Healthcare Update Satellite — 01-19-2015
Penicillin allergy? It’s associated with increased bad outcomes, but not for the reasons you think. The allergies themselves are mostly not allergies. And no, “my mother said I had a rash when I was a baby” isn’t an allergy. However, when compared with patients who don’t have penicillin “allergies”, patients with penicillin allergies have longer hospital stays and are between 14% and 30% more likely to get resistant infections while in the hospitals – possibly because the penicillin “allergic” patients are being treated with much stronger antibiotics that kill of...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - January 19, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
Deterrence Strategy
According to Dr. Janet Woodcock, opioid abuse-deterrence technology is in its “infancy” and FDA is unlikely to remove opioids that lack abuse-deterrence features from the market soon. She said approved abuse-deterrent opioids are “version 1.0.” FDA has approved three abuse-deterrent formulations, including Embeda morphine sulfate extended-release capsules with sequestered naltrexone from Pfizer; and reformulations of OxyContin oxycodone and Targiniq ER oxycodone/naloxone from Purdue Pharma. Woodcock added that there will be a “long path” to travel before FDA would require the incorporation of abuse-deterrence f...
Source: drugwonks.com Blog - November 10, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 42-year-old man with severe burning and stabbing pain
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 42-year-old man is evaluated for a 6-day history of severe burning and stabbing pain in both feet that is worse in the toes. The pain is more severe at night, is aggravated when the bed sheets touch his skin, and is partially relieved when he walks or massages his feet. The patient has an 8-year history of poorly controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus and a 2-year history of hypertension. He was hospitalized briefly 2 weeks ago for treatment of pneumonia and diabetic ketoacidosis. His fasting blood glucose levels...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 25, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: mksap Tags: Conditions Diabetes Endocrinology Neurology Source Type: blogs
How I Would Treat Myself for Ebola at Home
Health officials in Sierra Leone are admitting defeat in the fight against Ebola and are trying to set up self-treat kits for patients to use at home because of the lack of hospital beds to care for the ill.
This sad development started me thinking about what I would do if I was stuck in a place with Ebola and could not receive care from a physician or in a hospital.
***Please note that any one who thinks there might be even a tiny chance that they have Ebola should present immediately to a hospital for definitive care.***
This is purely an academic exercise but here is what I think I would do to try to self-treat Ebola an...
Source: Inside Surgery - October 12, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: Ebola home treatment rehydration fluid self-treat Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Update Satellite — 09-22-2014
More updated from around the web at my other blog at DrWhiteCoat.com
Study in the journal Pediatrics shows that about 10,000 children are hospitalized each year for accidental medication ingestions. Three quarters of those hospitalizations involved 1 or 2 year olds. Twelve medications were responsible for 45% of all pediatric emergency hospitalizations for accidental drug ingestions. Opioids were not surprisingly the top classification prompting hospitalizations, but buprenorphine and clonidine were the top two medications – responsible for 15% of all hospitalizations. The rate of hospitalization for buprenorphine pr...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - September 22, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
