August 20th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
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My medical student has apparently had a discussion with his classmates regarding which is the most important organ in the body. Is it the heart? The lungs? The kidneys? What do you think?
My medical student thinks it’s the kidney because of the complicated functions it must perform. I think it’s the skin because it holds everything together and keeps our economy going. What do you think? What is the most important organ in the body and why?
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
April 4th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, True Stories
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…and he lived (video) to talk about it:
The man’s heart was pierced as he was nailing boards with a co-worker at a carpentry shop. The shop’s owner said the men were working together, when suddenly, they ran into each other resulting in the nail gun going off.
Oops.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
March 28th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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BACKGROUND
For those who are landing on this page for the first time, be sure to read the background FIRST to these case presentations. The intent here is to compare and contrast two patients, one insured and the other uninsured, from the United States and England as care is delivered today. The U.S. cases are described in detail in this blog and the corresponding cases, British-style, are described on Sarah Clarke, MD’s blog from England.
CASE #1: The U.S. Case of Mr. Thurgood Powell
The ER radio sounds: (*bleeeeee, deeeeeeeeeppppp*) “Rampart, we have a 57 year old white male en route with a 45 minute history of substernal chest pain and diaphoresis. Initial single-lead EKG discloses ST segment elevation. One ASA given, nitro given, BP 96/47, pulse 110, respirations 22, pt diaphoretic…”
ER doctor: “Code cor activated. Cath lab ready. Proceed as soon as possible.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
March 22nd, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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Being at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, I had a unique opportunity to meet with an interventional cardiologist from “across the pond” in England: Sarah Clarke, MD.
Sarah is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge UK. Her undergraduate years were spent at the University of Cambridge, UK and postgraduate training was undertaken in the region. She attained an MD from the Univeristy of Cambridge. She was awarded a Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and returned to take up her Consultant post in the UK in 2002. In 2006 Dr Clarke was appointed the Clinical Director of Cardiac Services at Papworth. Papworth Hospital is a 240ish-bed hospital that performs about 2,000 interventional cardiology procedures per year.
We thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast two heart patients — one with insurance and one without insurance — from our two health care systems, to illustrate how these patients obtain health coverage, might be managed, and how things look from the patient’s perspective. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
March 9th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
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This week, coffee seems to be good for the heart:
“People who are moderate coffee drinkers can be reassured that they are not doing harm because of their coffee drinking,” said Arthur Klatsky, the study’s lead investigator and a cardiologist at Kaiser’s Division of Research.
These “surprising” data are to be presented at the AHA meeting March 5th. (You’ll have to wait until then to get the REAL scoop, it seems.)
But a quick Google search on Dr. Klatsky’s earlier studies using the same questionaire database shows the problems with using questionaire data to make such sweeping conclusions. Take, for instance, these findings from 1973: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
