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Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) Are Great, But Don’t Fix All Heart Problems

I think one of the greatest public safety advances of the last 15 years has been the widespread installation of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Automated external defibrillators are medical devices designed to deliver an electrical shock to the heart in ventricular fibrillation – a cardiac rhythm that is commonly associated with cardiac arrest.

VFib.jpg
Figure 1: ECG of a heart devolving into ventricular fibrillation.

I was working in emergency medicine when medical device companies first began to advocate for the placement of AEDs in public places and worked closely with many companies, organizations, and government agencies to incorporate AEDs into their emergency response plans. This wasn’t an easy sell in the late 1990s. People were worried about safety, liability, and cost. But, AED programs have been a great success. AEDs are most effective when they are used within 3-5 minutes of arrest. For example, if you have a cardiac arrest with ventricular fibrillation in New York City, Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess*

Telemarketing Unnecessary Heart Scans Is Big Business

Those who market heart scan services should be more careful about what they promote and to whom.

When ProPublica’s Marshall Allen got a telemarketing offer for heart scans for him and his wife, he followed up with a story, “Body Imaging Business Pushes Scans Many Don’t Need – Including Me.”

Reminding Allen about the deaths of figure skater Sergei Grinkov, baseball player Darryl Kile, newsman Tim Russert and actor Patrick Swayze, the salesman said:

“You never know when it could happen. … Boom, you’re dead!” he exclaimed, slapping a desk for emphasis.

But Allen tells another story – of complaints by patients and regulators about the business. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*

Statins Reduce Heart Disease Risk, But Probably Not Because They Lower Cholesterol

When cyclists find out that I am a heart doctor, they most frequently ask about cholesterol numbers.

“…My cholesterol is this…What do you think?”

“…My doctor wants me to take a statin…But I read that these drugs might lower my functional threshold power 2.014 watts/40km.”

All this focus on numbers saddens me. Remember, I am a forest guy, not a tree guy. What’s more, as a doctor that revels in the adrenaline rush of ablating rogue circuits with technology that would impress even a twenty-something, I find questions about biochemistry dreary–like eating quinoa.

I wish folks would ask me about how to terminate AF with a catheter, or how an (evidenced-based) ICD saved a mom’s life, or perhaps even this: “Do you do heart surgery?”

But more often than not people want to know about cholesterol.

Okay. It just so happens that this week brought some very interesting news concerning the treatment of abnormal cholesterol lab values. News that big-picture docs have to like. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*

An Interview With A Cardiac Cath Lab Nurse

Ready to learn more about nurses who work beyond the bedside?  Nurses who work in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab (CCL) play an important role in cardiac care.  Amy Sellers, RN BSN CCRN CSC CMC blogs at Nursing Influence and graciously agreed to give us a peek at what a nurse is responsible for doing in the CCL.

Amy has worked in the Cath Lab for about 6 months now.  She previously worked in CVICU for almost 5 years before deciding that she needed a new challenge.  She is paid hourly and works three 12 hour shifts per week (all daytime Mon-Fri) with lots of opportunities for overtime and call shifts.

A cath lab is an area of the hospital that uses fluoroscopy and contrast dye to check for narrowing/blockages in arteries or veins in the body. Using special equipment, they are able to perform angioplasty (open the arteries with a balloon), place stents, insert IVC filters (a filter that is inserted into a large vein which prevents blood clots that form in the leg from getting to the lungs) as well as inserting pacemakers/ICDs.  ICDs are Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators.  They detect if a patient’s heart goes into a lethal rhythm and provides a shock to the heart if necessary to get it beating correctly again.

What do you do all day? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at code blog - tales of a nurse*

The Touching Story Of A 91 Year Old Caregiver

It was just a visit to manage her paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. She was long overdue for the visit. So she arrived as she had so many times before: with little fanfare and folderol. She sat patiently after her weight was obtained, vitals recorded, and medications verified. Clutching her purse, whe sat patiently as the examination door opened.

“Hello, Ms. Smith, how have you been doing?”

“Wonderfully, doctor. I haven’t had any more problems with my heart rhythm.” She leaned sideways to put down her purse on the floor next to her.

“Any dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, cough?…”

“No, I’m doing fine, thankfully,” her eyes glistening.

I proceeded to complete her history and catch up on a few details with her, then moved on to the physical examination. I watched as she got up on the exam table and noted her moving a bit more slowly than I had recalled.

“Is your strength doing okay?”

“Oh sure. Never better. Just slowing down a bit is all. But I’m not sure how well I’d be doing if it weren’t for my daughter.”

“How’s that?” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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