Video review of surgeons: Can the logistical issues be overcome?
Last month, a superb study by the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative showed that the more skilled surgeons were, the better were their outcomes.
Surgeons submitted a video of their choice depicting their performance of a laparoscopic gastric bypass. Since it was self-selected, it was presumably their best work. At least 10 of their peers, blinded as to the name of the surgeon, rated skills on the video which had been edited to include only the key portions of the case.
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Sourc...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 14, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Surgery Source Type: blogs
Toughpad 4K Windows 8 Tablet With 9.8 Megapixel Screen
Tablet computers, particularly iPads, have invaded clinical environments thanks to their combination of ease of use, power, and lightness. The iPad Air boasts an impressive 2048 x 1536 resolution in a small package, but with the new 4K video standard rolling out across the land, having only 3.1 million pixels on your screen simply won’t do. Welcome Panasonic‘s Toughpad 4K tablet that features a 20 inch screen with a 3840 x 2560 resolution, almost 10 million megapixels. 4K video has already been used during laparoscopic surgery, but having a wireless tablet capable of displaying such video may help improve col...
Source: Medgadget - November 12, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Informatics Radiology Source Type: blogs
Why is an Infertility specialist a better choice than a Gynaecologist?
It is not unusual to find infertile couples
being confused as to whether they should consult their gynaecologist or find an
infertility specialist to have their problem resolved. What do IVF clinics like
Malpani Infertility Clinic offer which a gynaecologist would not be able to?
The average gynaecologist takes a much
narrower perspective when treating infertility. An IVF facility , on the other
hand, takes a more holistic view. For example, they routinely include the
husband in the diagnosis / treatment process. Gynaecologists , who specialise
in treating women , don’t deal with the men at all.
Also, ...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - November 2, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Update Satellite 10-28-2013
According to this study of 1165 homeless Canadian patients in the American Journal of Public Health, when compared with a control population, homeless patients used the emergency department 8.5 times more often, were hospitalized 4.2 times more often for medical/surgical problems, and were hospitalized 9.2 times more often for psychiatric hospitalizations.
According to this accompanying study, the average ED utilization for homeless patients was 2 visits per year, but 10% of the sample population accounted for more than 60% of all ED visits.
Drug seeking behaviors permeate emergency medicine. Opiate overdoses resulted in m...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - October 29, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
Demand for Banked Blood Dwindles; Regional Blood Centers Cut Staff
I was a blood banker for nine years back in the 70's. For all that time, I was engaged in a constant struggle to increase the blood and blood product inventory while simultaneously tamping down demand, mainly from surgeons. One of the ways that I helped to reduce blood utilization and also increase useful shelf life of blood was with the maximum surgical blood order schedule (MSBOS) that placed limits on the number of units of crossmatched blood that surgeons could order preoperatively and store in the OR refrigerators (see: Hospitals Seek to Limit Blood Transfusions as a Cost-Saving Measure). Now, some four decades la...
Source: Lab Soft News - October 25, 2013 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Blood Banking Clinical Lab Industry News Healthcare Delivery Laboratory Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Medical Education Source Type: blogs
Insurers should stop paying for robotic hysterectomies
This study indicates that there is little difference between the two types of surgery with one glaring exception, a robotic hysterectomy was $2,489 more expensive than a laparoscopic hysterectomy.
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 21, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician OB/GYN Surgery Source Type: blogs
Tactile Capsule Restores Surgeons Sense of Touch During Laparoscopy (VIDEO)
Laparoscopy accounts for more than two million surgical procedures each year in the U.S.. While it has brought many benefits in terms of cost reduction and safety, one drawback of this approach is the lack of tactile feedback for the surgeon. To address this problem, a team of engineers from Science and Technology of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab at Vanderbilt University have developed a small, wireless capsule which aims to restore tactile feedback to the physician during laparoscopic surgery.
The prototype capsule is equipped with a pressure sensor, wireless transmitter, accelerometer, magnetometer and battery, all ho...
Source: Medgadget - October 18, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gavin Corley Tags: Ob/Gyn Surgery Thoracic Surgery Urology Source Type: blogs
Medical Mispronunciations and Misspelled Words: The Definitive List.
Hearing medical mispronunciations and seeing misspelled words are an under appreciated joy of working in healthcare. Physicians often forget just how alien the language of medicine is to people who don't live it everyday. The best part about being a physician is not helping people recover from critical illness. The best part is not about listening and understanding with compassion and empathy. Nope, the best part about being a physician is hearing patients and other healthcare providers butcher the language of medicine and experiencing great entertainment in the process. Doctors c...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - October 2, 2013 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
Intuitive Surgical’s Firefly Fluorescence Imaging Vision System FDA Cleared for Gallbladder Surgery
Intuitive Surgical received FDA approval for expanded indication of the company’s Firefly system that’s used along with its laparoscopic da Vinci surgical system to visualize blood vasculature in real-time.
