July 31st, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
Last night I was contacted by a physician in the local urgent-care. I like him, and we made polite, but brief, conversation. ‘So, are you guys busy?’
I gave him the status report. ‘Well, yeah. We have about 25 people waiting to be seen the waiting room is full and every patient room is full. Also, we just received a gun-shot wound to the head by EMS.’
‘Wow, sounds terrible! So, here’s what I need to send you…’
What he sent was, in fact, reasonable. A young woman with signs and symptoms of meningitis (who was treated earlier in the day for and upper respiratory virus…with Amoxicillin, of course.)
She needed a lumbar puncture, which I performed and which was negative.
But I had this thought. I could probably have said, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
July 31st, 2011 by DeborahSchwarzRPA in News, Research
No Comments »
Every year, a half million bronchoscopies are performed in the U.S. in order to investigate lesions within patients’ lungs. Because conventional bronchoscopy cannot reach the distant regions of the lungs, more invasive surgical procedures are often needed to diagnose lung nodules that may be malignant.
The General Thoracic Surgery Division at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia has begun using a new technology, superDimension Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy™ (ENB). ENB creates a computer-generated reconstruction of the lungs from a CT scan of the tracheobronchial tree, explains Lyall A. Gorenstein, MD, FRCS (C), FACS, Director, Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery. Using these reconstructed images, the system creates a visual pathway so that surgeons can guide steerable catheters to where lung nodules are located, facilitating examination and biopsy.
“This enables us to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Columbia University Department of Surgery Blog*
July 31st, 2011 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Health Policy, Interviews
No Comments »
This is the first of a three part post addressing the legal concerns of social networking in the health care arena.
Legal expert, David Harlow, Esq., Health Care Attorney and Consultant at The Harlow Group, LLC in Boston, addresses the legal issues.
Q: Barbara: What are the legal implications for doctors, nurses and hospitals engaging in social media?
A: David: Health care providers are concerned about HIPAA privacy issues – HIPAA violations may occur as a result of staff posts, or as a result of patient, family or caregiver posts – as well as potential liability for medical advice provided on line. Physicians and nurses have been sanctioned and fired for privacy breaches via social media, so these are real concerns. Some communications that folks think are OK may in fact be violations of HIPAA or state privacy laws, so great care in training is needed. In addition, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
July 31st, 2011 by Medgadget in News, Research
No Comments »
Researchers from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio made a prototype of an artificial lung which reaches gas exchange efficiencies almost equal to the genuine organ. The small device does not need extra oxygen, it works with normal air. Joe Potkay, a research assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer science published the technique this week in the journal Lab on a Chip.
The scientists developed this prototype while keeping track of the natural design of our lungs. It is made of breathable silicone rubber acting as blood vessels that get as small as one-fourth of the width of a human hair. Because it works on the same scale as normal lung tissue, the team was able to shrink the distances for gas diffusion compared to current techniques. Tests using pig blood show oxygen exchange efficiency is three to five times better.
One of the big advantages of this system is that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
July 31st, 2011 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in News
No Comments »
Researchers at Northeastern University are using nanosensors implanted into the skin — similar to a tattoo — and a modified iPhone to measure sodium and glucose levels in patients. The implications for this could be tremendous, but first, here’s how it works:
“The team begins by injecting a solution containing carefully chosen nanoparticles into the skin. This leaves no visible mark, but the nanoparticles will fluoresce when exposed to a target molecule, such as sodium or glucose. A modified iPhone then tracks changes in the level of fluorescence, which indicates the amount of sodium or glucose present.”
For patients who are diabetics, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*