How I Break Down Pediatric Rashes
More than once, I’ve heard colleagues and residents make the statement, “I’m no good at pediatric rashes.” The truth as I see it is that there is usually a large waste basket of “nonspecific viral exanthems” that are easy to bring to closure in your conversation with parents and then similar appearing rashes associated with drug reactions. Then there are the targeted lesions, which include acute annular urticaria or urticaria multiforme, erythema multiforme minor, and serum sickness-like rashes that are frequently confused for each other. My simplistic approach continues by acknowledging that there are rare r...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - March 31, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
How I Break Down Pediatric Rashes
More than once, I’ve heard colleagues and residents make the statement, “I’m no good at pediatric rashes.” The truth is that there is usually a large waste basket of “nonspecific viral exanthems” that are easy to bring to closure in your conversation with parents, and then there are similar-appearing rashes associated with drug reactions.
Then there are the targeted lesions, which include acute annular urticaria or urticaria multiforme, erythema multiforme minor, and serum sickness-like rashes that are frequently confused for each other.
My simplistic approach continues by acknowledging that there are...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - March 31, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Shingles pearls
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3639768-12"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); 1. 1 in 3 people will develop HZ during their lifetimes.2. The preeruption pain may be confused with MI , pleurisy, appendicitis, dental pain and many others.3. Shell vial viral culture is most common test, but PCR is rapid, more sensitive and specific4. (Source: neurologyminutiae)
Source: neurologyminutiae - October 9, 2014 Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs
Vaccine anxiety… A teachable moment for doctors?
I’ve read and re-read Dr. Paul Offit’s WSJ opinion piece, The Anti-Vaccination Epidemic. Dr. Offit is a professor of Pediatrics at a leading hospital in the United States. He is also an author, a scientist, and a vaccine-developer. In short, he is a major physician leader. I’ll come back to that point in just a second.
His piece addresses the problem of pediatric infectious disease in the United States. Context is important here. Data from the CDC show that infectious disease is not in the top-five causes of death in children. In the US, children older than one are ten times more likely die from unin...
Source: Dr John M - September 26, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
Hypochondriasis (Part 1)
HYPOCHONDRIAC: a person who is abnormally anxious about his or her health.
“Am I a hypochondriac?”
It’s a question I hear with quite some regularity, almost never from people who suffer from bona fide anxiety disorders related to their health.
No, the fact that all you have is a simple upper respiratory infection — the common cold — instead of a potentially lethal strain of H1N1 avian flu does not qualify. Not when your response to my reassurance is relief. That’s completely appropriate, and I have no problem providing all the reassurance you need. Whether it’s explaining why your ...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - September 10, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs
Could a Vaccination Before Age 40 End Alzheimer’s?
We’re vaccinated throughout our lives for various diseases such as polio, measles, flu and even shingles. Will an Alzheimer’s vaccine one day be part of the growing list of vaccinations that most of us now take for granted? A researcher in the UK thinks that’s possible.
James Nicoll, professor of neuropathology at Southampton University, found that a vaccine can spur the immune system into wiping out beta-amyloid plaques... (Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts)
Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts - June 13, 2014 Category: Dementia Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
On The Pulse - 30th May 2014
Who is most at risk of shingles? (Source: OnMedica Blogs)
Source: OnMedica Blogs - May 30, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Source Type: blogs
The Pervasiveness of Health Care Corruption as Shown by Another Roundup of Legal Settlements
Legal settlements are one way to document unethical and even corrupt behavior by large health care organizations, even if they may not deter bad behavior in the future. It is time for another roundup of settlements by large pharmaceutical and device companies, presented in alphabetical orderAbbott LaboratoriesThis one goes back to late December, 2013. As described in the Chattanoogan (from Tennessee):Abbott Laboratories, a global healthcare company, has agreed to pay $5.475 million to settle alleged violations of the False Claims Act, and other federal laws and regulations in connection with the operation of ...
Source: Health Care Renewal - April 30, 2014 Category: Health Management Tags: Abbott antitrust Baxter Endo Health Solutions fraud Hospira kickbacks legal settlements Neurontin Pfizer restraint of competition RICO Source Type: blogs
Our Healthcare System Has Dementia: The Case Of The Misdiagnosed Rash
If you (or a loved one) have been admitted to a hospital recently, you were probably surprised by the number of times you were asked the same questions. At first you might assume that the staff are being diligent in double-checking your information, but after the fifth healthcare provider asks you to explain why you’re there, you start to feel as if interacting with “the system” is like talking to a person with no short term memory. It’s as if the hospital itself has some kind of dementia.
