February 19th, 2010 by Bongi in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
Tags: Aspirin, Gastric Bleed, General Surgery, Inappropriate, Patient Behavior, Proposition, smoking, South Africa, Surgery, Twilight Zone, Ulcer
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We can sometimes look good in our jobs. I suppose it comes with the territory. But sometimes this is not a good thing.
Danville is an interesting place. Actually the place itself is drab but it is full of interesting people. To say it is populated by the lower echelons of the gene pool is an understatement of note. For some reason every reprobate and inbreed seems to have found their way there. Throw a few generations of fetal alcohol syndrome into the mix and you have the average Danville resident. Then add a strong predilection to grandpa (a local aspirin caffeine headache powder) to round off with. Usually when they presented to the hospital it is with a bleeding peptic ulcer or a perforated peptic ulcer. In fact they seldom present to us with anything else. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
February 17th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Alerts, Bisphosphonates, Claims, Claims-Based, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Pharmaceuticals, warnings, Waste Of Time
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I got a letter from an insurer the other day, warning me that my patient, who had just refilled a prescription for a bisphosphonate I had prescribed almost a year ago for severe osteoporosis (yes, I do still prescribe dugs, despite how I feel about Big Pharma marketing), also had a claims diagnosis in their system for a bleeding peptic ulcer, and was I really sure she should be taking this medication, which could worsen her ulcer?
So do what any conscientious physician would do – I call her. (Of course, no one is ever home when I call these days, so it’s another few days of phone tag before I get her.) No, she has not been diagnosed with anything of the kind. Feels great, in fact. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
February 17th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Anxiety, Aortic Dissection, Chest Pain, CT Scan, D-Dimer, Emergency Medicine, Nursing, Psychiatry, Radiology, Testing
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Seems like I’ve been on a real run of chest pain patients lately. Which is fine — it’s part of the gig. I did have a very interesting pair the other night. They were seen in sequence, right next to one another, in room 7 and room 8. They were both totally healthy women in their mid-fifties. And they were both over-the-edge, crazy, crawling-out-of-the-gurney anxious.
Anxiety is an awful red herring in the work-up of chest pain. People who are having an anxiety attack often if not always manifest some chest pain (pressure, tightness, whatever) as a prominent symptom of their anxiety. On the other hand, someone having a heart attack who is experiencing chest pain will also be anxious — and for good reason! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
February 15th, 2010 by DrCharles in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Blizzard, Health Benefits, Snow, Snow Day, Snow Shoveling, snowstorm
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It is 4 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon in February, and I’m sitting in a chair with a laptop computer warming my thighs like an obedient lapdog. I’m swaddled in a cozy bathrobe. My feet are toasty warm inside slippers as I sip hot tea with honey. I’ve raised the blinds on the windows, and as I watch the wet snow swirling sideways in a chaotic display of white, I can’t help feeling giddy that work was cancelled today. I have an overall sense of unproductive euphoria as the gears and pistons of capitalism freeze over. Could blizzards be good for health?
On a normal day I would be 30-40 minutes late seeing patients by now. I would have a dull headache from concentrating all day on hundreds of problems, symptoms, and questions, and my blood pressure would be about 135/84, pulse 89. But the white flakes of water drifting on the winds seem weightless, elemental, and self-sufficient. They certainly have no interest in me as I enjoy their infinite procession. I estimate my blood pressure is 108/72, pulse 61. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Examining Room of Dr. Charles*
February 15th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
Tags: Elete Electrolyte, Emergency Medicine, EMS, Equipment, First Responder, Haiti, Kershaw Carbiner Cutting Tool, SteriPEN, Surgery, Titanium Shears, Trauma
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Prior to departing for my assignment in Haiti for International Medical Corps, I didn’t have much time to pack, so wasn’t able to bring everything I might need. However, I was able to carry a few items that proved quite useful. First and foremost was a new EMS-type trauma shears. Scott Forman, MD of Adroit Innovation, LLC has created a very functional titanium shears in which one finger loop has been replaced by a carabiner, so the shears can easily hang from a belt or other loop. I used them all the time to cut tape, change dressings, slice through wire, and other assorted tasks. I just purchased one for each member of the Stanford team. Read more »
This post, A First Responder’s Top 4 Items Of Medical Equipment: Lessons From Haiti, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
