Emergency Medicine 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 25.

An App for Medical Emergencies - WSJ video
EmergencyLink is a free service that provides medical information and personal contacts to emergency responders - Mossberg for WSJ: Here is the URL: http://www.emergencylink.com Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - July 9, 2012 Category: Professors and Educators Tags: WSJ Video Source Type: blogs

FDA Releases Final Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) for Extended Release/Long Acting Opioids Including a Prescriber Education Program
After three years of work the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its final Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) for extend-release (ER) and long-acting (LA) opioid medications. This is the first time that the FDA has mandated a class wide REMS and much of what is recommended will be looked at closely for future class REMS. ER/LA opioids are highly potent drugs that are approved to treat moderate to severe persistent pain for serious and chronic conditions (list of ER/LA opioid products). The misuse and abuse of these drugs have resulted in a serious public health crisis of addiction, overdose, a...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 9, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

China Biologic Receives SFDA Manufacturing Approval Certificate for Human Coagulation Factor VIII
China Biologic Products, Inc., a leading fully integrated plasma-based biopharmaceutical company in China, today announced that its indirectly owned subsidiary, Shandong Taibang Biological Products Co., Ltd. ("Taibang") has received a manufacturing approval certificate from the China State Food and Drug Administration ("SFDA") for Human Coagulation Factor VIII ("FVIII"). With this certificate, the only approval remaining for Taibang's commercial production of FVIII is the SFDA's good manufacturing practice ("GMP") certification of the FVIII production line itself.Taibang began research for FVIII in 2007 and successfully de...
Source: Medical Hemostat - July 9, 2012 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: hemostatguy at gmail.com (hemostat guy) Source Type: blogs

Psychotherapy: the Down Side
In my review of Lou Breger's book Psychotherapy: Lives Intersecting, several readers commented that they felt injured by psychotherapy. It's a favorite topic of ClinkShrink who wrote the section for our Shrink Rap about how therapy can be harmful, and likes to note that any treatment with the potential to heal also has the potential to harm. So I got to thinking Why Would Psychotherapy be harmful? There's bad therapy, like those mentioned by ClinkShrink and by Dr. Breger, where the therapist has their own belief system and thrusts it upon the patient, whether or not the patient feels the interpretations reso...
Source: Shrink Rap - July 9, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs

Aristotle and Benzos for Back Pain
aka Socrates and Sophistry 004The inspiration for today’s S and S section, comes from (1) LITFL friend, and Twitter’s @RFDSdoc, Minh who mused on an Aristotelian quote:“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”and (2) the inimitable and peerless @precordialthump who suggested the thorny habit of benzodiazepines and back pain/muscular spasm as a topic.Aristotle was the next generation of Greek Philosopher. He was the student of Plato (the chronicler of our man Socrates), and a tutor of Alexander the Great. His philosophical legacy was extensive, and he pondered as much on science ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 8, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Michelle Johnston Tags: Education Emergency Medicine Featured Health Socrates and Sophistry aristotle back pain benzodiazepines diazepam habit muscle spasm Source Type: blogs

First Lean steps in Jerusalem
I spent the day at the main campus of the Hadassah Medical Organization today in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, with staff members engaged in learning about and experimenting with Lean process improvement. I think the hardest thing for people to accept about Lean is that it is a philosophy based on incremental steps rather than major revamping of complex systems. The idea is that small advances lead to great gains over time. Your front-line staff encounter a problem in the workplace and then you design an experiment to try to solve the problem. Then you evaluate the effectiveness of the experiment and, if ne...
Source: Running a hospital - July 8, 2012 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs

Why I had to interrupt the Minister: Don't cut refugee health care
When Minister Diane Finley spoke in London on Thursday, I stood up and interrupted her in the name of my fellow physicians and our refugee patients who have long been a staple in the practice of Canadian medicine. Here's why. The federal government has implemented a series of severe and harmful health care cuts for refugees. Under these cuts, a refugee having a heart attack would not be covered for treatment if she belonged to one of the most affected groups created under the plan. Nor would a pregnant woman. Nor a child with a broken arm. The list of common scenarios is only limited by the imagination, and is not speculat...
Source: Open Medicine Blog - - July 8, 2012 Category: Medical Publishers Authors: Tarek Loubani Source Type: blogs

