Articles
Unmasking The Surgical Mask: Does It Really Work?
October 23, 2009 6:22 am | by Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today | CommentsTelemedicine Care A Malpractice Risk? Au Contraire …
October 21, 2009 7:32 am | by Alan Dappen, M.D. | CommentsIn early 2006, four years into running my current medical practice, doctokr Family Medicine, I got a call from my medical malpractice carrier. Just weeks before I’d received a notice that my malpractice rates could go up by more than 25%. The added news of a pending investigatory audit was chilling.
Single Port Surgery Advancing, But There Is Still More To Learn
October 21, 2009 7:27 am | by Amanda McGowan, editor | CommentsFrom recent procedural and technological advances in surgery, there is a strong indication that Single Port Surgery is increasingly being practiced in the OR. Manufacturers are increasingly working to provide technology to make single port surgeries easier and more efficient in the OR, and surgeons are consistently advancing the technique on the surgical patients.
Exclusive: Oil Drums Offer Insight To Hospital Purchasing
October 20, 2009 6:57 am | Commentsby Jeff Reinke, editorial director Oil prices briefly rose above $80 a barrel early today, the first time it has hit this mark in 2009. Crude demand has remained sluggish this year as the global economy recovers from recession, but driving the spike is the economic fact that commodities like oil and gold are bought and sold in dollars, making them cheaper and more attractive to investors when U.
Telemedicine May Be The Answer For Rural Trauma Surgeons
October 19, 2009 6:51 am | CommentsA Maine study outlines how two-way video and audio may address shortage of trauma care providers. and help surgeons avoid medical errors and unnecessary patient transfers According to trauma surgeons in a telemedicine program in Maine, telemedicine can help health care providers in rural areas stabilize and treat trauma victims when long distances or inclement weather prevents immediate transfer to an accredited trauma center.
How Mindfulness Can Make For Better Doctors
October 19, 2009 6:50 am | Commentsby Pauline W. Chen, M.D. Published: One night during my training, long after all the other doctors had fled the hospital, I found a senior surgeon still on the wards working on a patient note. He was a surgeon with extraordinary skill, a doctor of few words whose folksy quips had become the stuff of department legend.
Infection Prevention Increasing, Focusing On Safety
October 14, 2009 4:37 am | CommentsInfection control practices are getting tougher and even more crucial in today’s hospital environment. As hospitals and other medical providers take notice, their purchasing priorities are changing—and shifting to devices that will enhance safety for their patients and staff. A recent study by The Freedonia Group, Inc, a Cleveland-based industry research firm, says U.
How Doctors Think? Oh, my ...
October 12, 2009 7:28 am | CommentsCall me a nonconformist -- everybody else does. Yeah, I was the guy with long hair and a ZZ Top beard in college during the height of the “preppy” era. I even went so far as to sew an Izod alligator onto my flip flops just to be annoying. I suppose I haven't really changed. That's why I don't have a whole lotta use for books that paint physicians (or any group, for that matter) with a brush as wide as a '57 Caddy.
Study: DuraPrep May Trump Chlorhexidine In Preventing SSI
October 9, 2009 12:21 pm | 3M Health Care | CommentsA study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology finds Iodophor-based skin preparation solutions may be superior to chlorhexidine in preventing surgical-site infections A new independent study, “Effects of Preoperative Skin Preparation on Postoperative Wound Infection Rates: A Prospective Study of 3 Skin Preparation Protocols,” has been published comparing the effects of three different skin preparation solutions on surgical-site infections, 3M Health Care.
LEDs To Completely Replace Halogen Lights In The OR
October 9, 2009 6:35 am | CommentsEuropean uptake of light-emitting diode (LED) surgical lights will represent 100 percent of surgical light sales by 2014, as hospitals replace halogen lights with significantly longer lasting LED lights, the Millenium Research Group (MRG) recently reported. According to a recent article, MRG's European Markets for Video and High-Tech Hardware Devices 2010 report finds that adoption will be accelerated in Europe, in part because European countries are more environmentally-conscious than their US counterparts.
Blog: Calling For Reinforcements
October 7, 2009 7:18 am | CommentsThe human diaphragm, if I one of God's neat little tricks. It's a tough, broad sheet of muscle, modest in thickness, that acts both as a barrier between the abdominal and thoracic cavities, but also as a vacuum assist device for breathing. When you take a deep breath, the chest wall and abdominal muscles expand the chest cavity, and the diaphragm moves outward and downward, drawing air into the lungs.
Temperature Management: Finding A Balance
October 7, 2009 7:14 am | by Amanda McGowan | CommentsTemperature management has been a hot topic in the operating room because of its known impact on surgical outcomes and the risk of infection. There are various issues to be concerned with regard to temperature management in the OR. From perioperative hypothermia to surgeon comfort, temperature management is often a balancing act in the OR to make sure the producedure is efficient and the patient is safe.
Blog: I Sent A Guy With A Normal EKG To The Cath Lab
October 6, 2009 7:00 am | CommentsI sent a guy with a normal EKG to the cath lab. Let me tell you my side of the story. Dude was minding his own business when he started having crushing, substernal chest pain. I see dude by EMS about 45 minutes into his chest pain. He’s had the usual: aspirin, 3 SL NTG’s an IV, a touch of MS (I can abbreviate here, as it’s not a medical record) and is continuing to have pain.
Patients' Lives At Risk Due To Faulty US Implant Tracking System
October 6, 2009 6:51 am | CommentsExperts say there is major weakness in the nation's system for recalling thousands of medical devices routinely implanted in people's bodies, ranging from screws and plates to artificial knees and hips. Three years ago, the maker of a surgical clip called the Hem-o-lok issued an urgent recall notice warning doctors to stop using the fasteners on living kidney donors, a recent Associated Press article reports.
Hic Sunt Dracones
October 5, 2009 6:19 am | CommentsThe New York Public Library houses a cool historical curiosity, the Hunt-Lenox Globe, which according to Wikipedia is the second or third oldest terrestrial globe still in existence. And, popular myth aside, it is also the only historical map that contains the phrase "Hic Sunt Dracones," or "here be dragons" (the Carta Marina to the left, while it contains dragons, doesn't identify them in the same way) That's a phrase I am drawn to frequently when delving into hostile abdominal territory—patients who have an abdominal catastrophe, huge pancreatic phlegmons, or a dense thicket of adhesions from prior surgery.
