The director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia apologized for implying that the nurse in Texas was responsible for her own infection with the deadly Ebola virus. This comes less than two weeks after hospital officials from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and other prominent officials blamed a different nurse for releasing the patient with Ebola from the emergency …
Nurse Nina Pham is a hero: Stop blaming her
It’s October and that means we are about to see a lot of pink for the next 31 days. And virtually all of the work comes down to one simple -some might say overly simple-message: Get a mammogram.
But as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), begins, I find myself one again asking some difficult questions: Are we …
Breast cancer awareness: It’s more than mammograms
Ebola is in the United States! Everybody (please don’t) panic! Quarantine all Texans! Though that might be a good idea anyway (just kidding). More on Ebola in general in another post if I have time.
First off though, we’ve found out more information about the sequence of events leading to the hospitalization of the patient, Thomas Duncan. Apparently, he came …
Ebola in Texas: A fascinating story of system errors
As you no doubt know, Ebola has been brought to the U.S.
Predictably, this has resulted in a media feeding frenzy, rumination, recrimination, and the familiar blend of hyperbole and hysteria that tends to populate those infamous 15 minutes during which any given crisis holds our attention.
No, we are not suddenly at risk. As the media coverage spells out, …
See Ebola through the eyes of the virus
Thousands of people have travelled from West Africa to the U.S. in the last 6 months. While the CDC and others throughout the Obama administration continue to reassure everyone that the U.S. is 100 percent prepared for an outbreak, potential cases and exposures continue to surface all across the country.
In Dallas, the first confirmed case of Ebola has passed away. Even more concerning is the fact that the patient initially …
Ebola: We need to act, rather than respond
Having a healthy life is more than getting an annual physical examination. It is about having healthy habits. Some of these healthy habits make common sense. Others seen unnatural, but yet are vitally important.
A healthy life is more than feeling well. It is about living life to the fullest and ensuring you are doing your part to improve both your quality of life and longevity.
Which ones are you missing?
How do …
Staying healthy: More than an annual physical
As an ER doctor, right now I’m thinking a lot about Ebola — it’s in the news, in my inbox, and in questions from my patients. Whether it’s an outbreak, a flu epidemic, or a bombing — we in the ER see them first, and so I’m always thinking about how we’ll be ready.
So, what concerns me, and what doesn’t?
Ebola patients in the …
Ebola in the ER: What you should and shouldn’t worry about
A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
More than 75 percent of operations in the U.S. occur in an outpatient setting. Outpatient, or ambulatory care, can take place in a number of different settings, including physician offices, outpatient surgery centers, or hospital or non-hospital-based outpatient clinics. With more and more elderly patients undergoing outpatient …
Outpatient anesthesia in elderly patients: What to watch for
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 48-year-old man is evaluated during a follow-up visit for urinary frequency. He reports no hesitancy, urgency, dysuria, or change in urine color. He has not experienced fevers, chills, sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or other gastrointestinal symptoms. He feels thirsty very often; drinking water and using lemon drops seem to help. He …
MKSAP: 48-year-old man with urinary frequency
To put this post in perspective the pain of childbirth is said to be equivalent of amputating a finger.
The joint statement of the American Congress of OB/GYN and the American Society of Anesthesiologists sums pain control during labor and delivery quite nicely: “There is no other circumstance where it is considered acceptable for an individual to experience untreated severe pain, amenable to safe intervention, while under a physician’s care. In …
Why are so many people opposed to epidurals?
I had an interesting day this past week. Sadly, it left me wondering why the same “hope and hype” directed at cancer patients and their families decades ago when I started my oncology career was still alive and well today. But then, maybe I am the naïve one to think that anything should have really changed.
In the morning …
Proton beam therapy: We need more than informed hope on social media
Media deprivation: Do you think it exists? Although laughable at first glance I know I’m not the only parent who wonders if limiting screen time could change my child’s opportunity. Those of us who fiercely control screen/device time may have momentary lapses where we wonder if we’re doing things right. Even though I’m convinced there isn’t a study telling us that typically-developing children need media/apps/screen time to learn how to …
Media deprivation for children: Are parents doing the right thing?
I direct a nutrition clinic in a large center for children with special needs. My kids can have everything from mild learning disabilities to genetic disorders that affect growth and development to profound intellectual and physical impairments that cause them to be unable to walk, speak or even scratch their heads. My most seriously involved kids are completely dependent for all their care.
Children who are somewhere in between — for example, children who …
Treating obesity in the physically-challenged child
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Not long ago, the Joint Commission established that patients with pneumonia should receive antibiotics within four hours of diagnosis. Timely diagnosis and treatment can be the difference between life and death in patients with this illness. In fact, some people believe this kind of quality measure should play a large role in how we pay for medical care. After all, doctors should not be paid solely on the basis of …
How pay for performance leads to overdiagnosis and overtreatment
To the inevitable backdrop of John Philip Souza marches and presidential photo-ops, big soda has announced that it will do some vague kind of something about the excesses they contribute to our intake of calories and sugars over something like ten years. (Unless, of course, they don’t.) Cue the 21-gun salute! Release the confetti!
Folks, that this is heralded as “huge” news — and by our former head of state, no …
Do we really need soda companies to cut calories for us?
The first Ebola patient has been diagnosed in the U.S. This news is likely making many of my regular readers wonder, “Should I freak out?” This is a reasonable question, and I will attempt to answer it. But first, let’s go over how this nasty microbe spreads.
Ebola is caused by a virus that is transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is sick. It is not airborne; …
Ebola in Texas: Why you shouldn’t freak out
There is a lot of talk about why the man diagnosed with Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was sent home from the emergency room not having been tested for Ebola despite telling the triage nurse he had been in Liberia.
Because they let him go, he came in to contact with up to 20 people including a handful of school aged children. …
The Ebola outbreak: Don’t blame the nurse
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 59-year-old woman is evaluated for a 1-week history of increasing pain of the right foot. She recalls stepping on a nail about 1 month before her symptoms began. The patient has a 5-year history of heart failure secondary to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. She has an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, and her current medications …
MKSAP: 59-year-old woman with pain of the right foot
A study published in the journal Pediatrics showed that young fathers, those who became dads at an average age of 25 years, have a 68% increase in depression symptoms within the first five years of becoming dads. This applied to young dads who lived with their children and their wives or girlfriends. Dads who lived away from their children and older fathers did not show that same increase in rates of …
Young fathers can also get postpartum depression
I recently treated a patient who was hospitalized with paraplegia. During some routine lab testing I noticed that his liver function tests were elevated, and so I began looking for a cause. I discussed the patient’s drinking habits (he rarely drank alcohol), risks for viral hepatitis (no IV drug use or exposure to those with known hepatitis), and general medical history (nothing relevant to liver disease). I reviewed his current …
A surprising cause for acute hepatitis in the rehab unit
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