September 11th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
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It’s funny, until it’s not:
Opportunity + Instinct = Profit. A good journalist can sense the moment that a story is developing and seize the moment. That’s why when White House correspondent Tony Christopher started having a heart attack, he immediately logged into Twitter and started covering it:
Approximately at 6pm on Sunday afternoon Christopher wrote, “I gotta be me. Livetweeting my heart attack. Beat that!” Presumably a few minutes later the paramedics arrived to tell Christopher he will be stable after his crisis.
An hour later Christopher joked about needing to own a cardiac cat, referencing a viral video in which a cat is trying to revive his dead feline friend. He also updated his followers about the pain he was feeling, “even after the morphine.”
So is this the message the White House wants sent to America?
Seems to me his time might have been better spent on (1) taking an aspirin, (2) calling 911, and (3) calling a friend, (4) and assembling a list of his current medications and past medical history for the doctors in case he loses consciousness. But that’s just me.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
September 3rd, 2010 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, True Stories
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OnCall Defender Medical Alert (available via iTunes) is an iPhone app that features 3G connection to a 24-hour security monitoring service. Via a subscription service, you can use your iPhone to send an emergency notification to the service after which local law enforcement or EMT services, depending on the type of alarm, will be dispatched.
The advantage over using 911 is that the monitoring service automatically receives GPS localization of your whereabouts and that you can cancel the emergency call within 15 seconds. The service costs $16.99 a month or $9.99 with a one-year subscription. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
August 30th, 2010 by Nicholas Genes, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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Here’s a confession: Despite my steadfast advocacy of medical blogging as a means to promote understanding and education, I continue worry a lot about professional liability. Not just whether the things I write could hurt my career, but, in terms of academic output, is blogging a waste of time? What view does my department’s leadership take on blogging?
Still, I’ve continued to support medical blogging as a useful academic endeavor, hoping that someday this support would be borne out. When sites like Sermo and Facebook came along, I despaired that more physician opinions were going to be hidden behind walled gardens, available only to select colleagues or friends.
Then, last week, some revelations — I discovered a member of my department’s leadership was blogging, or at least, had commented on a blog. How about that! The other revelation? Facebook may be the last great hope for academic discussions to flourish on blogs.
This all arose from a pretty academic question about emergency department implementation of electronic medical records. Does the degree of implementation (full, partial, or none) impact patient wait times in the emergency department? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
August 29th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
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Last week a trailer less than a mile from our house experienced a small explosion. Trailers, which seldom explode on their own (without undiscovered volcanoes or CIA drones with missiles) was concealing a meth lab.
What can you say? If I weren’t an emergency physician I’d say, “Shocking! Ghastly! Unbelievable!” But I do what I do so I say, “Huh, how about that.”
I’ve lost much of my capacity to be shocked. I have seen meth users, and probably meth dealers. I’ve known and enjoyed the company of alcoholics and Valium addicts. I’ve cared for murderers and the murdered (albeit briefly in the case of the latter). I’ve been involved in the evaluation of sexual assault victims, car thieves, drunk drivers and child abusers. A meth lab is, in its own way, kind of small stuff.
What does it say about me? I don’t know. It may suggest that I’m cynical. Or it may mean that I’m cold. Or it may mean, as I suspect it does, that I’m just realistic. I know the world is full of drugs and brokenness. The ER, where I work, is just the place where all of it arrives in its fermented, fully concentrated, “contents under pressure” form. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
August 28th, 2010 by Nicholas Genes, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
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Somebody at Apple likes Goldfrapp. They’ve used her latest album for this tutorial and the sublime Seventh Tree was pictured on the first Apple descriptions of the Remote app. It’s nice when a monolithic institution shows a little personality. Of course, my interest in Goldfrapp is mostly professional: Who else has sung as well about ending up in an emergency department?
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
