October 19th, 2009 by CodeBlog in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Death, Dementia, DPA, Ethics, Geriatrics, Infectious Disease, Living Will, Nursing, Palliative Care, Power of Attorney, Psychiatry, Wishes
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He knew she was angry with him.
“Whenever I come to see her, I reach out and take her hand, but she looks away.”
Husband and wife for well over 50 years, they had been through a lot. They met in another country in another time, and to hear him tell it, it almost seemed fated that they’d end up together. Since then, they’d moved many times, raised a family, supported each other through myriad illnesses. They were growing old together.
Unfortunately, “growing old together” doesn’t always work out like we hope it will. Diseases and illnesses ravage our bodies; dementia ravages our brains. She’d long ago given up on their little garden in the backyard. It was her favorite hobby, but she couldn’t manage it anymore. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at code blog - tales of a nurse*
October 19th, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Catheter, Clot, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, PICC Line, Radiology, Sepsis, Venous Thrombosis
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I have a patient that comes in every so often that demands a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter). PICC lines are convenient for patients and nurses and doctors because they can be used to obtain blood without needing to stick the patient on a daily basis. They can be kept in for weeks and weeks and weeks with proper care. They can maintain adequate IV access when old ladies and drug addicts present with poor veins. Often they save the patient during acute decompensations of their critical illness. However, they come with frequent complications. I have had my share of patients return to the hospital with sepsis from their PICC line. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
October 18th, 2009 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Emergency Medicine, Flu, H1N1, Infectious Disease, Influenza, Swine Flu, Tents, Vaccines
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I walked out the back of the ER tonight to see this in the ambulance bay:
And this inside: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
October 17th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: #bwe09, Blog World Expo, Kim McAllister, Medblogger, Medblogger Track
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First day of the general BlogWorld sessions and as usual, I came away with renewed energy, a plethora of ideas and a dramatically decreased bank account! No, not on gambling – I hit the Barnes & Noble on-site kiosk.
God, I love books!
But the highlight of the day? I met my Blogfather! Meet Hugh Hewitt, talk show host extraordinaire! I think if you did a “paternity” test on every blog online today, 75% of them would be related, in some way, to Hugh’s influence.
Blog World CEO Rick Calvert was interviewed by Hugh, and he mentioned the medblogger track! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
October 17th, 2009 by DrRob in Announcements, True Stories
Tags: #bwe09, Blog World Expo, Event, Medblogger, Medbloggers, Medical Blogging, Medicine, Nursing
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I am sitting now in the medical blogger track at the Blogworld Expo.
As is generally the case, I got here too late to bum around with the med bloggers last night. It happened when I went the the “Putting Patients First” summit in DC as well. I just seem to have that kind of luck.
Anyway, the medical bloggers are forgiving and did not think I was being snooty. They also didn’t mind it when I missed breakfast with them. Why did I miss breakfast? I was being interviewed by Ira Glass from NPR. For some reason, this little ol’ blog got the attention of the producer from This American Life, the show that Ira hosts. They are doing a series on health care costs being out of control, and read the post I did in January about the insanity of medical codes. She felt that I would be a good person to discuss the reality of medical codes in the daily life of a doctor. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
