Kids and Cutting to Air
This is a guest post written by Dr Mike Cameron FACEM, a Queensland-based emergency physician.
It was the mid-1980s and I was almost at the end of my third year as a doctor. I was working in England, about an hour’s motorcycle ride North of London, in a district hospital of a few hundred beds. I remember it was cold.
That night I was the Anaesthetic Senior House Officer (SHO) on call. I had done a few cases in Theatre but I had got out before midnight and things were looking pretty good sleep-wise. Labour Ward had a couple in early labour but no epidurals required. I was on a 1:2 roster, but my Registrar and I alternated...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - August 30, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Anaesthetics Emergency Medicine child cricothyroidotomy mike cameron paediatric surgical airway trick of the trade Source Type: blogs
12-year-old Girl Dies Hours After She is Injected with HPV Vaccine
The family of a 12-year-old girl from Wisconsin who died hours after receiving an HPV vaccine is grieving the loss of their daughter. Meredith Prohaska, described as being an extremely active and healthy girl, passed away on July 30th. [1]
According to a news report, Meredith’s mother took her to the doctor for a sore throat. At the doctor appointment, she received the HPV vaccine. Later in the afternoon, the mother found her daughter unresponsive on the floor, and she was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The parents suspect the vaccine as the primary cause of their daughter’s death. However, Meredith’s autopsy...
Source: vactruth.com - August 19, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Jeffry John Aufderheide Tags: Jeffry John Aufderheide Top Stories Dr. Geoffrey Swain HPV Vaccine Meredith Prohaska Vaccine Death Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 19-year-old man with a sore throat
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 19-year-old man is evaluated for a sore throat, daily fever, frontal headache, myalgia, and arthralgia of 5 days’ duration. He also has severe discomfort in the lower spine and a rash on his trunk and extremities. He returned from a 7-day trip to the Caribbean 8 days ago. The remainder of the history is noncontributory.
On physical examination, temperature is 38.3 °C (100.9 °F), blood pressure is 104/72 mm Hg, pulse rate is 102/min, and respiration rate is 16/min. His posterior pharynx is notably injec...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 17, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: mksap Tags: Conditions Infectious disease Source Type: blogs
I can't decide
No this isn't about cancer. It does say 'breast cancer blog' but my life isn't all about cancer - which is a good thing.My problem/decision today is - allergies or a cold. I flew back from DC last week and was exposed to all sorts of people. As I blogged on Saturday, I am not feeling that great. But after sitting on my butt for two days instead of getting exercise and not feeling better, I have decided I need to go to plan B. Ignore it.I can't decide if its a cold or allergies so I am going to ignore it. I have too much to do this week to be sick so I am going to pretend I am not sick. If I get sicker, maybe I'll do someth...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 4, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: allergens cold germs Source Type: blogs
Marble Dinosaur Egg: “What’s Your Concern?”
Another in a continuing series of the Dinosaur version of “clinical pearls”. Okay, so the series consists of three other posts, all in 2007:
Medication adherence
Biliary symptoms
Extending your scale
But hey. Here’s another.
One of the most important things we teach medical students is to elicit any specific concerns patients may have about their conditions. Many of them get pretty good at it, though by the time they get through the rest of their training, perilously few of them — now that they’re called “attendings” — are still doing it. Yet I maintain it’s still one...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - August 4, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs
Immune systems and all that.
I guess I have a crappy immune system.... Or that's what they tell me. Nothing to do with cancer but that pesky chemo crap probably did something to my immune system during treatment. Now I have RA and the methotrexate definitely has messed up my immune system. Someone else's sniffles can make me sick for weeks.But I usually just ignore my immune system and do what I feel like. Call me a rule breaker if you want.When I was in chemo, they (the proverbial 'them') said I should avoid crowds and not to go to the mall, movie theaters etc. I didn't go to the mall or movie theaters. But I did work for the local community ed progr...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 2, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: germs immune system travel Source Type: blogs
On sickness and the power of Chinese herbal medicine
Founder’s Note : This is a guest post by third-year CCM student, Melinda Iglesias. Asalways, the guest posters love comments – so feel free to leave some below! I’m hoping to see more from Melinda in the future here on DH. In the meantime, you can find her on Twitter.
For three years prior to coming to school at NCNM, I managed a thriving acupuncture clinic. This experience was instructive and influential in my decision to study Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Throughout that time, I had the good fortune of witnessing first-hand scenarios ubiquitous to being a practitioner of Chinese medicine.
A favorit...
