October 2nd, 2011 by DeborahSchwarzRPA in News
Tags: Benefits, Blood Clot, CentriMag, Children, ECMO, Health News, Heart Health, Heart Transplant, Jonathan M. Chen, kids, Medical Technology, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York, PediMag, Pump, Risks, Stroke, VAD, Ventricular Assist Device, Youth
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Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) are small pumps that take over the work of the heart in pumping the blood through the body. Patients who need a heart transplant, but for whom there is no donor heart available, might be given a VAD for what’s called a bridge-to-transplant while they wait for a donor.
PediMag, the pediatric version of the adult device, CentriMag, is an external device designed for short-term use in infants with heart failure. PediMag can also be used to support children after heart transplant surgery if they experience organ rejection and need time for their hearts to rest and heal, according to Jonathan M. Chen, MD, Surgical Director of Pediatric Heart Transplantation at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York. Dr. Chen has extensive experience treating children with heart failure and has recently authored an account of his first successful use of the PediMag as a biventricular bridge-to-transplant in an infant.
The PediMag ventricular assist device is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Columbia University Department of Surgery Blog*
October 1st, 2011 by PreparedPatient in News, Opinion
Tags: Ad Campaign, Affordability, Brand Equity, Cigna, Customers, Encouragement, Facebook, Go You, Health Insurance, Health Reform, Mandate, Obamacare, Penalties, Policies, Social Media
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Cigna launched a $25 million “GO YOU” national branding campaign last week signaling that they are gearing up for tons of new customers as health reform rolls towards 2014. That new business will come from the millions of Americans now uninsured who will start getting government subsidies as an encouragement to buy health insurance coverage. If those uninsured folks don’t get coverage, they will have tax penalties to pay.
No insurer wants to be left behind in this expanding marketplace, so Cigna, by being first out of the gate, hopes to build brand awareness that will ring bells in 2014 when consumers must buy insurance. It’s a smart strategy. One industry consultant says “most insurers have not built enough brand equity with consumers.”
Cigna’s ad campaign positions health insurance as Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
October 1st, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in News, Opinion
Tags: American Cancer Society, Bilateral Breast Reduction, Breast Cancer, Breasts, Cancer, Comedian, DCIS, Diagnosis, Ellen Degeneres, Family History, Mammograms, Mastectomy, MRI, Risk Factors, Wanda Sykes
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When Wanda Skyes, 47, had a bilateral breast reduction in February, the pathology returned with DCIS present in the left breast specimen. Recently the comedian appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and during the interview revealed her breast cancer diagnosis and her decision to have a double mastectomy.
Sykes continued, “It wasn’t until after the reduction that in the lab work, the pathology, that they found that I had DCIS [ductal carcinoma in situ] in my left breast. I was very, very lucky because DCIS is basically stage-zero cancer. So I was very lucky.”
But, she added, “Cancer is still cancer. I had the choice of, ‘You can go back every three months and get it checked. Have a mammogram, MRI every three months just to see what it’s doing.’ But, I’m not good at keeping on top of stuff. I’m sure I’m overdue for an oil change and a teeth cleaning already.”
Because she has a history of breast cancer on her mother’s side of the family, Sykes explained she opted to have a bilateral mastectomy.
“I had both breasts removed, because now I have zero chance of having breast cancer,” she said. “It sounds scary up front, but what do you want? Do you want to wait and not be as fortunate when it comes back and it’s too late?”
The American Cancer Society Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
September 30th, 2011 by MatthewKuehnertMD in News
Tags: CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Register, HBV, HCV, Hepatitis, HIV, Infection, Organ Transplant, Patient Protection, Patient Safety, Public Health Service, Recommendations, Transmission, Unexpected, Unknown Infections
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Over the past few years, my team at the CDC looked into more than 200 reports of unexpected disease transmission through organ transplantation. Of the cases that were confirmed, some had fatal outcomes. Clearly, transmission of infections through organ transplants remains a patient safety concern that calls for action.
To help address the problem, CDC recently led a team of experts to develop the Draft 2011 Public Health Service (PHS) Guideline for Reducing Transmission of HIV, HBV, and HCV through Solid Organ Transplantation. The guideline was posted to the Federal Register last week, and I encourage your review and comment.
While recognizing the critical need for organs, our team also wants Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Safe Healthcare*
September 28th, 2011 by Emergiblog in News, Opinion
Tags: A&E, BBC, Doctors, ED, Emergency Department, Emergency Room, ER, Great Britain, Nurses, Patients, Real Life, Television Show, Trauma, TV
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You know me.
I’m all over anything that is from the BBC.
But this is different.
There is no TARDIS. And there are nurses along with the doctor. Lots of nurses.
And the only people flying through time and space are the trauma patients before they hit the bus or the ground.
24 Hours in the ER premiered last night on BBC America. I received a copy of the first two episodes from BBC America unedited for American television. Of course in Great Britian, this was called “24 Hours in A&E”.
On a personal level, I like it. It reminds me of the old “Trauma in the ER”.
On a professional level, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
