November 13th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Chemical Dependency, Doctor's Story, Doctors Threatened By Patients, Drug Addiction, ED, Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Room, ER, ER Doctor, Inappropriate Professional Behavior, Movin' Meat, Prescription Drug Abuse, Saying no to drug seekers, Shadowfax
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I wish I could say that every patient encounter worked out well, that all my patients went home happy and satisfied. It would be nice, but unfortunately that is not true at all.
There are many patients who present with unrealistic expectations or an agenda which is non-therapeutic, and I am relatively straightforward and unapologetic about correcting patient’s misconceptions about the care that is or is not appropriate in the ED. Unsurprisingly, this often though not always involves narcotic medications.
Which is not to say that I am a jerk. I try to be compassionate, and I try to find alternative solutions, and I have been told that I can turn away a drug seeker more nicely than any other doctor in the department. But when it is time to say “no,” I say “no” firmly and without evasions or excuses. People don’t like to hear that, and all the more so in this “the consumer is king” environment of customer-service culture we foster in the medical industry these days.
So when I do say “no,” as nice as I try to be, some people get upset. Sometimes they escalate. They hurl insults, spit, throw themselves on the floor and throw a fit or feign unconsciousness. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
November 13th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Blood Sugar Levels, Blood Sugar Low, Diabetes Management, Glucose Meter, Kerri Morrone Sparling, Living With Diabetes, Six Until Me
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“Brrrrr…it’s a little chilly outside today,” I said to BSparl as I tucked her blanket snug around her wiggly little self in the car seat. She waved at me and showed me her sock.
“Yes, that’s a nice sock, birdy. Okay, let’s get out of here and get you into the car so we can go home!”
The automatic doors parted and a brisk gust of wind came and skipped down my collar. With the baby’s car seat safely tucked into the belly of the carriage, I ventured out to find my car in the massive parking lot.
“Ha ha, where did Mommy leave the car?” I said out loud, walking up and down the parking lot aisles and pressing the alarm on my keys. Nothing. No flashing lights, no subtle little “beep” noise from my Honda. Nothing but a sea of cars and I had no idea which one was mine.
“Am I getting old?” I asked BSparl. “Mmmmmm!” she proclaimed, raising her teething toy into the air.
I walked for several minutes, combing the lot for my car. And the wind kept whipping, only this time it felt good because it kept whisking the sweat off the nape of my neck. I felt dizzy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
November 13th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: A Doctor's Many Hats, Doctor's Story, Doctors Who Write, Dr. Rob Lamberts, Humanity, Medical Publishing, Musings of a Distractible Mind, NaNoWriMo, Patient Story, Physician Responsibility, Responsibility To Others, Time For Work And Family, Unusual Patient, Work-Life Balance
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I have taken on the task of writing 50,000 words for a novel in November (NaNoWriMo) and would have to carve time out of work or family [my posts are decreased by this new hat]. I can only wear so many hats.
But I am here, and my writing has been far more enjoyable than I expected. This is the time when it is easy to hit the wall (we get daily encouraging emails from successful writers to get us through this time), but I’m okay so far. I am writing about a doctor who encounters a very unusual patient. I am writing in the first-person, which was a good choice, as I know the first person of a physician intimately and stand no risk of getting those details wrong. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
November 13th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: Computer Safety, Fertility and Sterility, Laptop Heat, Male Laptop Users, Medgadget, Men's Health, Personal Technology and Health, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Reproductive Health, Scrotal Hyperthermia, Scrotal Temperature, Testicles
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Male readers be advised! Using your laptop placed on your knees to read this post may cause your testicles to heat up quite significantly. However surprisingly, this is not due to the heat dissipated by many laptops, but rather due to the positioning of the legs. A study just published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility investigated ways to avoid the testicles from overheating while using a laptop computer.
Right and left scrotal temperatures were measured in 29 volunteers while working on the laptop in different positions: With closely approximated legs, with closely approximated legs with a lap pad below the laptop, and sitting with legs apart at a 70° angle with a lap pad below the laptop. After 60 minutes with closed legs, temperature increased about 2.4 degrees Celsius, using the lap pad yielded a slightly smaller increase of 2.1 degrees, while spreading the legs resulted in a modest increase of 1.4 degrees.
The authors conclude that prevention of scrotal hyperthermia in laptop users is not feasible, although we would like to disagree and suggest using a flat surface, such as a table or desk, to position your laptop in order to preserve your fertility.
Article abstract: Protection from scrotal hyperthermia in laptop computer users…
Image credit: Pitel…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
November 12th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Cigarettes, Dangers Of Smoking, Happy Hospitalist, Health Risks Of Smoking, Nicotine Use, Pesticide Use, Pulmonology, Quitting Smoking, Smokers, Tobacco, Tobacco Farming, Tobacco Products, Vegetable Farmers
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I had a fascinating discussion with an ex-tobacco farming expert. He’s an expert because he used to grow tobacco, but not anymore. If you’re a smoker, or user of any tobacco leaf product, what he said should shock you. I take that back — you’re a smoker: “shocked” is never going to happen to you.
What did he say that was so striking? I’m not a farmer, so it became a little difficult to understand all the science behind the conversation. Needless to say, he said they used to farm vegetables and tobacco side by side. He said something about potato farming being timed with tobacco crops, and when the potato market went south he got out of the tobacco farming business for good and went with just vegetables. Now he’s a full-time vegetable farmer.
While he was a tobacco farmer, how did he run his tobacco farm? Like I said, he grew vegetables and tobacco side-by-side. He used different pesticides for the vegetables than he did for the tobacco farming. He farmed based on the concept that people who ate vegetables were looking for a healthy food. So he used pesticides in their lowest recommended concentration and applied them at the longest recommended time frame between applications and used the safest formulations available. None of his chemicals carried the skull-and-crossbones warning. And what about the tobacco farming? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
