December 22nd, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Medical Art, News
Tags: Bacteria, Clean Hands, Design Award, Hospital, Miscea, Miscea B.V., Nosocomial Infections, Red Dot
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Keeping hands clean in the hospital is a bit more complicated and much more important thing to do than doing it at home. Nosocomial organisms can easily jump from clinician to clinician to patient via faucet handles and soap dispensers. Miscea B.V., out of Augsburg, Germany, won this year’s red dot best of the best design award for its MISCEA touch-free faucet.
The touch-free operation concept of this innovative, clear and aesthetically designed hygiene system allows users to choose between water, soap and disinfectant with just one hand, thus preventing causative organisms from being accidentally transmitted and causing new infections. Operation of this faucet is self-explanatory and comfortable; choosing soap or disinfectant is interactively guided: a softly pulsating LED indicates whether the system is ready for use and each dispensing mode is accompanied by a light impulse. The design of this hygiene system thus merges a high degree of comfort with a maximum reduction of cross-contamination risk. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
December 1st, 2009 by Berci in Better Health Network, Medical Art
Tags: Music Videos, Online, Science Visualization, Wired Magazine
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Wired Magazine always publishes some interesting videos dedicated to science and, let’s say, fun. Here are the entries and a few sample videos.
Best Science Visualization Videos of 2009
Volume rendering is a technique used to display two-dimensional data in three-dimensional space. ImageVis3D is a new volume-rendering program developed by the NIH/NCRR Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing, designed to be simpler, faster and more interactive than standard volume-rendering programs. This video demonstrates some of the key features of ImageVis3D and gives examples of the type of data it can render in three dimensions.
Top 10 Scientific Music Videos
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
November 4th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Medical Art, Video
Tags: #epatcon, Consider The Source, Dr. Val Jones, drval, ePatients, Limerick, Trusted Health Information
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ebdGR3IZp8
For more information about this lecture, check out:
Meredith Gould’s blog post, A Tale of One Presentation
Science-Based Medicine’s, Mainstreaming Science-Based Medicine: A Novel Approach
September 24th, 2009 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Medical Art
Tags: Cotton, Flannel, Muslin, Paper, Silk, Surgery, Surgical Dressings
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The surgical dressings section of the old surgery text, A Text-Book of Minor Surgery by Edward Milton Foote, MD, I first mentioned on Monday is very interesting.
Cotton
Cotton in its raw state has very little absorbent power because of the oil and gum with which its fibers are covered. When the cotton has been bleaches by chemicals, and the oil extracted, its absorbent power is very great. This fact, together with its cheapness and lightness, the toughness of its fiber, and its ready sterilization by steam or dry heat make it almost the ideal material for surgical dressings.
Unbleached Cotton
This is cotton in its natural state, freed from dirt, combed, and put up in pound rolls. It is non-absorbent and has a greater elasticity than the absorbent cotton. It is therefore preferable as a padding for splints, and to diffuse the pressure of a non-elastic bandage….It costs about thirty five cents a pound…..
Absorbent Cotton
as supplied by the manufactures of surgical dressings, is freed from dirt, gum, and oil, combed and sterilized, and so wrapped in tissue-paper that with a little care it remains aseptic until it is all used. It is furnished in packages of various sizes, from a half ounce to one pound, costing thirty-five cents a pound in pound packages. On account of its lack of elasticity, it is inferior to unbleached cotton as a padding for splints, etc.
Dry cotton is not a suitable material to bring into contact with a wound either during operation or afterward. In the former case its fibers are likely to stick to the wound, and also to the fingers of the operator. In the latter case, if the discharge is small, it is likely to evaporate and seal the cotton to the wound or to the surrounding skin with a scab which is difficult of removal. If cotton is used for sponging, during an operation, balls of suitable size should first be saturated with saline or some antiseptic solution, and then squeezed dry.
Substitutes for Cotton
Lamb’s Wool
Lamb’s wool has great elasticity, does not become soggy when exposed to moisture, and absorbs readily oily substances and glycerids. When cleaned and sterilized it is therefore an excellent material for vaginal tampons.
[So very different from today!]
Gauze
Bleached absorbent gauze is the most important item in surgical dressings. The firmness of the material varies according to the number of threads to the inch. The quality should be selected according to the purpose for which it is desired. Thus a gauze which has 24 X 32 threads to the square inch is suitable for sponges or for dressings, but has not sufficient firmness to make a good bandage. On the other hand, a gauze with 40 X 44 threads to the square inch, used for bandages, is unnecessarily expensive when used for sponges or dressings. It is, however, an unwise economy to select for sponges and dressings a gauze with too large a mesh. Such a gauze absorbs so little that an additional quantity is required in every case, so that the total expense is very likely increased.
Gauze suitable for sponges and dressings, have 26 X 32 threads to the four to five cents a yard, by the piece of 100 yards. This price is increased to eight or even ten cents a yard when the gauze is purchased in small pieces, previously sterilized and hermetically sealed.
Unbleached Muslin Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
