April 3rd, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Ambiguous, Medication Instructions, Medicine, Patients, Prescription Directions, Surgery, Unclear
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“Take one to two pain pills by mouth every 4 to six hours”
To me that is clear. I was reminded recently that it isn’t to all patients.
A patient complained of lack of relief from her pain medicines after surgery. Her description of the pain didn’t suggest any complications so I ask how she was taking them. I was looking for a way to safely use NSAIDS or Tylenol as a boost rather than giving her something stronger.
“I take one pain pill and then wait an hour to take another one.”
I prompted her to tell me when she took the next dose.
“I wait four hours and then take one pain pill, but I wait for six hours to take the next one.”
Ah!
I had mentioned to her and her caregiver that due to her small size she should begin with just one, then wait for 30 minutes to an hour to see if she needed the second one. They were doing that, but the other part wasn’t clear. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
March 31st, 2011 by Happy Hospitalist in Humor
Tags: Differences In Medical Specialist CAre, Life and Death, Procedures, Specialist
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Everyone has their own perspectives about life and death, often based on life experiences and their worldly views. Doctors are no different, except to say that doctors deal with life and death every day of their lives. For medical doctors, death perspectives are more likely to be defined by their disease specialty.
Here are a few examples of death perspectives from the different medical specialties
If you’re a pulmonologist, nobody dies without first getting a bronchoscopy.If you’re a cardiologist, nobody dies without first getting a heart catheterization.If you’re a nephrologist, nobody dies without first getting a run of dialysis.If you’re an oncologist, nobody dies without first getting a course of chemotherapy.If you’re a neurologist, nobody dies without first getting an EEG and an MRI. If you’re a gastroenterologist, nobody dies without first getting a colonoscopy.If you’re a rheumatologist, nobody dies from lupus, because the answer is never lupus. If you’re an infectious disease doctor, nobody dies without first getting a course of doxycycline.If you’re a family practice physician, nobody dies without getting a consult.If you’re an internist, nobody dies without first admitting the patient to the hospitalist.If you’re a dermatologist, nobody dies. Period.
What’s the moral of the story? If you want to live forever, get a dermatologist as your primary care physician.
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
March 25th, 2011 by Bongi in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Death, Death Certificate, Fake ID, Government Corruption, Identity Theft, Lesotho, Morgue, Qwaqwa, South Africa
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Amazingly enough, no matter how crazy our country gets we are a darn sight better than many of our neighbours. Many people from countries around us flee to South Africa for a better life. Only problem is for the better life you sometimes have to produce a South African identity document. These can be easily bought from corrupt government officials, but why buy one if you can borrow one?
I was working in Qwaqwa. It was an amazingly poverty-stricken place with what seemed to me to be almost total joblessness. I truly don’t know how the people survived. And yet people from neighbouring Lesotho would still move there illegally. I’ve never been to Lesotho personally but if Qwaqwa was a better proposition, then I can’t even imagine how bad life in Lesotho must have been.
Anyway, one day I got to work and was confronted with a sticky problem. The police were there and they apparently needed my help. You see as it turns out, a Lesotho illegal had died a week before in our hospital. In order to qualify for admission to our hospital she needed to be South African. Luckily her sister was the proud owner of a South African identity document and had simply lent it to her, along with her name. I assume they looked similar enough that the clerk working in admissions hadn’t noticed the picture in the book wasn’t that of the patient. More likely she simply didn’t check. The problem was that the patient had been declared dead by the doctor on call that particular night. Or rather the patient’s sister and her ID had been declared dead. At that stage no one yet knew who the patient was. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
March 24th, 2011 by Happy Hospitalist in Health Tips, Humor, Medblogger Shout Outs
Tags: Death, Die Healthy, Fitness, Grand Rounds, Healthy Living, Nutrition, Quotes, Weight Loss
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A new blog has entered the medical world. She’s only a couple months old, but she has an awesome name: happy internist. happy internist shows us all how to die healthy:
my patient saw her gynecologist. he told her to eat right, get lots of exercise, and lose weight. that way, he said, you can die healthy.
What a great quote. It’s called finishing strong. Given what I know about the incredible pain and suffering I witness everyday from self induced disease, dying healthy is a goal worth living for. Death is inevitable. Dying healthy takes hard work and personal sacrifice.
She was discovered at this week’s Grand Rounds, where Dr Val has done an excellent job of organizing the best of this week’s Internet medical offerings.
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
March 23rd, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Health Policy, Humor
Tags: Democrats, Exercise, Fitness, Healthy Living, P90X, Politics, Republicans, Trainers, Weight Loss
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In Washington, even exercise gets political.
This morning, the WSJ reported that a small group of Congressmen, primarily Republicans, have embraced the adrenaline-infused exercise regimen that is P90X. They jump, stretch and flex to the tune of Tony Horton, a man who clearly checked the right box on career day. The 90-day results-intensive program celebrates its “I couldn’t move the next day” sensations.
On the other side of the ideological spectrum resides the pragmatic approach of the White House. Last month, the NY Times described the regimented, non-boot-campish routine espoused by Mr and Mrs Obama. Our current executive branch favors a personal trainer who likes working people hard, but…”as politely as possible.” The president adheres to a common sense program of regular morning exercises that balances cardio and strength training. Calm, measured and balanced.
Both approaches to exercise appeal to me. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
