May 22nd, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network
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Earlier this week we reported on an effort at North Carolina State University to develop a better patient gown, seeing how no one ever liked the conventional tie-in-back style. To be honest, we weren’t particularly excited about the aesthetics – the design looked like a copy of typical nurse’s scrubs we see every day. Turns out that the University of Cincinnati has teamed up with Hill-Rom Company, Inc., of Batesville, Indiana, to brainstorm through possible innovations to improve the gown, the results of which will be shown at the university’s June 12 fashion show.
Here’s from the University of Cincinnati via gizmag:
And so, the solution eventually offered by the UC students is a “Progressive Recovery Collection.” These are options for multiple gowns that can, importantly, all be created from one pattern – a practice that would cut down on waste and inefficiency.
The options are:
One gown for seriously ill bed ridden patients. Another gown for the somewhat mobile patient. A third gown for the fully ambulatory.
The most important thing for a bedridden patient is to prevent pressure ulcers, according to Brooke Brandewie, a student who graduated from the product-development track of UC’s fashion design program in June 2008 and who is now working at the Live Well Collaborative as a design research associate.
“We created a gown that will allow the mattress to be the mattress. The gown is open backed for high-risk, immobile patients so the areas on the body (most susceptible to pressure ulcers) can be healed from the mattress technology, without fabric bunching in between,” Brandewie explained.
In addition, this gown (and the others created by the students) provides easy access at the shoulder – via slits and closures in the design – so that caregivers may operate IV units or other drug-delivery tools.
The students recommend that this gown – and the related versions – be made from naturally anti-microbial materials like bamboo or crabyon (a material actually made from crab shells).
There’s nothing as comfortable as a bath robe, or your own clothes that you wear at home. And that’s the inspiration behind a gown created by the UC students for the semi-mobile patient. It mimics “comfort clothes.”
Said Brandewie, “As the patient improves in condition, they will ‘graduate’ to the next gown appropriate for their condition and mobility. It not only represents the patient’s progressive physical improvement, it provides a psychological boost as well,” said Brandewie.
Like all the UC-created gowns, it closes not via standard ties currently in use with hospital gowns but via a closure like a bathrobe belt. It’s secure, comfortable, can fit to almost any size and is also more flattering to the human figure.
The gown has a full back and a kangaroo pocket in the front, recognizing that the patient will lie in bed, sit in a chair, stand and walk. Portions of the gown are made of special material to wick away moisture and sweat.
And in recognition of the reality that patients sitting or resting will be colder than those on the move, this gown comes with accessories: A scarf with a pocket, arm warmers, leg warmers and shawl, all made of bamboo jersey to integrate both extreme softness and anti-bacterial characteristics.
More at gizmag…
Flashback: “Down With the Gown” Redesigns Drab Hospital Wear
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
May 21st, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Tips, True Stories
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There’s no technological substitute for the human hand. Manual dexterity is incredibly hard to replicate, and so surgeons will go to great lengths to save injured hands. Unfortunately, sometimes the injury is too severe to allow for any meaningful functional recovery.
In these two cases, well-meaning surgeons refused to amputate the unsalvageable hands, thus delaying recovery and adaptation of prostheses.
This is a photo of a trauma victim who underwent extensive reconstruction of the hand, including transplantation of a toe to the thumb’s position. Gangrene set in and tracked up one of the tendon sheaths.
Photo Credit: Dr. Heikki Uustal
In this case, a burn victim was hoping to have some fingers reconstructed from his fist. He declined amputation and fitting with a prosthesis, despite the potential for enhanced function.
Photo Credit: Dr. Heikki Uustal
In both cases, a wrist disarticulation (amputation at the wrist) and prosthetic fitting (such as this myo-electric device with a self-suspending socket) might have provided a better functional and cosmetic outcome:
Photo Credit: Dr. Heikki Uustal
Sometimes, it’s better to amputate.
May 21st, 2009 by Jon LaPook, M.D. in Better Health Network, Video
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There are few conditions more frightening to my patients – and to me – than dementia. It’s easily the most common fear voiced in my office. One woman recently said, “I couldn’t think of her name and I’ve known her for years; I think I may have Alzheimer’s.” Another patient, a physician, half-jokingly asked, “How do I know if I’m losing it or have just misplaced it?” Behind his nervous attempt at humor was a deadly serious concern.
The most common form of dementia in the elderly is Alzheimer’s disease. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, it affects as many as 5.3 million Americans. Especially cruel is the twilight phase when patients can still understand what they are losing, when they can see the receding silhouette of their memories but cannot reclaim what they’ve lost. This was brought home to me very poignantly last year when I interviewed 65 year old Carol and her husband Mike about Carol’s Alzheimer’s. At one point, Carol could not remember how long she’d been married even though I had just reminded her two minutes earlier. At another point, Mike – a retired cop – broke down talking about his wife’s illness. All the words in the world cannot adequately describe the anguish conveyed by the looks on their faces, the tone of their voices.
Often forgotten in the tragedy of dementia are the caretakers, frequently family members whose lives are torpedoed by the devastating illness. In this week’s CBS Doc Dot Com, I speak with Gloria Signorini, an 80 year old woman with dementia and with her daughter, Joanne, who has put her life on hold to take care of her mother. Mrs. Signorini’s physician, Dr. Gayatri Devi, an expert in dementia at NYU Langone Medical Center, provides perspective about Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
** Editor’s Note: Please click on this link to watch the video (I’m having technical difficulties embedding it here)**
Watch CBS Videos Online
May 21st, 2009 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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Patients I’ve seen who succeeded in quitting, sometimes tell me what it was that enabled them to quit this time when they had been unsuccessful many times before. Sometimes it was a change in personal circumstances, sometimes an aspect of the treatment we gave them, but sometimes they tell me there was a single thought, tip or piece of information that stuck in their mind and really helped.
So I thought I’d share a few of those thoughts or tips that helped others, and ask readers to share the things that helped them most. Here are a few:
1. “Move a muscle, change a thought”
This phrase stuck on one patient’s head as a reminder that when he was sitting and bored and starting to crave a smoke, he should get up, and get busy to help shake the thought of a cigarette from his mind.
2. “My cigarettes are radioactive”
The information that cigarette smoke contains radioactive chemicals like polonium-210 really stuck in the mind of one ex-smoker and helped her stay off them.It is estimated that smokers of 1.5 packs of cigarettes a day are exposed to as much radiation as they would receive from 300 chest X-rays a year.
In case you don’t mind polonium, here are some other substances found in cigarette smoke:
Ammonia: Household cleaner
Arsenic: Used as a poison
Benzene: Used in making dyes
Butane: Gas; used in lighter fluid
Cadmium: Used in car batteries
Cyanide: Deadly poison
Lead: Poisonous in high doses
Formaldehyde: Used to preserve dead specimens
3. “Get rid of ALL tobacco and lighters from the house and car”
Many smokers have told me that this was the single most important piece of advice they followed. They said that many times the cravings were so strong that if they had cigarettes in the house they would have smoked them. But having very thoroughly cleared them out of the house gave them some peace of mind and bought them enough time to deal with the cravings when they occurred.
I’d be interested to hear from readers what their most helpful tip or piece of information was when quitting smoking. Feel free to use the comment section to post your favorites.
This post, Tips To Help You Quit Smoking, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..