Sunday News Round-Up, Antibiotic-Filled Edition
You’ll have to see this recent post, I am Hard on Ankles, for an explanation of this week’s title. I think I’m finally getting better instead of just “not worse!” Over at OBOS, I have a round-up of reactions to the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act. And don’t forget to check out the Our Bodies Our Votes campaign! A judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a new Mississippi law that threatens to close the states *only* abortion clinic. A hearing is set for July 11. The Center for Reproductive Rights is working to fight the law as an unconstitutional attempt to outlaw abo...
Source: Women's Health News - July 8, 2012 Category: Medical Librarians Authors: Rachel Tags: Abortion Access, Rights, & Choice Adolescent Health Contraception Global Issues Government HIV/AIDS Laws, Legislation, & Courts Libraryland Miscellaneous News Round-Ups Reviews Sex & Sex Education Web Resources adolescents Bl Source Type: blogs

EMRs in Schools, Prescribing Health Apps, and Must-Have Apps for Medical School: This Week at HealthCare Scene
There were some great articles on a couple of Health Care Scene’s websites this week that you don’t want to miss: EMR and EHR Building — But Not Overbuilding — Next Gen HIEs Thoughts from founding president and CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative Micky Tripathi are shared in this post. He discusses why she believes that the HIT world is in danger of overbuilding the next generation of HIEs. The “holy grail” of HIEs might seem attractive, but in reality, Tripathi raises the issues he sees with trying to attain that. EMRs Coming to a School Near You Electronic Medical Records ma...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - July 8, 2012 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Katie Tags: EHR Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Healthcare Social Media HIE Hospital EHR mHealth PHR Around Healthcare Scene Dream:On Med School Apps Medscape Mobile Prescribing Health Apps Remee Dream Mask Source Type: blogs

Manipulation of 12,000 Medical Records Made Easy by EHR
This from a hospital in Canberra, Australia using a common ED EHR in that part of the world, iSOFT:Canberra Hospital embroiled in data scandalSBI Magazine (Secure Business Intelligence)Jul 5, 2012 A Canberra Hospital executive has admitted to manipulating Emergency Department records to make wait times and stays appear shorter than they were.The executive told the Director-General of the Health Directorate they had made "approximately 20 to 30 changes to hospital records" a day from "late 2010" onwards.ABC [Australian Broadcasting Corp.] News reported that the matter has been referred to police, while the exe...
Source: Health Care Renewal - July 7, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: data manipulation computer security EHR Source Type: blogs

Doctoring the data. Nursing the numbers.
I wasn’t actually going to write anything about this. But after everything I have written about the problems in our emergency department over the years, it just seemed a little…..well….. a bit of a cop out, not to document it here. ———————————————————————— Gaming the statistics: It has been an awful few weeks in our emergency department. For many reasons. Following the detection of anomalies in waiting time data, a senior executive admitted to ‘gaming’ the sta...
Source: impactEDnurse - July 7, 2012 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: piss and vinegar Source Type: blogs

Asthma Disparities series: How technology can bridge the gap
Kenneth Eisner Ivor B. Horn, MD, MPH By Ivor Horn, MD, MPH and Kenneth Eisner. Asthma is the most common chronic pediatric medical condition in the United States. Its prevalence has tripled in the last three decades with disadvantaged, urban, minority children incurring a disproportionate share: 12.8% of African American children are diagnosed with asthma compared to 7.9% of Whites, and African American children are nearly seven times more likely to die from asthma than Whites. Additionally, African Americans use emergency departments more frequently, incurring higher healthcare costs. More Work to be Done Implementatio...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - July 6, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Chronic Conditions Disparities Guest Posts HIT/Health Gaming Homepage Feature Quality Technology Asthma Children’s National Medical Center mhealth mobile National Asthma Education and Prevention Program One Economy Source Type: blogs

