muscle aches for the next week...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - March 4, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Random Thoughts Vaccinations Source Type: blogs

Handiwork.
Lovely Internet, send! help! at! once!. M’aidez et cetera. Am drowning in bodily secretions, excretions and all other kinds of cretions you can name for Bhaji Nightshift has a cold and so do I and, accordingly enough, I am not sure which of us is more prone to fits of low grade febrile irritability and crying for no externally discernible reason. My damn throat hurts. As for Bhaji, well, she can’t whinge as fluently as the twins can because they have about three years jump on her in the whole complaints department, but she’s very clearly about as happy about the whole thing as you can expect an ob...
Source: Mission: Impossible (or adventures in infertility, pregnancy....parenting?) - February 22, 2012 Category: Infertility Authors: g Tags: Babies f*cking complaints department darth vader discernible reason glandular output observation number subtle point Source Type: blogs

No Fail, Quick Cure, Cold Remedy
photo credit: Elliot Stokes When I have the common cold, I want it gone immediately. Although I haven’t come up with an “immediate” solution, I do have a regimen that works really well for shortening the duration of a cold. If you start this regimin at the very first sign of a cold you could keep the cold down to just a day or two. If you have something worse than the common cold, this will likely help, but you should also see your doctor. Diseases worse than the common cold should be evaluated by your doctor. Common Cold Cure The common cold brings us several annoying symptoms: headache, stuffy nose, s...
Source: Life Learning Today - February 21, 2012 Category: Life Coaches Authors: AgentSully Tags: Healthy Living How To common cold common cold remedy cure common cold get well soon neti pot Source Type: blogs

Keep your docs off 'do not use' lists
by Kathleen Bartholomew Tom Emerick is a man I respect immensely. He administered benefits for 1 million Wal-Mart employees and took that job very seriously. When you walked into Tom's benefit department, you couldn't miss the wall of thank you cards--all written by "almost patients." These patients are the ones who almost went under the knife to have a variety of surgeries from heart transplants to spinal fusions, but were "saved" by a conscientious benefits manager from the largest retailer on the planet--not by their doctor. Granted, some cards are duplicates. One couple sends one every single year. You see, their do...
Source: hospital impact - February 20, 2012 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs

Self Forgiveness
Nothing is more delicious to the eyes of a five year old girl then the shimmering, metallic glare of a Zippo lighter. So when her mom ran over to the neighbors to borrow some sugar, she climbed up the rickety kitchen cabinets and stood on her tip toes in order to reach the top shelf and pilfer the object of her desire. After tripping clumsily back down, she sprinted to the table and crawled into her private sanctuary sealed from the world by the tablecloth. She rolled the metal cog with her thumb and watched the spark evolve into a mesmerizing glow of blue then yellow light. Her baby brother started to stir and she craned ...
Source: In My Humble Opinion - February 18, 2012 Category: Family Physicians Source Type: blogs

Plastic surgery is part of the ENT surgeon repertoire
Do ear surgeons perform facelifts? Absolutely!And we perform nose surgery and throat surgery, too!A recent article in the New York Times presented a scathing editorial on complications caused by poorly trained surgeons. However, the implication of the title “Ear surgeons performing facelifts,” is misleading and overlooks the fact that a large portion of training in the specialty of ear, nose and throat surgery includes plastic and reconstructive surgery of the face, head and neck.Read the rest of Plastic surgery is part of the ENT surgeon repertoire on KevinMD.com.Category: Physician | Tags: Specialist, Surge...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 16, 2012 Category: Family Physicians Authors: Kevin Tags: Physician Specialist Surgery newtag Source Type: blogs

Dr Bobby, or Dr Ralph Roister Doister?
When we get done I demonstrate to Dotty how to clear her throat, you know that really big sound where you are gathering up all the snot and making what was called a "lunger" when I was a kid. A lunger is like a thick wad of slimy spit. By Bob DeMarco Alzheimer's Reading Room Lunger I read a lot. Thanks to mom, dad, and God, I have a good facility to absorb information, file it away, and put it to good use somewhere down the road. I'm also very curious. I still remember the time I got in a lot of trouble when I was six years old for being "too" curious. Curiousity does work for me though because I read all kinds of ...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - February 16, 2012 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