Source: Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine - July 7, 2014 Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Guest Author Tags: Acupuncture, Herbs & Other modalities Source Type: blogs
Top medicine articles for June 2014
A collection of some interesting medical articles published recently:Online heart age calculators can be misunderstood and disregarded (study) http://buff.ly/1kXxSHRTelemedicine Spreads Rapidly: Can sending a "selfie" of your sore throat help diagnose strep? A diagnosis and a prescription, usually in 15 minutes or less, for $40 to $50. In 2013, 11% of large employers offered telemedicine services to their employees and 28% were considering it. Cleveland Clinic invites patients to upload their medical records for a second opinion from anywhere in the world http://buff.ly/1g1XB36The saddest goodbye: cartoonist account of his...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - June 26, 2014 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Health News of the Day Source Type: blogs
Stop Expecting Antibiotics to Be Handed Out Routinely: Here’s Why
For years, my colleagues on the Prepared Patient site have preached the importance of being an advocate for your own care. And they’ve noted that at times it is necessary to push back against doctors’ recommendations if a suggested treatment does not seem right. I just returned from a visit to the U.K., which drove home the importance of that advice. Coming down with a common cold gave me a chance to experience differences in how British and American doctors approach the nasty symptoms of an all-too-common medical problem.
Let’s face it. Most of us have been given too many antibiotics for sore throats, co...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - June 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Consumer Health Care Policy Source Type: blogs
The impediments to being a good primary care doctor
Next in a series.
The primary care physician (PCP) is the most broadly yet deeply focused care giver and as such is the the backbone of the healthcare system. But to do this work effectively requires time — time which all too often is not adequately available.
What constitutes primary care and who are the primary care physicians? They are the first responders, the first line of care, and very frequently the patient’s confidant on all matters related to health and often more. The PCP is often the first physician contacted because of the long standing patient — doctor relationship but also because the PCP tend...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 19, 2014 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
From routine dental visit to oral cancer…
CALIFORNIA MOM OF TWO HAS HALF OF HER TONGUE REMOVED AND A NEW ONE RECONSTRUCTED WITH FOREARMSomeone dies from oral cancer every hour of every day in the United States aloneEarly DETECTION – early cure: Oral Cancer Awareness Month in AprilLos Angeles, CA, February 11, 2014… A routine trip to the dentist saved the life of a California mom of two. The American Dental Association estimates that “60% of the US population visits a dentist every year, however less than 15% of them report having received an oral cancer screening.” Although the number of deaths each year from oral cancer is astoundingly large, it is hi...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - February 17, 2014 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs
ST Elevation and a Positive Troponin: Is it Myopericarditis or STEMI?
In this study of 625 patients with presumed STEMI who had angiograms within 2 hours of the ECG, but not simultaneous with the ECG, 26 had completely normal angiograms. The final clinical diagnosis by 3 cardiologists (not by MRI or biopsy) was STEMI in 7 (1.2%) and myopericarditis in 5 (0.8%). Normal angiograms (no stenosis at all) seem to occur in about 4.5% of patients with Non-STE-ACS, but they still have substantial subsequent morbidity (2% death or MI at 1 year; TIMI score stratifies them well)Finally, there is this paper by Sarda et al. from JACC in which they studied 45 patients with apparent STEMI but with nor...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - February 17, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
From routine dental visit to oral cancer… california mom of two has half of her tongue removed and a new one reconstructed with forearm
Someone dies from oral cancer every hour of every day in the United States aloneEarly DETECTION – early cure: Oral Cancer Awareness Month in AprilLos Angeles, CA, February 26, 2014… A routine trip to the dentist saved the life of a California mom of two. The American Dental Association estimates that “60% of the US population visits a dentist every year, however less than 15% of them report having received an oral cancer screening.” Although the number of deaths each year from oral cancer is astoundingly large, it is highly curable if diagnosed early. Early detection is a key factor in oral cancer care and a ...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - February 3, 2014 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs
UPDATED Feb. 27: All You Ever Wanted to Know about Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis But Were Afraid to Ask
Why I Disagree with the IDSA Guidelines for GAS in Children Under 3
IDSA Statement: Diagnostic studies for GAS pharyngitis are not indicated for children under age 3 because acute rheumatic fever is rare in children under 3 and the incidence of streptococcal pharyngitis and the classic presentation of streptococcal pharyngitis are uncommon in this age group [emphasis added]. Selected children under 3 who have other risk factors, such as an older sibling with GAS infection, may be considered for testing (strong, moderate).
The prevalence of GAS pharyngitis is significantly lower for children under 3; it ranges fro...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - January 31, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
UPDATED Feb. 27: All You Ever Wanted to Know about Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis But Were Afraid to Ask
Why I Disagree with the IDSA Guidelines for GAS in Children Under 3
IDSA Statement: Diagnostic studies for GAS pharyngitis are not indicated for children under age 3 because acute rheumatic fever is rare in children under 3 and the incidence of streptococcal pharyngitis and the classic presentation of streptococcal pharyngitis are uncommon in this age group [emphasis added]. Selected children under 3 who have other risk factors, such as an older sibling with GAS infection, may be considered for testing (strong, moderate).
The prevalence of GAS pharyngitis is significantly lower for children under 3; it ranges from 10...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - January 31, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
