Gowns and gloves in the ICU: Part of the infection control solution
It’s good to see health care providers continue to work on strategies to reduce health care acquired infections. Handwashing is a key component —but hospitals struggle to achieve compliance and are now turning to patients to be the bad cop, much to my dismay.
A simple new strategy in intensive care units is showing promise: having doctors and nurses where gloves and gowns with all patients, not just those who are known to have antibiotic resistant bacteria. It takes more time and costs a bit of money, but seems to cut down dramatically on MRSA infections without generating adverse events. The study is important...
Source: Health Business Blog - October 8, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Research antibiotic resistant bacteria intensive care units MRSA infections Source Type: blogs
Funny Bone, Serious Problem
Part 2 in a Series
Elbow dislocations are quite painful and often times accompanied by other injuries. ED providers caring for a patient with an elbow dislocation must be sure to properly examine and x-ray patients prior to putting an elbow back in place. Be wary of the associated complications to dislocations including fractures and nerve or artery injury. Soft tissue damage and swelling are also very common.
Acute elbow dislocation.Photo by Martha Roberts
Like many relocations, slow and steady traction and countertraction with your magical and carefully calculated combination of sedation and analgesia is the hal...
Source: The Procedural Pause - October 3, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts 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
Asking the Doctor, 'Have You Washed Your Hands?'
Hospitals are encouraging patients to be assertive, amid growing concern about antibiotic-resistant infections. (Source: WSJ.com: The Informed Patient)
Source: WSJ.com: The Informed Patient - October 2, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: FREE Source Type: blogs
We lack the will to solve antibiotic resistance
Recently, another report was released by the Centers For Disease Control saying that antibiotic overuse is creating “so-called superbugs.” In this USA Today article, it states that superbugs “cause at least 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths each year.”
You know who is causing the problem, right? It’s doctors like me. Depending on the report you read, I am the one who is giving antibiotics out like candy. Now, if you have the courage to dig deeper, antibiotic overuse is just a symptom of our broken health care system, unrealistic high expectations from society, and paralyzed government b...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 27, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Infectious disease Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Update Satellite – 09-25-2013
See more health care news from around the web on my other blog at DrWhiteCoat.com
Man found dead in parking lot of Detroit’s Grand Valley State University had just used the university computers to query Dr. Google on “pain and tightness of the chest and sweating.”
Wonder what happens if the web site he landed on didn’t tell him to call 911?
Maybe Google, Esq.?
North Carolina woman busted for drug trafficking and felony possession of controlled substances after going to multiple physicians and being prescribed 1,286 doses of Xanax and 2,330 doses of oxycodone/hydrocodone between May 2012 and May 2013.
Think closely...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - September 26, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
Three Products That My Dermatologist Says Are “Of The Devil” – And Other Skin Tips
This actress keeps her dermatologist on speed dial too.
As a light skinned, be-freckled woman with a history of pre-melanoma, I have been sternly instructed to keep my dermatologist on speed dial. Every six months I dutifully return to his office for inspection – nervously eyeing the biopsy tray as I sweat through my paper gown, legs dangling from a vinyl exam table.
In preparation for my most recent trip, I decided to be “an empowered patient” and arrive with a list of general dermatology and skin care questions that could be answered during my skin check. Judging from the near-syncopal episodes that I i...
Source: Better Health - September 23, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Health Tips Allergies Antibacterial Ointment Bounce Brush Clarisonic Contact Dermatitis Dermatologist Dermatology Dryer Sheets Exfoliator Hydroquinone melanoma Moisturizer Neosporin Physical Block Pores Skin Cancer Skin Source Type: blogs
Things with a cure
The CDC recently warned of these new germs that are resistant to treatment - the superbugs as they are called. They are out there and killing more and more of us as they resist most treatments. While the pictures of them are pretty cool, the germs themselves are not. There are other ailments with out a cure. I have a few:FibromyalgiaRheumatoidDegenerating disksThere are lots of others that I don't have for which I am grateful.They have treatments to ease the symptoms but not cures. Medical research is needed for these nasty germs and the incurable ailments.Perhaps I am feeling a little down this morning because when I got ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - September 23, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: depression research cure fibromyalgia back pain rheumatoid arthritis Source Type: blogs
Mercury News editorial: Stop pumping farm animals full of antibiotics
When historians look back on our time, one question they're likely to ask is this: How could people have been so stupid as to cripple the lifesaving power of antibiotics by letting farmers pump cows, pigs and chickens full of them?