Fatigued? More Sleep May Help
By David Spero Fatigue, defined as physical or mental exhaustion, can be the most crippling thing about diabetes. Last week we looked at about 20 causes of fatigue. Fortunately, there are an equal number of treatments. Sleep is one of the most important. According to the book Power Sleep by James Maas, PhD, and others, "[Sleep] restores, rejuvenates, and energizes the body and brain… [It affects] energy, mood, body weight, perception, memory, thinking, reaction time, productivity, performance, communication skills, creativity, safety, and good health." Most people in modern societies do not get enough sleep. Before ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 15, 2012 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs

Fear or premonition?
I haven't ever acknowledged fear, not since I was a child. Because all emotions are confusing to me, I have little faith in my own instincts. I hesitate to trust when I feel premonition or trepidation. I assume I'm just being too anxious, and push through it.For the past few days, I've known I needed to return to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to have an injection of steroids into my inner ear, a needle piercing the eardrum to fill the inner ear with medication that could restore my hearing suddenly lost in one ear two weeks ago. I felt an immense amount of fear about this procedure. It just doesn't seem "natural". But after two...
Source: Turquoise Gates - February 14, 2012 Category: Cancer Tags: instinct premonition emotions trusting yourself fear emotions on Tuesdays Source Type: blogs

Live Chat: Sleep’s Impact on Your Health
In today’s article on sleep research, WSJ Personal Journal news editor Andrea Petersen examines the chronic sleep deprivation of today’s kids, noting that the problem has persisted for at least a century. Too little sleep can have health consequences for young people and adults alike, from obesity and memory problems to depression and higher risk of substance abuse. Andrea took questions from readers about the connection between sleep and health in a live chat on Feb. 14, moderated by Personal Journal deputy editor Leslie Yazel. Replay the event. Full transcript follows: Hi, everybody, welcome to the chat! W...
Source: WSJ.com: Health Blog - February 13, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Demetria Gallegos Tags: Health costs Research Sleep Source Type: blogs

Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way...turn.
I just opened my TypePad dashboard and I swear to God a cloud of bats flew out. In fact, I'm being swarmed even as we speak, so if this post contains more than the usual ration of guano, that is the reason why. Not because I'm out of practice blogging, or because I'm in a hurry, or because I'm the lone still point among a roiling crowd of toddlers clattering around in ski boots. More on that in a minute, if rabies doesn't claim me first. Hello! Hi! It's been a while. Here is what I have to report: Nothing out of the ordinary. Business as usual. Walk in the p...
Source: a little pregnant - February 11, 2012 Category: Infertility Authors: Julie Tags: Ben there, done that Charles in charge Source Type: blogs

The unknowable {a hearing update}
The music rolls like thunder out of the Bosendorfer grand piano, a diminutive elderly woman with arthritic fingers that still fly to melodies memorized years long past. A woman with no legs is in a wheelchair on the marble floor under the streaming sunlight, and she raises one hand in praise as she makes that wheelchair dance and twirl with the other. It is the strains of "How Great Thou Art" filling this very secular space, and people stand against the railings 3 stories up, their harmonies cascading down in a sweet and singular moment when the broken people gathered here for treatment only found at a nationally renowned ...
Source: Turquoise Gates - February 6, 2012 Category: Cancer Tags: sensorineural hearing loss mycancerstory hope God's deeps Source Type: blogs

Sniff. Cough. Ginger. Gin.
I am not very well. I have a sore throat, sore ears, an unpredictable-squeak-or-growl voice, and a runny nose. This was my ailment of choice during my youth – if memory serves, I pretty much took antibiotics from November to February every year until someone took pity on me and took my tonsils out, after which things got a little better – so I know the drill. Take It Easy And Drink Plenty. Which I am trying to do. But, despite all of the practice I’ve had over the last couple of years – maybe because of it – I’m doing it with a very bad grace. Yesterday, I told Alan and Joy that ‘I...
Source: Bah! to cancer - January 30, 2012 Category: Cancer Authors: Stephanie Tags: Musings cocktail drinks recipe wellness Source Type: blogs