February 23rd, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Should hospitals send twitter “updates” on patients undergoing complicated catheter ablation procedures using “pre-approved” scripted story lines?
In a far corner of the operating room Thursday, a Web producer and a cardiac expert with St. Vincent’s huddled over a laptop. They chronicled the procedure largely from a script that Oza had signed off on a day earlier.
The procedure uses radio frequencies to scar parts of the heart. The scars block signals sent from a quartet of veins in the left atrium, signals that cause the heart to go haywire. The entire procedure is done using a catheter inserted into a patient’s groin while the patient is anesthetized. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
February 23rd, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
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Just a quick post on an article that caught my eye: Jazz Pharmaceuticals of Palo Alto, CA, has announced that the US FDA has accepted their new drug application (NDA) filing for JZP-6, or sodium oxybate, for the treatment of pain and fatigue associated with fibromyalgia.
The NDA was based on positive outcomes of two, Phase III clinical trials – those randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trials that serve as the gold standard for drug efficacy. The company expects an approval decision from FDA by October 2010. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
February 23rd, 2010 by StaceyButterfield in Better Health Network, News
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Forget the debate over soap and water vs. alcohol sanitizers. Soon you may be cleaning your hands with plasma. The New York Times is reporting on research into plasma as a method of hand cleaning. Basically, you’ll stick your hand in a little box for a few seconds and then the plasma will zap all the germs, including MRSA. The technology is not ready for action yet, but sounds pretty cool. Except for one thing–if you look at the photos that accompany the article, you’ll notice that a normal-looking human hand is inserted in the box, but the hand that comes out the other side (in the next photo) looks creepy and synthetic. What else is that plasma doing?
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
February 23rd, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
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The first seven patients I saw today were in the ED for:
- Dental Pain (ongoing for three years)
- Back Pain (third visit in one month, 18 in 2006)
- Migraine Headache (six visits in a month, and second ED visit in 18 hours)
- Back Pain (this one was legit)
- Chronic Recurrent Abdominal Pain (ran out of Oxycontin and doctor “out of town”)
- “Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome” (in which only narcotics stop the vomiting)
- Oxycontin withdrawal
Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I occasionally wish my job demanded something more than a valid DEA license, and decision-making skills beyond “yes narcs” and “no narcs.” It just drains the carpe right out of your diem to start the day off in a series of ugly little dogfights over drugs with people whom, to put it charitably, you have concerns about the validity of their reported pain. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
February 23rd, 2010 by Dr. Val Jones in Audio, Expert Interviews, News
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Dr. Jan Gurley just returned from a mission trip to Haiti, 5 weeks after the earthquake hit. In this audio clip, she relays a horrific first-hand account of the current realities of life in Port Au Prince. With no running water, bathrooms, or place to shelter – and packed into a field with 100,000 people – some young women are choosing to stop drinking water in an effort to commit suicide.
Dr. Gurley describes the loss of human dignity associated with the crisis in Haiti, including a near stampede when sanitary napkins were offered in a crowd of women. She explains that the place is becoming dangerous – and the screams of women being raped in the night fill the dark air. In the day time, people huddle together for safety while the stench of rotting corpses surrounds them. With the rainy season approaching, and tent cities perched precariously on land-slide prone hills, Dr. Gurley predicts a second wave of disease, violence, despair, and death in Haiti.
[Audio:https://getbetterhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/haitiupdategurley.mp3]