Healthcare Update — 07-06-2012
Hmmmm. Sunburns and skin cancer versus loss of libido and shrunken male genitals. Which to choose? According to this expert, the oxybenzone contained in most sunscreen causes smaller penis size in children, loss of libido in adult males, and fibroids/endometriosis in females. There may be a scientific basis behind the Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure (hey – I didn’t name it, they did). Study shows that women infected with common cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii are 50% more likely to commit suicide. Dr. Art Caplan brings the argument a step further (registration required to read link) by recommending that cat owners be t...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - July 6, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs

Ronnie’s Story: A son’s mysterious illness
By Ronnie and Lamar Tyler. I remember when my son was first diagnosed with asthma. I was a single mom living over 600 miles away from my family and friends. He was in the 2nd or 3rd grade, and it seemed like he was always getting sick. The nurse would call me at work and say, “Please come pick up your son. He has a low grade fever and he threw up on the playground.” Of course any child who throws up at school has to go home. So, I had to leave work to pick him up (it took about 30 to 45 minutes to get to his school). When I picked him up and took him home he was fine. No fever. No symptoms of sickness. No more throwing...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - July 6, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Chronic Conditions Disparities Guest Posts Asthma Conditions and Diseases Source Type: blogs

Pfizer Medical Education Group and UCSF Smoking Cessation Leadership Center Announces Joint CME Grant Opportunities
The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC) at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) and the Pfizer Medical Education Group (MEG) recently announced a new collaboration to offer grant opportunities focused on smoking cessation. Pfizer’s MEG provides independent grant support to organizations for healthcare quality improvement and education projects related to smoking cessation. MEG’s goal is to increase the number of people who stop smoking by improving the frequency and effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions (e.g., counseling and/or FDA-approved pharmacotherapy) provided by health prof...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 6, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

MLTrends
Here’s what I got for “Emergency Medicine” AND residency. Because it searches the text of titles and abstracts (using Lucene), here are a couple of notes on search syntax: Searching Commas separate multiple search terms. For example: breast, cancer. Quotes delimit phrases. For example: "breast cancer". AND, OR, NOT and brackets allow Boolean search term grouping, For example:breast AND (cancer OR tumour). Adjacent words or phrases without explicit operators are implicitly OR-ed together. For example:breast AND (cancer tumour). Note that searches are case insensitive, though the Boolean operators must ...
Source: davidrothman.net - July 5, 2012 Category: Medical Librarians Authors: David Rothman Tags: 3rd Party PubMed/MEDLINE Tools For Medical Libraryfolk Technology Source Type: blogs

In Defense Of Doctors: Why We Act Like Jerks, And How To Handle Us When We Do
A Typical Jerk, M.D. Editor’s Note: This post is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. We sincerely hope that our colleagues are not offended by the use of the term “jerk” to describe physician behavior. If you are a jerk, please feel free to leave a nasty complaint in the comment section of this post. Thank you! Physicians have a reputation for being, to put it bluntly, jerks. It took me a long time to accept the fact that we are (on average) a disagreeable bunch, and my years of denying that there is a problem has finally given way to acceptance and even some degree of tolerance of “assholitry.” Fe...
Source: Better Health - July 5, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Health Tips Humor Opinion Arrogant Doctor Bad Attitudes Doctor Patient Relationship ePatient Jerk Physician Surgeons What To Do When Your Doctor Is A Jerk Source Type: blogs