Firefly imaging activated around the renal hilum.
Indocyanine green (ICG) dye is injected into the bloodstream and naturally sticks to albumin. When a 803 nm wavelength laser illuminates the surgical scene, the dye is excited and glows, showing the path of vessels.
From Intuitive Surgical:
In addition to providing the ability to view blood flow through vessels and tissue, the expanded use now includes real-...
Source: Medgadget - September 26, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Surgery Source Type: blogs
The Laws Of Medicine: What Every IVF Patient Should Know
Several years ago, Dr Vernon Coleman, who qualified as a
doctor in the UK, published an outstanding series of books on wellness and
health. Mentioned below are his laws of medicine, as applied to IVF.
Coleman’s 2nd
law of medicine
Do not perform tests if the results will not affect your
treatment.
Infertility doctors are very fond of ordering tests and many
patients naively believe that the number of tests the doctor orders correlates
with how thorough and careful he is – they feel that the number of tests ordered
is proportional to the doctor’s competence ! Sadly, many of these tests are useless.
...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - September 24, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs
Xron Surgical Simulator Now Available in Beta
The Altair Robotics Lab at University of Verona, Italy has developed and is making available its Xron (pronounced qi ron) surgical simulator. The software is designed to simulate robotic and traditional laparoscopic procedures and includes a bunch of training games that will take you back to your toddler days.
The virtual objects on the screen behave according to the laws of physics, drooping and moving naturally and reacting to instruments as real ones would. The system can take advantage of 3D monitors and will interface with a variety of input devices. Here’s a video demonstrating the components of the software an...
Source: Medgadget - September 13, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Ob/Gyn Surgery Thoracic Surgery Urology Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
neoSurgical’s neoClose Laparoscopic Access Site Closure Device (VIDEO)
neoSurgical out of Galway, Ireland is introducing a new FDA approved neoClose device for suturing of port and trocar sites following laparoscopic procedures. Grappling with sutures and making knots that will prevent a hernia is its own challenge, and it also takes surgical time, but the neoClose device aims to make the process more intuitive, easier, and faster.
The system is used to slide two “AutoAnchors” into the abdomen that are anchors and sutures in one. They’re tied at the end of the procedure and help reduce the pressure around the site compared to the traditional closed loop approximation of the ...
Source: Medgadget - September 3, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Ob/Gyn Surgery Thoracic Surgery Urology Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
Rerun: Happy 6th birthday to the Health Business Blog
The Health Business Blog is on vacation this week and re-running some classic posts. This one is from March 2011, the sixth birthday of the Health Business Blog.
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The Health Business Blog turns six years old today. Continuing a tradition I established with birthdays one, two, three, four andfive I have picked out a favorite post from each month. Thanks for continuing to read the blog!
March 2010: Clinical decision support and meaningful use: Perspective from Zynx Health CEO Dr. Scott Weingarten
Physicians and hospitals that implement electronic health records (EHR) are sometimes disappointed with the results...
Source: Health Business Blog - August 23, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Announcements Blogs Source Type: blogs
An Interview with Noted Pancreas Surgeon Dr. Charles J. Yeo
Recently, InsideSurgery had a chance to speak with Dr. Charles J. Yeo about his career as a top Whipple and pancreas surgeon and his ongoing role as a surgical leader and educator.
As the Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery, you welcomed your second intern class to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last month. What one piece advice do you have for your new trainees?
One piece of advice….that’s tough! Several pieces of advice….enjoy the challenges and experiences of internship; read and increase your knowledge base outside of that 80 hours; practice kno...
Source: Inside Surgery - August 12, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Interviews Source Type: blogs
Rectus Sheath Hematoma
Rectus sheath hematoma is a not uncommon condition caused by iatrogenic injury during laparoscopic injury or seen in the setting of anticoagulation, especially in an older patient. The bleeding has been described as both venous and arterial in origin.
Rectus sheath hematoma (arrow)
Rectus sheath hematoma symptoms can mimic intra-abdominal pathology. Abdominal pain and tenderness (worsened with abdominal wall contraction) is almost always the initial complaint and finding and CT scan facilitates correct diagnosis.
The most typical location of rectus sheath hematoma is in the lower abdomen, below the semicircular line...
Source: Inside Surgery - July 27, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Gallbladder Surgery Trauma Surgery abdominal wall bleeding epigastric rectus hematoma Source Type: blogs
