How Long to Observe After Severe Allergic Reaction (Anaphylaxis)?

A severe allergic reaction affecting multiple different body systems is known as anaphylaxis . Such anaphylactic reactions adversely affect the skin/mucosa, breathing, gastrointestinal, heart rate, and blood pressure. The key thing to remember is that an "ordinary" allergic reaction is localized whereas anaphylaxis is general affecting beyond one body system. With anaphylaxis, epipen administration is one of the first and BEST intervention. Other complementary medications to t…

9/24/2017 0

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Distractions During Surgery is Common

Patients often consider surgery to be performed in a setting where there are no distractions so that the surgeon can focus on the task at hand. Unfortunately, this impression is far from the truth where distractions abound and sometimes can approach on the chaotic. Although anecdotal stories can be told, perhaps it is better to mention a few studies where third parties observed the goings on in the operating room. A study done in 2013 observed 3,557 distractions over 32 separate surgic…

8/28/2014 0

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Surgeon's Point-of-View (POV) Video Recording

Learning how to video record vivid, stable, high-def, and focussed shots from my (surgeon's) point-of-view has not been an easy endeavor due to technology limitations, though things do appear to be slowly improving. There have been pros and cons with most video-recording systems to date which I have summarized below. The "perfect" video-recording system has yet to be developed which must include all these elements: • Wearable on headlight or glasses • Camera located between t…

2/02/2014 0

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ER Doc Found Negligent in Bell's Palsy Case

This case is not quite what you might think... Here's the background... The Wisconsin State Supreme Court  found an ER physician negligent for failing to offer a carotid ultrasound for a patient who presented with an isolated facial paralysis  (patient did not exhibit paralysis anywhere else in the body) and upheld a $2 million jury award to the patient in 2008. Not only that, the Wisconsin Medical Board reprimanded the ER physician and fined her $300. [ link ] Hmmmm... After all, …

3/22/2013 6

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Do Surgeons Swear When Operating?

Surgeons, whether deserved or not, have a reputation of being mean-spirited and foul-mouthed as a group overall. It does not help that TV shows and movies perpetuate this reputation. Well, a study was actually carried out to see if surgeons are truly foul-mouthed or not and published their findings in the British Medical Journal in 1999. Using a grading system based on how bad the swearing is, researchers secretly tallied how often surgeons used profanity in the operating room. The obs…

3/05/2013 0

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Is Patient Abandonment in the Operating Room Ever Justified?

I ask this question mainly because there WAS an ENT who WAS sued for NOT abandoning his patient in the operating room [ link ]. No way to verify, but additional details can be found in this facebook post . Imagine this hypothetical scenario (as details from original case are not available)... You are an ENT surgeon in a rural community hospital performing a fairly difficult but elective sinus surgery on a 12 years old child with cystic fibrosis with extensive pan-sinus nasal polypoid d…

11/27/2012 2

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Problem with Medical Protocols (and Lawsuits Because of Them)

Over the past decade working in hospitals, I've seen the proliferation of "established procedures and protocols" for literally everything under the sun... • Chest Pain Protocol • Discharge Protocol • Pneumonia Protocol • Stroke Protocol etc, etc, etc Protocols are essentially standing orders that are supposed to be implemented whenever a given medical situation occurs. It is supposed to follow best evidence-based practices and make it easy for healthcare personnel know w…

11/17/2012 0

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Financial Issues with Emergency Room Specialist Care

Imagine this scenario... A young child is playing in the yard when her pet dog bites her face. Bleeding, the child is rushed to the emergency room and the emergency room doctor offers to suture up the child's face. The next question a parent will probably ask (or demand) is the desire for a plastic surgeon to suture the face instead of the emergency room doctor. As such, the plastic surgeon is called in and sutures up the face beautifully. The child and family goes home and that'…

8/19/2012 0

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Snore Absorption Hotel Rooms

First hypoallergenic hotel rooms and now "snore absorption" hotel rooms. No kidding... Crowne Plaza hotels have debuted on a trial basis specially designed hotel rooms to absorb the sounds of snoring . These hotel rooms utilize many different methods to accomplish this including: Sound proofing on walls to absorb the loud frequencies, deflect the sound waves and minimise the impact of snoring. The walls use egg box style foam which reduces the noise reverberating in the room …

7/22/2011 0

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