November 30th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Code Blue Then & Now…
Then:
11:30 pm – Cackling though the overhead intercom system:
“Code Blue, Three East, Room 236”
A thunderous herd of medical students, residents, anesthesiologists, cardiologists, social workers, security personnel descend on the scene. Arriving, the chief resident is in charge at the foot of the bed. IV’s have been started, some young well-muscled individual is bobbing up and down on the unseen’s chest, brow glistening with sweat, but focused. An anesthesiologist, noting the agonal rhythm, works to secure the airway, then a central line. Nurses administer drugs, bring line kits. Airway secured. “EKG? Where’s the EKG?” Electrode replaced. “Story? Who’s got the story?” Ten. Twenty. Thirty. The minutes pass. Finally, silence, as the monitors removed and the group departs. Like sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
November 29th, 2009 by Richard Cooper, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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In a recent Health Affairs blog, Wennberg and Brownlee lamented that op-eds, blogs, letters to members of Congress, broadsides in the press and now a report from the American Hospital Association decry the Dartmouth Atlas as a lot of “malarkey.” Once again they tried to defend their work by proving that race and poverty don’t matter, but they do. Even the “impartial” introduction by the editor of Health Affairs, a member of Dartmouth’s Board, couldn’t save the day: “Wennberg and Brownlee rebut claims that variations among academic medical centers are due to differences in patient income, race, and health status.” Wrong, again! That’s exactly what variations are due to. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*
November 29th, 2009 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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The movement for physicians to say “I’m sorry” when things go wrong in patient care has been under debate for the past few years. In the past, physicians were advised to never admit to a problem or to apologize for clinical errors with the thought that it would lead to more lawsuits. Saying “I’m sorry” might be taken by a lawyer as an admission of guilt and malpractice. Attorneys advised, “Say nothing” but that left patients with unanswered questions and often the feeling that the doctor just didn’t care.
Numerous studies have shown that patients want physicians to disclose harmful errors and they want information about what happened, why it happened and if something has been done to keep it from happening again. There has been a gap between what patients want and what actually occurs. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
November 28th, 2009 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Last week, on Twitter, Elizabeth Arnold posted a link to a photo that made my whole body cringe and I instinctively said, “Oh crap, THAT thing?” (I’m stealing and reposting this photo here, but the original photo credit belongs to Cardinal Health.)
Behold – The Guillotine:
This photo made me shudder because I remember this lancing device clearly. It was the first one I ever used, outside of having my finger pricked by the nurses with the lancet alone, and I remember the shunk sound it made as it came careening towards my fingertip. It wasn’t the standard shunk we know now – this sucker would have to be cocked back like a rifle, and once it clicked loudly into place, you had to hit that button on the back to release the spring-loaded lancet. And it wasn’t just spring-loaded – The Guillotine had an agenda. It would come screaming over the top of the curve and embed itself into your fingertip, and it was all my mother could do to keep my hand pressed against that little plastic circle at the bottom there.
I hated it. It scared the crap out of me, and even though more humane lancing devices were introduced soon after my diagnosis, The Guillotine lived in our house much longer than I’d care to admit. Even the lancets looked like little harpoons. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
November 28th, 2009 by Nicholas Genes, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
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I took my board exam this week, and I think I liked it.
Which is not to say it was easy, or even altogether fair. And though I felt a little bit better upon finishing than these folks, I could be grossly deluded in my estimation of the number and trickiness of truly tough questions.
But there was a point in the exam, three or four hours into it, when I was overcome by the sheer variety of extraordinary patient presentations — the environmental catastrophes, bizarre overdoses and bites from creatures great and small. Overcome, not because I’ve never seen patients like this (for the most part, I haven’t) or because I didn’t know how to diagnose and manage them (I think I did), but really because these questions underscored what an amazing specialty I’ve chosen. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*