April 5th, 2011 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in News
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We have reported in the past on AirStrip, a smartphone and iPad app that allows a mobile doctor to monitor the vital signs of patients in an obstetric ward or an ICU. The reverse, where a fixed doctor monitors multiple remote patients is now entering the mainstream and already making a difference in many patients’ lives.
In a compelling anecdote recently reported in Computerworld, a man experienced cardiac arrest while shopping and was taken to a nearby community hospital. An intensivist, monitoring from an eICU miles away, was immediately consulted. The remote doctor guided the treating physicians as they initiated unfamiliar hypothermia therapy to preserve the brain, and continued to follow the patient remotely throughout his 10 day ICU stay. Happily, the patient had a good outcome and is quoted in the article as an enthusiastic proponent of eICUs. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
October 15th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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I read this article about a young child with heterotaxy syndrome with great interest. Not because I find heterotaxy syndrome something of great fascination, but because of the lack of communication — on both ends of the spectrum:
Even though 5 other Dr. all came in and listened to his lungs and said that he didn’t sound like he was wheezing and that his lungs sounded really good. But because this hospital is overly political, process driven, bureaucratic, and in a constant state of litigious fear they are unable to make any conclusions based on actual medicine and patient care. Common sense is blown out the window when you have a system were a hospitalist one year out of medical school has an opinion that is as valuable as a cardiologist with 25+ years experience.
But in fairness, they all had to “really consider her opinion.”
So they went and got a pulmonologist to evaluate him, which Scott and I were very happy about because there was nothing in the world that would’ve made me more happy in that moment than to have her proven wrong. Which she was.
The whole article is a case study in stress, distrust, and legalism. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
May 28th, 2010 by StaceyButterfield in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
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Want to know the secret to successful care of ICU patients? Think back to the advice your grandmother always gave, joked American Thoracic Society conference speaker Renee Stapleton, M.D., recently:
– Wash your hands.
– You can’t sleep your life away.
– Get some exercise.
– Sit up straight.
– Take your medicine.
– If you can’t remember it, write it down.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
March 8th, 2010 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
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South African society is a completely lawless society. Pretty much everyone does just what they like and more often than not they get away with it. Red lights are just a suggestion, yet it is not uncommon to see a taxi stop in the middle of the road without warning. This attitude goes through almost all levels.
Yet there are some laws that people do obey. The law of gravity comes to mind. Mostly if you trip or fall off a wall or out a window you do approach the earth with increasing velocity and finally come to rest in some form of disrepair when you finally meet said earth, even if you are South African. Another law that is obeyed was well illustrated by a patient we once saw in the old days. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
February 21st, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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It’s 2:00 am in the emergency room. That’s when the real doctor humor stories comes out to play. By now I’ve sent two patients home from the ER, one of which I spent 90 minutes discussing why chronic abdominal pain management needed to involve an outpatient supratentorial component and why coming into the hospital would be a highly disappointing experience. By now I’ve also admitted two patients to observation status, one of which is a guy with uncontrolled diabetes who remembered me from a year prior and thanked me for telling him nobody else was going to live his life for him and he needed to take responsibility for his poor actions in life. By now I’ve also brought two patients in for full hospital admission, one of which was placed immediately on end of life cares for end stage COPD, the other of which who’s son got the wrath of my smoking lecture.
Once the work was done, the doctor humor came out to play. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Happy Hospitalist*
We have reported in the past on AirStrip, a smartphone and iPad app that allows a mobile doctor to monitor the vital signs of patients in an obstetric ward or an ICU. The reverse, where a fixed doctor monitors multiple remote patients is now entering the mainstream and already making a difference in many patients’ lives.
