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Diagnosising Sepsis In Under An Hour

Because current sepsis tests can take up to two days to provide a diagnosis, many patients fail to receive proper treatment until it is too late.

However, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology hope to improve survival rates with the MinoLab, a new testing platform which they claim will be able to provide results in under an hour. The MinoLab uses magnetic nanoparticles to carry the analyte through multiple reaction chambers before providing a final diagnosis.

More from the announcement:

Dr. Dirk Kuhlmeier, a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, explains how all that works: “After taking a sample of blood, magnetic nanoparticles bind themselves to the target cells in the blood sample through specific catcher molecules. We then use a simple magnet to transfer the particles onto the plastic card along with the pathogens and move them through various miniaturized reaction chambers which is where the polymerase chain reaction takes place. This is a method for copying even the smallest DNA sequences of pathogens millions of times. After it is copied, the nanoparticles transport the pathogen DNA into the detection chamber where a new type of magnetoresistive biochip can identify pathogens and antibiotics resistances.”

Link: Fast sepsis test can save lives…

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

Medical Receptionist Extinction?

Medical receptionists beware — your days are numbered.

This little gizmo was placed in one of our facility’s lobbies this week. (No, it’s not being used to get your boarding pass at the airport, but it’s amazing the parallels healthcare is taking with the airline industry.)

Instead, it’s used to check in patients presenting to have their blood drawn for prothromin times. Just swipe your credit card, confirm your appointment, sign your name, and away you go!

On seeing this, one doctor exclaimed: “But INR checks are my patients’ only chance to get out and socialize!”

Fortunately for now there are still human assistants there to help patients learn how to use the new device.

-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.

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

Can We Stop Aging?

Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a contemporary popularizer of the very old idea that biological aging can be put on hold, gave this talk at TEDMED 2009:

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

Until Patient Behaviors Change, “I Do The Damn Test”

Congress controls the nation’s purse strings. It can tell the Executive Branch how to spend money. It can regulate all commerce, and by the way, to Congress everything is “commerce.”

Congressional legislation can incent economic behavior–pay for this, but not for that–but it can’t change personal decisions. A case in point is Dr. Robert Cantor, ACP Member, of Boca Raton, Fla., who says he authorizes the tests that his patients demand. His opinion? “I do the damn test.”

He says there’s little incentive not to order tests and little in healthcare reform to make him and others change their habits. More likely is the idea that, once new medical technology is invented, it will find a use.

Another article compiles a wide spectrum of ideas on how to reduce healthcare spending. Tort reform was one, sure, but many doctors focused on changing patient behavior first.

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*

Which Specialists Steal The Most Food From The Doctors’ Lounge?

So I went to eat my free daily  lunch offering the other day  in the doctors lounge when I noticed that a giant plate of enchiladas was just about  empty.  At 10:35 am.   It’ not every day you get a free hot meal at Happy’s hospital,  I would like to thank the Medicare National Bank for paying for my meals.

Generally,Happy’s doctors lounge offers a fine consistent assortment of cold salads, sandwich meats and several soup offerings.  I found myself wondering exactly how much money I save every year by eating lunch in the doctors lounge.  I remember Mrs Happy’s daily lunch bills when she worked in the hospital.  It can add up pretty quick for nurses without the secret handshake to get in to the doctors lounge.   Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist Blog*

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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