January 24th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Today was another remarkable day. Here are some of the highlights:
The team continues to be incredibly strong and we are receiving reinforcements from all directions, both from International Medical Corps and from many other NGOs. Before I go any further, I want to express my appreciation for the incredible effort from the U.S. Army, which has provided protection, supplies, transportation, medical assistance and most important, peace of mind. This is not an easy situation, and having a compassionate and responsive military, never shirking a task when we need their help, is incredible.
We continued to triage, operate on and otherwise treat approximately 700 patients, with injuries that will change their lives forever. We have seen countless amputations, disfigurements and open fractures, and face wounds that are in some circumstances infected to the point of gangrene. The medicine is intense, but we are up to the task most of the time. It is quite hot outside and there is little time to eat, drink or go to the bathroom, so by the end of the day we are quite tired and bit dehydrated. But we do not complain, because these people are so strong and now so disadvantaged. Read more »
This post, Dr. Paul Auerbach’s Update From Haiti, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
January 20th, 2010 by JessicaBerthold in Better Health Network, News, Research
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In early 2008, researchers at the International Stroke conference unveiled two studies showing a “weekend effect” in stroke– ie, mortality from stroke was higher on the weekends (and at night) than weekdays. We explored this topic in the June 2008 ACP Hospitalist.
Now, a new Archives of Neurology study has found no difference in stroke death rates based on weekend/weekday arrival. What’s more, stroke patients admitted on weekends were more likely to get tPA. This flies in the face of one of the main theories about the weekend effect–namely, that stroke rates may be higher on weekends because there is often a shortage of staff and resources, which leads to less aggressive treatment. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
January 20th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
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The ER is a highly effective bottom-filter for society. When you work in the ER you are in daily contact with the worst that mankind has to offer: addicts, sociopaths, criminals, and the many many varieties of personality disorders with which a loving God has imbued humanity. I say this not as condemnation: they are my people. I know them and accept them for who they are. I am here every day to serve them in their various needs, from the heroin addict who is dropped off blue and apneic to the homeless guy who just wants his unwashed feet looked at.
One of the refreshing features of many members of the lumpenproletariat is their candor regarding their habits. Sure, it’s by no means universal, but it’s entirely common for me to ask someone quite directly: “Do you use meth?” and have the patient respond in the affirmative and without the least trace of self-consciousness expand on the degree and nature of their drug use. The hardest question for me to learn to ask without blushing was “do you ever have sex for money or drugs?” (And yes, I do ask that of both men and women, when it seems potentially relevant.) But people on occasion forthrightly admit that they turn the odd trick to support their habit. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
January 18th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion
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‘Let’s get us some of that REform!’
I must admit I’m a little weary of the entire debate on health-care reform. But something still haunts me. And that something is accountability. Of course, over the almost twenty years that I have borne the title ‘MD,’ I’ve learned a few things about accountability.
I understand that, almost without fail, the buck stops with me. The nursing home director knows the elderly lady wasn’t seriously hurt in that fall, but he sends her to the ER ‘just to check things out.’ That is, just to make sure that if a problem does crop up, someone else is accountable for finding it. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
January 17th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Research, True Stories
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Hmmmm:
Emergency spine immobilization may do more harm than good, study says
January 11, 2010 | 3:57 pm
When emergency responders reach a gunshot or stabbing victim, they try to immobilize the spine to reduce the danger of paralysis upon movement of the victim. That effort, however, can have a fatal toll.
A study published in the Journal of Trauma has found that, among these types of trauma victims, those whose spines are held still are twice as likely to die as those whose spines aren’t immobilized.
Read the news article, but they’re talking only (apparently, I don’t get this journal) about penetrating trauma. Those discussing the article wonder if the reason for the increased mortality is “Stay and Play” vs “Load and Go”, the two basic precepts of transporting the ill and injured in prehospital medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
