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 22nd, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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My daughter really wants an iTouch. She’s 12…a tween. We heard nothing about this until recently when a friend was over who happened to have been given one for a holiday gift. It turns out that many of her friends have them now so she feels like iPods are suddenly passe.
Instead of asking us for one or concocting a plan to put it on her next birthday list, she came up with the idea to earn enough money for it by doing chores around the house. Pointing out the amount of chores and likely time frame to sock away $200-300 bucks was not a deterrent, at least not out of the gate. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
January 18th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips
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The National Initiative for Children’s HealthCare Quality (NICHQ) has a website where you can find fact sheets about the state of children’s health in each state. The State Fact Sheets provide the most recent national and state-based data regarding health in addition to childhood overweight and obesity prevalence from data collected in 2007 by the National Survey of Children’s Health.
For overall health in California the (2007) fact sheet suggests that compared to national averages, children in CA are:
- less likely to be in excellent or good health; Read more »
This post, Children’s Health Fact Sheets: Californian Kids Not Doing Well, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
January 14th, 2010 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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The WSJ Blog posted recently that health care job postings are up and that the health care job market is “strong”.
According to the post, ”The business research group said that “advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners or technical occupations outnumbered the unemployed looking for work in this field by almost 3 to 1,” citing November data.”
While it’s true that more job openings than job hunters is typically a good thing and indicates a robust job market, the WSJ Blog failed to recognize one important issue with the health care industry: in some areas of the health care sector, namely primary care, docs are leaving the field of medicine all together, and have been for at least a decade. So, it’s no wonder there are so many job openings…there’s no one around to fill them! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*
January 12th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Exaggeration, drama, and histrionics are very much the rule of thumb in the ER. Someone comes in and claims they were stabbed with an eight-inch butcher’s knife, and the police later bring in the actual weapon, and it turns out to be a three-inch penknife. Someone claims to have taken a whole bottle of tylenol, but their serum levels turn out to be nowhere near the toxic level (or even zero). A patient reports to you that their last pneumonia was so bad their doctor didn’t think they’d pull through, but you check the records and see they weren’t even in the ICU. (The sole exception to this rule, of course, is the stated alcohol intake, which is usually about half to a third the actual alcohol intake.) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