How to solve “behavior problems” without having to learn self-control.
Many years ago, meetings with my case manager tended to involve shouting and cussing. Mainly on my end. Today, our biggest problem during meetings is whether I'm physically and cognitively capable of holding a serious conversation at that time during the day. I would love to take credit for this by saying I learned a lot of self-control between then and now. But I suspect that even if I have, that's not what really changed things. Like a lot of cognitively disabled people, I am not capable of keeping track of the dozens of things that have to happen for my basic needs to be met. And I really mean basic: Food, wat...
Source: Ballastexistenz - July 4, 2012 Category: Autism Authors: Amanda Tags: Uncategorized abuse of power advocacy barriers behavior behavior problems caregivers cognitive disability Communication danger denial developmental disability Discrimination emergencies Ethics excuses expectations help Source Type: blogs

AA and NA Reduce Medical Costs
We examined whether 12-step attendance is also associated with a corresponding reduction in health care use and costs. We used difference-in-difference analysis to compare changes in seven-year follow-up health care use and costs by changes in 12-step participation. Four Kaiser Permanente Northern California AOD treatment programs enrolled 403 adolescents, 13–18-years old, into a longitudinal cohort study upon AOD treatment entry. Participants self-reported 12-step meeting attendance at six-month, one-year, three-year, and five-year follow-up. Outcomes included counts of hospital inpatient days, emergency room (ER) visit...
Source: Twelve Step Facilitation.com - July 4, 2012 Category: Addiction Authors: Sparrow Tags: 12-Step Groups Addiction Alcohol Alcoholics Anon Drugs Narcotics Anon Recovery Target populations avoid relapse Reduce Medical Costs remain abstinent Source Type: blogs

Supplying Ipswich Hospital
As we continued our Lean training workshops at Ipswich Hospital, we spent some time with Thomas, the young man who is in charge of the major receiving and distribution center for supplies entering the hospital. Specifically, the HSDU ("hospital sterile and disinfection unit") storeroom contains medical devices and supplies and sterile equipment and packs for wards, departments and theatres (i.e., ORs).All of the managers taking the workshop were tremendously impressed with Thomas -- his devotion to the health care mission of the hospital, his sense of initiative, and his strong sense of responsibility to the patients...
Source: Running a hospital - July 3, 2012 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs

Philips New Portable Ultrasound CX50 xMATRIX with Transesophageal Echocardiography
Philips has unveiled its first portable ultrasound, the CX50 xMATRIX, that features Live 3D TEE (transesophageal echocardiography).The new model is based on the CX50 CompactXtreme with the Live 3D TEE technology transferred from the much larger iE33 xMATRIX system, with the TEE transducer transferable between the devices.Read More
Source: Medgadget - July 3, 2012 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Anesthesiology Cardiology Emergency Medicine Radiology Source Type: blogs

Stylin’ the Diabetes Way
By Jan Chait How do you come to terms with the changes you need to make to manage Type 2 diabetes? For the most part, we’re older, with jobs and families and habits galore. If you’re like me, you’ll go through several styles before finding the one that fits you while still allowing you to maintain as much control as diabetes lets you. (You see, diabetes doesn’t like to play nice.) Jan's emerald from Colombia. When I selected my emerald in Colombia earlier this year, I chose a rough cut. It hasn’t been cut and polished and fit into a premanufactured setting. Instead, it was allowed to maint...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 3, 2012 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs

Gift Cards, MRIs and Customer Service
Last week I had to go to the hospital to get an MRI. My appointment was at 11:30 and as any outstanding member of the healthcare community would do, I arrived at 11:25. After I was registered, I was taken back to the imaging waiting area where I waited about 30 minutes before the tech showed up. The tech was very courteous. She asked a series of medical questions and then she reviewed the process and allowed me to ask questions. She even shared a personal story about having to get into the MRI machine and feeling a little claustrophobic herself. Amy also acknowledged that my appointment was at 11:30 and by that time, we we...
Source: Pediatric Inc - July 3, 2012 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Brandon Tags: Customer Service Marketing The Business of Medicine Gift card hospital MRI Tech Source Type: blogs