It's a clear case of putting profits before people's lives, and if the FDA and Congress won't act, California should show them how.
Scientists have been trying for 40 years to get the FDA to ban -- or at least slow -- the practice of pumping large amounts of antibiotics into farm animals. This widespread use has led bacteria to develop resistance to the drugs, whose therapeutic value for human...
Source: PharmaGossip - September 21, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Untreatable: Report by CDC details today’s drug-resistant health threats
Every year, more than two million people in the United States get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a result, according to a new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013, presents the first snapshot of the burden and threats posed by antibiotic-resistant germs having the most impact on human health. The threats are ranked in categories: urgent, serious, and concerning.
Threats were assessed according to seven factors associated with resistant infections: health impact, economic impac...
Source: BHIC - September 20, 2013 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Naomi Gonzales Tags: General Public Health Source Type: blogs
nterventions for replacing missing teeth: antibiotics at dental implant placement to prevent complications.
CONCLUSIONS: Scientific evidence suggests that, in general, antibiotics are beneficial for reducing failure of dental implants placed in ordinary conditions. Specifically 2 g or 3 g of amoxicillin given orally, as a single administration, one hour preoperatively significantly reduces failure of dental implants. No significant adverse events were reported. It might be sensible to suggest the use of a single dose of 2 g prophylactic amoxicillin prior to dental implant placement. It is still unknown whether postoperative antibiotics are beneficial, and which antibiotic is the most effective. (Source: Dental Technology Blog)
Source: Dental Technology Blog - August 26, 2013 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs
Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found In Workers At Industrial Farms
The ongoing use of antibiotics in livestock has spawned controversy over the extent to which these medications jeopardize human health by causing resistance to develop to the drugs. Two months ago, for instance, a bill was introduced in the US Senate to limit antibiotic use in livestock. And for the second time this year, a study published in PLOS One indicates that such concerns have merit.
Researchers found drug-resistant bacteria associated with livestock in the noses of industrial livestock workers in North Carolina, but not in the noses of antibiotic-free livestock workers. The drug-resistant bacteria examined were St...
Source: Pharmalot - August 20, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Nature Podcast: 25 July 2013
This week, the superbugs resistant to the most powerful antibiotics, how flatworms regrow their heads and why the oil palm genome could be good news for sustainable crop breeding. Plus, the best science outside Nature. (Source: Nature Podcast)
Source: Nature Podcast - July 24, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Nature Publishing Group Source Type: blogs
Stop blanket animal antibiotics now - before it's too late
Factory Farm Workers Are Carrying An Antibiotic-Resistant Pig BacteriaBy Aviva Shen on Jul 9, 2013 at 3:50 pmhttp://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/07/09/2270181/factory-farm-workers-drug-resistant-bugs/?mobile=wt(Credit: AP)Shortly before Americans fired up their grills for Independence Day, researchersannounced that industrial farm workers have been contaminated with “pig MRSA,” an antibiotic resistant bacteria that is increasingly found in American hogs. According to a new study, workers at factory hog farms that use antibiotics are far more likely to contract the drug-resistant bacteria from ...
Source: PharmaGossip - July 10, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Update Satellite — 07-09-2013
More updates available tomorrow on my other blog at DrWhitecoat.com
Why does an $11,596 emergency department visit cost $1,100? A spokesperson for the California Hospital Association says that it is because of government regulation. I want to know what doctor ever gets paid $4,242 for a Level 4 emergency department visit.
California attorneys are trying to raise the cap on damages under California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act. Caps are currently $250,000 and haven’t been raised in more than 35 years.
The article says that many attorneys won’t take medical malpractice cases in California because they are t...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - July 9, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