Recent adoption of electronic data collection, shift working, team management, and over-specialization have exp...
Source: Better Health - April 25, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Opinion True Stories EMR Float Nurse Fragmentation Of Care Hospitalists Inpatient Medicine Medical Errors Medical Home Primary Care rehab Shift Work Shift Workers Source Type: blogs
Endo Health Solutions Lidoderm Settlement and Corporate Integrity Agreement, CME Obligations
Endo Health Solutions, Inc. and its subsidiary Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Endo) have agreed to pay $171.9 million to resolve civil allegations of marketing their adhesive pain patch Lidoderm for off-label uses. As part of the settlement, Endo will enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement states: "[F]rom March 1999 through December 2007, Endo caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs…by promoting Lidoderm for unapproved uses, some of which were not medically accep...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 11, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Endo Health to Pay $192.7M in Settlement
Endo Health will pay almost $193 million to resolve claims that it improperly marketed the shingles treatment Lidoderm for unapproved uses like treating lower back pain.The Malvern, Pa., drugmaker will pay $171.9 million in civil false claims settlements largely to the federal government, with $34.2 million from that total going to 47 states and the District of Columbia. Endo also agreed to pay $20.8 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.Federal prosecutors said Friday that Endo Health Solutions Inc. marketed the drug for unapproved uses between 2002 and 2006.Endo said it was pleased to resolve the issue, and...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 24, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Lab Testing Now Being Offered in Walgreens California Stores
After a relatively long gestation period, the business model for retail walk-in health clinics is becoming clear. The winner in the competition, in my opinion, will be the large drugstore chains like CVS and Walgreens. In previous notes, I had also discussed the "big-box store" clinics that had been launched by Walmart as part of the mix (see: Wal-Mart Launches Co-Branded Walk-In Medical Clinics in Three Cities). I also suggested that walk-in clinics developed by health systems might begin to offer lab testing beyond CLIA-waived tests (see: Health Systems Launch Walk-In Clinics). A recent article indicated...
Source: Lab Soft News - February 22, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Direct Access Testing (DAT) Healthcare Delivery Lab Processes and Procedures Laboratory Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Source Type: blogs
Remote, quantally channelled kinetic agitation
There are several scientists acting like the proverbial sharp stick, constantly poking the balloons of alternative remedy quacks until they burst. They assess the latest nonsensical claims of so-called complementary medicine and then give it a good poke with the sharp end. I do wonder if they ever manage to guilt-trip their targets into giving up their often ludicrous claims of panaceas based on infinitely dilute solutions, candles, stones, touchless massage etc. Of course, if one patient avoids being conned and seeks professional medical help in their time of need rather than turning to quackery and deferring treatments t...
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - February 22, 2014 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science Source Type: blogs
What’s the Diagnosis #18
An elderly patient with hypertension, hypothyroidism, and dementia is sent from the nursing home by ambulance for evaluation of a rash to her scalp. The patient’s nurse had noted the rash that afternoon while putting the beret in the patient’s hair and is sure that the rash wasn’t there two days ago when she last cared for the patient.
The patient was reportedly sleeping more than usual the day prior to her transport. The nursing director at the nursing home was concerned that the patient had developed shingles to her scalp.
A picture of the patient’s rash is to the right (unfortunately, not the bes...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - February 12, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Patient Encounters What's the Diagnosis? Source Type: blogs
The Real Star Trek Tricorder May Soon Be Available
Life often seems to imitate art. A recent article described how new healthcare technology is beginning to catch up with devices we have seen in science fiction literatures and TV for years (see: 3 Ways Real Health Care Is Catching Up to Sci-Fi Health Care). The device that caught my eye because it was lab-related was the emergence of what is described as a real Star Trek "tricorder." Below is an excerpt from the article:
At CES 2012, wireless chipmaker Qualcomm, in coordination with the X PRIZE Foundation, launched a $10 million competition to produce the first medical tricorder. The competition asked participant...
Source: Lab Soft News - January 30, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Source Type: blogs