Asthma Disparities series: The racial politics of asthma
By Dominique Browning. In the wake of the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, there’s been a lot of talk about the risks to black children of being shot and by whom. Last week Harry C. Alford, the President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, testified against the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards during a Senate committee hearing. “Poverty brings far worse health than mercury coming out of a coal plant or utility plant. Violence, crime. These kids that I see are far more likely to get a bullet in the head than asthma. And that’s the reality of it.” Two days later, during another Senate ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - July 3, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Disparities Guest Posts Air pollution Asthma Dominique Browning Immune system National Black Chamber of Commerce Source Type: blogs

Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival
The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds. Top 9 tips for exercsing in the heat A cardiologist’s top 9 tips for exercsing in the heat http://goo.gl/9GjRP, also known as the Nine Mandrola rules for dealing with the heat: 1. Hydrate immediately upon awakening. 2. Drink an entire bottle of water BEFORE the run or ride. 3. Limit caffeine intake on hot days. 4. Ta...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - July 3, 2012 Category: Professors and Educators Tags: Best of Medical Blogs Source Type: blogs

Doctors in Today's Health Industry
With the rapid involvement of technology in our daily lives, it was only a matter of time before it crept into the world of medicine. Consumers wants convenience whenever they can get it, which includes healthcare. The use of mHealth, a provision of healthcare or health related information through the use of mobile devices, is the call to action consumers want. In a study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), mHealth is seen as a improving convenience and cost of healthcare. Physicians are slowly listening to them, moving toward integrating phones and computers, even robots, to become more accessible to th...
Source: ePharma Summit - July 3, 2012 Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: Healthcare ePharma Summit Physician technology mhealth Source Type: blogs

Health Affairs Briefing: Assessing The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
On Tuesday, July 10, Health Affairs will release its July 2012 issue, “Assessing The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief.” The volume contains a thorough examination of PEPFAR, the program of bilateral U.S. assistance begun in 2003 to support countries in their battle against HIV/AIDS. The effort has been described as the largest program of [...]
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 3, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: AIDS All Categories Global Health Source Type: blogs

pdf full text of article on early repol vs. anterior STEMI
This article is now in print in July annals. Smith SW et al. Electrocardiographic Differentiation of Early Repolarization From Subtle Anterior ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction. Annals of Emergency Medicine 60(1):45-56, July 2012.Here is the full text of the article in pdf.
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - July 3, 2012 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs

When Should You Turn On Your Lights and Use Your Siren?
We reported our location and direction and continued to follow and monitor the situation. After a few minutes a car approached from behind and passed us and the swerving vehicle. The swerving vehicle came close to striking the passing vehicle as it drove by to the left. That’s when we decided to turn the lights on. We turned on our overhead lights and the standard code-three lighting ensemble. We left the siren off. Our intention wasn’t to elicit a certain behavior out of the driver in front of us. We were more concerned with alerting passing drivers to the possible danger on the road ahead. Shortly after turni...
Source: The EMT Spot - July 2, 2012 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: Steve Whitehead Tags: Everything Else slider Source Type: blogs

And now for the news…
aka American ER Doc Gone Walkabout… 017First, the news… A couple of days ago, the news in Launceston: police want to be allowed to wear beanies when it’s cold.Can’t you Aussies even provide warmth for your citizens? These guys are protecting you.And, in the US news: I live in Colorado where temperatures are approaching 40. Most of the state is on fire – bush fires that have burned something like 500 homes. The firefighters are seasonal workers, so they don’t get health insurance cover with their jobs. But, they get decent pay, so they don’t qualify for the (skimpy) governmental insuran...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 2, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Rick Abbott Tags: American ER Doc Gone Walkabout Australia Emergency Medicine Featured Health beanie electronic health record fire medical insurance rick abbott Source Type: blogs

