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Surgery Is An Organized Chaos Of Cords, Tubes And Wires

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Surgery is messy… and I don’t mean in terms of blood and guts…

What I mean are wires, cables, tubing, etc.

Electric cord for the operating tableLet’s take a routine tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy for example…

  1. Electric cord for the anesthesia machine
  2. Electric cord for the surgeon’s headlight
  3. Light cord from the surgeon’s headlight to the lightbox
  4. Breathing circuit tube from the patient to the anesthesia machine
  5. Carbon dioxide outflow tube from the patient to the anesthesia machine
  6. Suction tubing from the surgical table to the vacuum canister
  7. Vacuum cable from the vacuum canister to the wall socket
  8. Electrocautery cable (along with electric cord to power the machine)
  9. Coblation cable (along with electric cord to power the machine)
  10. IV fluids lines from patient to IV bags
  11. EKG lines
  12. Grounding pad cable
  13. All the wires and cables that go with running a computer
  14. etc. etc. etc. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*

EMR News From Australia Creates Enthusiasm In The E-Patient Movement

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Big news from Down Under: the Sydney Morning Herald reports that a group of fifty consumer health advocates has unanimously backed an “opt-out” process for enrollment in electronic health records, reversing their previous position.

The issue is whether by default all patients have an EHR. “Opt-out” means you’re in by default – your records will be stored electronically – and you can opt out if you want. “Opt-in” means you do not have an EHR unless you specifically ask for one.

The group, the Consumer Health Forum, cites evidence from the neighboring country of New Zealand, in which Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at e-Patients.net*

Affordable Care Act Expands Women’s Preventive Health Services

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There was no large fanfare but there should have been as a result of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) recent recommendations that require new health insurance plans to provide preventive services at no cost to the patient. That’s right. No cost. Oh, how women needed this victory in the midst of these trying, turbulent times of economic scarcity. You will no longer have to go to a healthcare provider’s office and turn your pockets inside out or empty your pocketbook on the table before someone will give you a PAP smear or an annual exam. We all know the old adage: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Well, our healthcare policy makers actually believe this. This policy represents change; change that will make a difference in the quality of your life. And your daughter’s life. And your grandmother’s life. It will help your bank account when you no longer have to write that check for preventive services that could prolong and add to the quality of your life. What brought about this change? The Affordable Care Act. Yes, that same healthcare act that has been politically vilified and called everything except a child of God. That Act.

On August 1, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, issued a press release outlining Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*

Required MRI Screenings Following Breast Implants: Unnecessary?

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It’s amazing what you will find sorting through more than 20 years of stuff.  This picture of 3 implants includes:  top — an old McGhan double lumen (silicone gel implant surrounded by a saline implant); bottom left – Dow Corning textured silicone implant; and bottom right – Dow Corning smooth silicone implant.  Dow Corning has not made breast implants since approximately 1992.

Last week the FDA met to discuss and make recommendations on postmarketing issues related to silicone gel-filled breast implants.  As a condition of placing silicone implants back on the market in 2006, both Mentor and Allergan (McGhan) were supposed to enroll patients in 10-year-long follow up studies on side effects related to implants.  The aim was for 80,000 women.

I agree these studies are needed, but it is difficult to get women to return year after year.  This is evident in the data presented at the meeting: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Teen Poses As A Physician’s Assistant: How Did This Happen?

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Did you hear about the 17 year old teen that posed as a physician assistant at a Florida hospital for five days and got away with it? Are you surprised? I’m not.

It seems that Matthew Scheidt, had a summer job working part-time for a surgical supply company. He allegedly went to the Human Resources Department of the Osceola Regional Medical Center (ORMC) and convinced them that he was a Physician Assistant student at Nova Southeastern University and lost his identification badge. This is the hospital where many of my former patients were forced to go for medical care because they were either uninsured or received Medicaid. My former employer had a fiscal relationship with them. The use of the word “forced” is quite appropriate because my uninsured patients had no options. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*

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