March 26th, 2010 by CodeBlog in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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I received this email from a dear friend of mine recently:
So, for the last 2 1/2 weeks my husband and I have been seranaded with alarm tones every day. We thought it was the new alarm system we had installed (it does a lot of automatic things we have since disabled), then we thought it was the smoke detectors…a new ringtone on our iPhone?… the battery charger on his new bike…his computer when his e-mail was hijacked?…the battery on my bike mileage computer?…my new alarm clock?…the refrigerator ice maker?…the clothes dryer? …everyday we checked everything, and everyday we thought we had found and fixed the culprit, until the next morning when we would hear it again!
It was not until yesterday morning when we figured it out… can you guess?
It was coming from my husband’s chest! The battery on his pacemaker/AICD was alarming to let us know that he was just about out of juice! Four years ago they told us we would hear that when the battery got low, but that was a very long time ago…and it just didn’t sound like it was coming from him! We sent a modem transmission, and the doctor called back to say, “come on in!”
After talking with my friend later, I found out that her husband had his pacemaker replaced and all is well. It took about 2 weeks to figure out where the alarm was coming from, since it only sounded once a day and only for about 20 seconds at that. My friend expressed disbelief that it was so hard to determine that it was coming from her husband but surmised that going through body tissues helped the sound disperse enough to make it a mystery!
This left me wondering if any of Dr. Wes’ patients have had similar trouble with figuring out that their chests were alarming!
*This blog post was originally published at code blog - tales of a nurse*
March 26th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor
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He was 60-year-old man who underwent surgery for an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) approximately 3 years prior who was returning to the clinic for routine followup. He felt well and had no other complaints.
He was connected to the EKG and the programmer’s wand was placed over the device. I interrogated his device and when the initial screen appeared, there it was — a single shock from his device, received two weeks ago.
“Mr. Smith, are you aware that you had an ICD shock about two weeks ago?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you call us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did it bother you?”
“Not really.”
“Why not?”
There was a pause. I looked up from the programmer and took a quick look at him. He was looking away. Instantly, I realized the answer. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
March 24th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
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Concierge medicine isn’t just for internal medicine or primary care anymore. It seems the concept is starting to take hold in cardiology, too:
Starting April 1, patients at Pacific Heart Institute can choose one of four plans for care. In the first option, they pay no “participation fee.” In the second option, called “Select,” they pay $500 a year for priority appointments, warfarin adjustments, defibrillator and pacemaker follow-up, notification of non-urgent lab, and test results, according to Pacific Heart Institute.
In the third option, called “Premier,” they pay $1,800, for everything in “Select,” plus e-mail communication with their doctor, same-day visits during regular office hours, priority lab testing and scheduling of diagnostics, free attendance at speaker seminars on cardiovascular issues, and a dedicated phone line to reach an institute nurse.
In the fourth option, “Concierge,” they pay $7,500 for everything in “Premier,” plus direct 24-hour access to a cardiologist via pager, e-mail, text message, plus the patient’s PHI cardiologist’s personal cell phone, annual personalized cardiovascular wellness screening, night and weekend access to a PHI cardiologist for hospital or emergency services, (regardless of whether he or she is on call) same-day visits with the cardiologist, evening and weekend office appointments and personal calls from the cardiologist.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
March 22nd, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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Being at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, I had a unique opportunity to meet with an interventional cardiologist from “across the pond” in England: Sarah Clarke, MD.
Sarah is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge UK. Her undergraduate years were spent at the University of Cambridge, UK and postgraduate training was undertaken in the region. She attained an MD from the Univeristy of Cambridge. She was awarded a Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and returned to take up her Consultant post in the UK in 2002. In 2006 Dr Clarke was appointed the Clinical Director of Cardiac Services at Papworth. Papworth Hospital is a 240ish-bed hospital that performs about 2,000 interventional cardiology procedures per year.
We thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast two heart patients — one with insurance and one without insurance — from our two health care systems, to illustrate how these patients obtain health coverage, might be managed, and how things look from the patient’s perspective. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
March 20th, 2010 by DrCharles in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research
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Mmmm. I just discovered non-homogenized milk — the kind with the thick layer of cream on top and more watery milk below. You have to shake it up before each serving, and the little flecks of buttery cream never quite disappear. Non-homogenized milk can look alien at first, with tiny chunks of floating cream fooling the mind into thinking the stuff’s gone rancid. But the taste is far superior to homogenized milk. Think milk with a hint of butter.
This is the old-fashioned kind, available to humans for 10,000 years until the 1930’s when homogenized milk became widespread. Homogenization of milk is accomplished by a series of filtration steps under high pressure that squeeze milk and its relatively large fat globules through tiny tubes, breaking the globules into microscopic pieces which are then prevented from coalescing by the casein already in the milk. This process makes milk look homogenous — uniform in consistency and tasting evenly creamy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Examining Room of Dr. Charles*
