February 27th, 2010 by scanman in Better Health Network, Medical Art, True Stories
Tags: Arteritis, CT Scan, Imaging, Radiology, Takayasu
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A young adult (mid thirties), a known case of non-specific aortoarteritis (Takayasu’s arteritis) was referred for a CT scan of the Abdomen including a CT Aortogram to rule out mesenteric ischemia.
The inital plain (no IV or oral contrast) CT scan did not show any evidence of abdominal pathology. So a CT Aortogram was done.
The following is the best CT image of thoracic and abdominal wall arterial collaterals that I have seen in a decade of being a radiologist: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at scan man's notes*
February 26th, 2010 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Baby, Battered Wife, Domestic Violence, Fractured Humerus, Gunshot Wound, Shooting, South Africa, Surgery, Trauma
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A while ago I treated a woman with rhabdomyolysis. You see, her husband beat her so severely that she had enough muscle injured that she ran the risk of kidney damage due to breakdown products. I spent some time chatting to her. I couldn’t understand that this beautiful, intelligent woman could find herself in this sort of situation, especially seeing that the bastard had assaulted her twice before. But actually this post isn’t about her. She had finally realised there is no chance that this sort of person is going to change and that she needs to leave him before he kills her. No, this post is about someone else. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
February 26th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Guilt, Instruction, Patient, Physician, Primary Care, The Look
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“He gave me the look,” the patient said to my nurse as he walked out of the exam room.
My nurse laughed and said, “I had a feeling you’d get it today.”
What were they talking about? ”What look? I didn’t know I had a look!” I asked my nurse.
The patient tipped his chin down and looked at me over his glasses. My nurse laughed, pointing at the patient, “That one! Exactly! You give that look to me too!”
I was mystified. I don’t like lecturing people or acting like their parent. Patients do no harm to me when they gain weight, don’t take their medications, or eat a lot of Little Debbies. My job is not to get them to do everything I say, it is to give them enough information and motivation to do it for themself. I am the coach; they are the ones who have to go out on the field and play. I may be disappointed when they mess up, but it’s not my job to patronize them and wag my finger. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
February 25th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Cardiology, Charts, Desk, EHR, Image, Paper Records, Photo, Technology
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I came across this picture of my desk just before we went “all in” with our electronic medical record six years ago:
It was a huge amount of work for our staff to organize and box all those old medical records that were sent off to a site unknown. I remember early on when we tried to get some old records after that happened. People just shrugged – no one had a clue how to retrieve them.
But you know what?
Now that we’re farther away from that time, I can’t say that I miss them.
Still, my current desk looks just as disorganized.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
February 24th, 2010 by DaveMunger in Better Health Network, Expert Interviews, True Stories
Tags: Clinic, Costs, Health Insurance, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Disease, Medication Compliance, Nausea, Side Effects
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“I like your watch,” pharmacist Jin Jun tells me as I’m sitting down to interview him.
I have a plastic runner’s watch, nothing special, but I see Jun is wearing something similar. “Do you run?” I ask him.
Jun is a tall, personable man who runs marathons, it turns out, and he enthusiastically invites me to run in a 5K race this weekend. I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it but I ask him for the details anyway.
Jun is equally passionate about his job, which one day a week involves helping the patients at the Carolinas Medical Center Infectious Disease Clinic with HIV drug adherence. I ask him how he handles cases like LaShana Walker’s, where some days she just doesn’t feel like taking her medications because they make her so nauseous. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Daily Monthly*