Heat Stroke is No Joke!
Hot weather poses serious health risks! With forecasts in the 90s and 100s for much of the country, it is time for a quick reminder about Heat Stroke. Heat Stroke is No Joke: it is a medical emergency. If you or someone near you is experiencing Heat Stroke symptoms, seek medical attention right away. Heat Stroke Symptoms: True heat stoke means your body temperature is 105 or higher, but this is likely not the symptom you will notice first. Other symptoms include: Fainting (often the first symptom noticed) Throbbing headache Dizziness and light-headedness Lack of sweating despite the heat Red, hot, and dry skin Muscle ...
Source: Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative - July 2, 2012 Category: Cardiology Authors: Eliz Greene Tags: Award Winning Blog Heart Health exercise Healthy Families Heat Stroke summer exercise tips Source Type: blogs

Sense of entitlement is likely to metastasize (under Obamacare)
This is my July 1 Greenville News column regarding the SCOTUS ruling on the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Link followed by text. Have a great day dear reader! Sense of entitlement is likely to metastasize http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20120701/OPINION/307010058/Sense-entitlement-likely-metastasize?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s Obamacare has been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court, those esteemed individuals we consider sages when they agree with us and tyrants when they don’t. The decision has rendered supporters of the law positively apoplectic, even rapturous. Detractors have been ...
Source: edwinleap.com - July 2, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Edwinlea Tags: Greenville News column Physician wellness culture diabetes drug abuse economics emergency medicine encouragement for doctors good ideas gone bad medical policy medicine in general public health Source Type: blogs

Drowning Prevention Guidelines
Here is a video from the Cleveland Clinic: Key risk factors for drowning are: - male sex - age of less than 14 years - alcohol use - low income - poor education - rural residency - aquatic exposure - risky behavior - lack of supervision For people with epilepsy, the risk of drowning is 15 to 19 times as high as the risk for those who do not have epilepsy. For every person who dies from drowning, another four persons receive care in the emergency department for nonfatal drowning. Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning - Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - July 2, 2012 Category: Professors and Educators Authors: noreply at blogger.com (Ves Dimov, M.D.) Tags: Sports Video Cleveland Clinic Trauma Pediatrics Source Type: blogs

Getting off on the wrong foot
The doctor entered the cubicle taking time to size up the patient before him. Toxic incoordination coupled with droopy nystagmic eyes suggested that a breath alcohol test would be redundant, if even possible. Nothing unusual at 2 am in an emergency department.“I understand you have a sore leg?”There was not so much as a murmur in response.“Which leg hurts?”The patient snorted herself into a semi-coherent state.“The right one, the pain is in that one” she said, while pointing at everything in the vicinity as she (presumably) tried to fix her gaze on one of her legs.The doctor began to examine the right lower lim...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 2, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Emergency Medicine Featured Literary Medicine Aequanimitas story wrong foot Source Type: blogs

The Supreme Court and the ACA: 5-4? Really? What the decision is about. And not about.
The Roberts Court brought the curtain down on a fractious Term in a stranger-than-fiction kinda way. Roberts' opinion in the health reform case has been declared by many to be a high-minded approach to doing the right thing and forging a new way forward, to bringing the Court together across the aisle of ideological divide and taking the first step to restoring its reputation in the minds of all Americans. Others find that it should be recognized instead for what it is: a straitened re-reading of Commerce Clause jurisprudence, which will serve as the foundation for further narrowing of the powers of the Federal government ...
Source: HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog - July 2, 2012 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: David Harlow Tags: Health care policy Health Law Health Reform Source Type: blogs

Lessons from a taxi driver
I took the train from Ipswich to London this weekend for a break between my first and second week of lectures and workshops at Ipswich Hospital. En route to the train station, I received a running (and unsolicited) commentary from my taxi driver. As we drove by the hospital, she gave me her idea for process improvement there (knowing nothing about my background or purpose for being in Ipswich.) It was something like this:My mother was in the hospital a while back and I noticed, when picking her up to leave, that patients often sat in their rooms for 4 or 5 hours waiting to be discharged. They were a...
Source: Running a hospital - July 1, 2012 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs

WTF Moment #1007
Mom busts through the doors with her young son. “He’s having an allergic reaction. Someone help!” Everyone drops what they are doing, rushes over, and brings the child into a room. Young child looks up at all the people and gives a big grin. “I was feeding him his bottle and some of it spilled on his chest. His chest got red almost immediately and started developing little blisters.” “What was in the bottle?” “Milk.” “Is this the first time he has drank milk?” “No he drinks it all the time, but it has never spilled on his chest before.” After the...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - July 1, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Patient Encounters Source Type: blogs

Sunday News Round-Up, Staying Inside Until September Edition
On Friday, Nashville, TN broke its all time high temperature record. I might melt – I spent 20-25 minutes walking around unshaded parking lots looking for a ZipCar when it was 108ish out, and thought I was going to throw up. Here’s what the CDC has to offer for tips on staying safe in extreme heat. Don’t forget to check out the Our Bodies, Our Votes campaign from Our Bodies Ourselves, order your stickers, and submit your photos to the tumblr! Speaking of OBOS, some of my recent posts there include: “Our Bodies, Ourselves” Part of Library of Congress’s “Books that Shaped America” Exhibit; Docto...
Source: Women's Health News - July 1, 2012 Category: Medical Librarians Authors: Rachel Tags: Abortion Access, Rights, & Choice Adolescent Health Contraception Drugs Ethics Heart Health HIV/AIDS Laws, Legislation, & Courts Libraryland Miscellaneous News Round-Ups Pregnancy Sex & Sex Education Vaginas & Vulvas adolesce Source Type: blogs

Health care reform
Of course I need to offer my opinion on the health care reform act. Now that we can stop arguing about whether its legal or not - or you can feel free to disagree with the Supreme Court but I just want the arguments to stop that I can hear. Whatever your opinion about the law, its a law and we have to live with it until someone comes along who wants to have it retracted or changed.I'm not calling it perfect by any stretch but I do like it because it represents change to the health care system. The health care system is broken. We all know horror stories about people who couldn't get care, or went bankrupt trying to g...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - June 30, 2012 Category: Cancer Tags: health insurance Source Type: blogs

MedTech: VERY cool
"What if you were found unconscious or unable to clearly communicate, suffering from an injury or other medical crisis? It could take an emergency responder or a doctor precious time to figure out two key things: your medical profile and how to get in touch with a family member or friend." That's the premise behind EmergencyLink, a free app and service accessible on your smartphone. You create a profile and contact list, and the service takes it from there. Very cool. But what if you just need some quick, helpful answers to a non-emergency qiestion? Well, that's where HealthTap comes in: Like EmergencyLink,...
Source: InsureBlog - June 29, 2012 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs

Home Remedy Of The Week: You Can Find It At The Deli Counter
A friend of mine had a bad reaction to a heart medicine, dropping her blood pressure to as low as 76/49 as a result. She was feeling understandably dizzy but didn’t want to go to the ER so she asked me if there was anything she could do at home to help raise her blood pressure. I recommended that she drink a large volume of water and take some salt tablets. She had no salt in pill form, and didn’t want to take it straight out of the shaker so asked if there was any other way to get the salt in. I asked her to describe the contents of her refrigerator and pantry, and made a mental note of what I thought had the ...
Source: Better Health - June 29, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Health Tips True Stories Avoiding The ER Blood Pressure Emergency Medicine Healthcare Costs Heart Disease How To Treat Hypotension Nutrition Prosciutto Salt Uses For Deli Meat Water Source Type: blogs

Defending the Mandate and its Tax/Penalty
From a contributor at the Daily Dish:I do not understand why Democrats don't embrace the newly defined "tax", saying: you bet we raised taxes, but not on the hard-working, responsible middle class. This is a tax on those deadbeats who don't pay for their own insurance but still expect care when they show up at emergency rooms. It's a tax, all right, and I think we should agree to raise it even higher so they have more of an incentive to buy their own damned insurance and leave the rest of us alone. Let the Republicans protect the rights of deadbeats; Democrats are fighting for people who play by the rules.This. This is exa...
Source: Movin' Meat - June 29, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Source Type: blogs

Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 092
FFFF is back after a 4-week gap! And this week’s quiz is about… (dramatic pause) gaps! So why not gauge the gaping gulfs in your emergency medical knowledge with the following five-fold fenestration finder?Question 1Which embryological gap can be a headache for SCUBA divers?Reveal the funtabulous answer!expand(document.getElementById('ddet72796077'));expand(document.getElementById('ddetlink72796077'))Patent foramen ovale (PFO)A high proportion of divers who suffer decompression illness have a PFO. The mechanism is thought to be paradoxical gas embolism of nitrogen micro-bubbles.PFO has also been linked to migraine ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 28, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Jo Deverill Tags: Arcanum Veritas Education Emergency Medicine Featured Frivolous Friday Five Medical History Medical Humor anion gap decompression sickness FFFF fistula gaps Korotkoff Medical Trivia multitasking osmolar gap Source Type: blogs

my office, where the e-magic happens
At my first professional librarian position I sat in a cubicle in the basement, near the loading dock. The office had a megaphone in case we needed it for an earthquake emergency. The office I’m in at LMU is much, much nicer. Also, no megaphone.
Source: Organization Monkey - June 28, 2012 Category: Medical Librarians Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: library Source Type: blogs

Patients as Monitors of Their Own Health
In a number of previous notes, I have made a case for having patients take ownership for their own health, particularly through preventive and predictive medicine. By this I have meant that they should improve their health through such measures as weight loss, exercise, less alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation. However, such "health ownership" can also entail observation and physiologic monitoring by individuals of their health status. A recent article addressed this topic (see: Patients becoming monitors of their own health). Below is an excerpt from it: In the future, patients will become even more...
Source: Lab Soft News - June 28, 2012 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Electronic Medical Record Healthcare Information Technology Hospitals and Healthcare Delivery Medical Consumerism Medical Education Source Type: blogs

Healthcare Update — 06-27-2012
Supreme Court prediction: Individual mandate unconstitutional. Remainder of law stands. Both parties declare victory. Then we have to put up with talking heads putting their spin on the decision for the next two weeks. Beware what you write online … they’re watching. Study published in Emergency Medicine Journal analyzes the Twitter accounts of emergency physicians and determines that there is a “small inner network” of emergency physicians that are using Twitter to its full potential … whatever that means. Use of electronic medical records associated with sixfold drop in medical malpractice claims? I call bullsh...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - June 28, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs

What Does ObamaCare Mean To Physicians, Hospitalists and Hospitals (And Everyone Else)?
Today is June 28th, 2012. The Supreme Court has upheld the vast majority of ObamaCare, including the individual mandate, the first and sure to be expansion of taxes on breathing. I wrote earlier what I thought ObamaCare means to Medicare patients. But what about physicians? What about outpatient general care doctors, family medicine doctors, internists and other primary care physicians? What about the cardiologists and nephrologists and gasteroenterology physicians? And don't forget about the radiologists, anesthesiologists, endocrinologists, allergists and infectious disease doctor...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - June 28, 2012 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs

Stuffed, Speeding and Busted!
aka Toxicology Conundrum 051This Toxicology Conundrum is a guest post by Dr Andre Bonny who has recently started up his own KeeWeeDoc blog and can also be found on Twitter as @keeweedoc.A 28 year-old 100kg man was manhandled through the doors of the ED after being busted by police and swallowing his stash. On arrival he was tachycardic (P 135/min), mildly hypertensive (BP 135/85 mmHg), agitated, abusive and had a temperature of 37.8 C. After removal of handcuffs and a few quiet words the patient agreed to further examination and treatment.The patient reported smoking approx 0.5g of crystal meth prior to being interrupte...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 26, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Clinical Case Emergency Medicine Featured Toxicology Toxicology Quiz amphetamine andre bonny body stuffer body stuffing metamphetamine overdose parachuting toxicity Toxicology Conundrum Source Type: blogs