Articles
The Doctor Will Friend You Now ...
January 12, 2010 6:27 am | by Bruce Campbell, MD Medical College of Wisconsin Otolaryngologist | CommentsThe argument that you need the "laying on of hands" to practice medicine is an old and tired argument that simply has no credibility … - Rashid Bashshur, PhD, Director of the University of Michigan Telemedicine Center The family legend goes like this: When my grandfather’s tonsils became infected yet again, the doctor rode out to the farm in his horse-drawn carriage toting his surgical instrument set.
ChloraPrep® Superior As A Surgical Skin Prep
January 12, 2010 6:25 am | CommentsA prospective, randomized trial shows significantly better patient outcomes in selected surgical procedures within 30 days wen ChloraPrep is used preoperatively, compared to Povidone-iodine. January 12, 2010 Data published in January 2010 in The New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that use of CareFusion’s patient preoperative skin preparation ChloraPrep® (2 percent chlorhexidine gluconate and 70 percent isopropyl alcohol) reduced total surgical site infections (SSIs) by 41 percent, from 16.
Top Considerations For Purchasing Surgical Gowns And Drapes
January 11, 2010 5:40 am | Medical Concepts Development | CommentsBudgets are tightening in most hospitals these days. Purchasing professionals are facing increasing pressures to buy the lowest priced products, yet maintain a high-quality. When purchasing surgical gowns and drapes, this is especially important. These materials are crucial to maintaining infection control practices and keeping surgical patients and staff safe.
Are Doctors Ready for Virtual Visits?
January 11, 2010 5:18 am | by Pauline W. Chen, M.D. | CommentsFor over a decade now, health care experts have been promoting telemedicine, or the use of satellite technology, video conferencing and data transfer through phones and the Internet, to connect doctors to patients in far-flung locales. But are doctors ready for this form of technology? Telemedicine has the potential to improve quality of care by allowing clinicians in one “control center” to monitor, consult and even care for and perform procedures on patients in multiple locations.
Quick, Quiet And Out Of Sight
January 6, 2010 7:21 am | CommentsStanford Hospital ’s pneumatic tube system is a medical care superhighway January 6, 2010 Stanford Hospital Chief Engineer Leander Robinson at one of the pneumatic tube system's control clusters. (Photo: Business Wire) One of the most important working parts of Stanford Hospital is practically invisible and its invention dates back more than 200 years.
We Don't Last Very Long
January 5, 2010 8:55 am | by Melissa Velez-Avrach, MedPage Today | CommentsAbout 3 weeks ago, I was in Florida visiting my folks. My father just lost a second brother to colorectal cancer and is in mourning. I kept thinking that I needed to say something to him now that I was there in person. However, during our previous phone conversations, he had already told me that he didn't want me to mention it, that it made him sad.
Field Guide To Hospital Grunts: Patient Edition
January 5, 2010 6:03 am | by Vitum Medicinus, Medical Student Blogger | Comments1. HHUUUUUUUNNNNGGGGHHHH ID : Reproductus cornicopious , the common multip (i.e. multiparous woman, who has delivered a few babies already) HABITAT : Maternity Ward ACTION REQUIRED: RUN AND DON GLOVES. She is about to pop. BACKGROUND : There is a saying on the maternity ward: “Never turn your back on a multip.
Glove Perforation And The Risk Of SSI
January 5, 2010 5:58 am | CommentsSurgical glove perforation increases the risk for surgical site infection (SSI) unless antimicrobial prophylaxis is used, a prospective observational cohort study revealed in the June 2009 issue of the Archives of Surgery . According to a review of the study by Medscape Medical News, the study was performed at University Hospital Basel, where approximately 28,000 surgical procedures are performed each year.
Sorting Things Out
January 4, 2010 5:29 am | by Bruce Campbell, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin Otolaryngologist | CommentsIf you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. -Albert Einstein Holiday music plays in the background as I scan my Cancer Center clinic schedule for the day. Most of the names are familiar. There will be three or four new patients that I have never met, a few that are coming to the office for postoperative wound checks, a few that are returning for routine cancer survivor visits, and a few that have noticed alarming new symptoms.
Optimizing Supply Management In The Surgical Suite
December 22, 2009 6:42 am | CommentsEnsure OR efficiency with the right storage solutions to manage your facility's surgical supplies December 22, 2009 The surgical suite is one of the most expensive departments in a hospital. Accounting for and sufficiently storing and tracking inventory of the multitude of supplies—from instruments to tissues implants and more—is crucial to the efficiency of the OR, and to the overall profitability of the hospital.
Occam’s Razor, Resharpened
December 22, 2009 6:32 am | by Mike Rainone | CommentsSometimes, out of the blue, comes a reminder that the best solutions to a problem are not necessarily the most complex. The Franciscan Friar William of Occam said it best about 700 years ago in the form of the principle of parsimony, which we now know as Occam’s Razor.
High-Definition 3D Getting Closer To The OR
December 21, 2009 5:53 am | CommentsLG Display Co., Ltd., an innovator of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology, announced this month the world’s first commercial launch of a 3D LCD panel boasting full-HD resolution. What does this mean for surgeons and surgical teams? As Medgadget reports, the launch of this technology makes it more and more likely that 3D technology will soon be a common modality to view volumetric, live images in radiology rooms and in the OR.
Holding Doctors Accountable For Medical Errors
December 21, 2009 5:45 am | by Pauline W. Chen, M.D. | CommentsTen years ago, a national panel of health care experts released a landmark report on medical errors in the American health care system. Published by the Institute of Medicine , “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” estimated that as many as 98,000 people died in hospitals each year as a result of preventable mistakes.
Impact
December 18, 2009 5:14 am | by Bruce Campbell, MD | CommentsYou have been cancer free for two years now. Congratulations! That was a terrible time. The whole time I was getting treatment, things were absolutely terrible! Just terrible! What do you mean? In what way? On top of everything else, we lost all of our friends! We were totally alone through all of the treatment.
What’s More Affordable Than Free?
December 18, 2009 5:13 am | by Hans Patrick Griesser | CommentsHans Patrick Griesser’s story "WHAT'S MORE AFFORDABLE THAN FREE?” was a runner up in the MedGadget’s Medical Sci-Fi Writing Contest. December 18, 2009 “No, Grandma. It's a reverse pinch.” “What does that mean?” she asked. “It's like you're spreading it out to zoom in.
