Did you know that 700 blood donors are needed every day just to meet the needs of patients in the fifty-eight Arizona hospitals dependent upon United Blood Services?
In emergency situations, it’s the blood on the shelves that saves lives. Your donation could save a family member, a friend or a neighbor. Donors of all blood types are needed, especially O-negative, the universal blood that can be substituted for all other types in emergencies.
To make an appointment to donate blood, call 1-877-UBS-HERO (1-877-827-4376) toll free or search by zip code online. Find the Hero in You.. and chill out. It's not like you're getting a THORacotomy.
Showing posts with label hospitals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospitals. Show all posts
Friday, April 26, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Angel Of Death | 60 Minutes
In his first television appearance, "Angel of Death" serial killer nurse Charles Cullen tells Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes he is sorry for murdering scores of patients, but he isn't sure he would have stopped if he hadn't been caught.
Cullen is the first serial killer to appear on 60 Minutes in its 45 years on the air and though he says he murdered between 30 and 40 victims on his confession tape -- portions of which will be broadcast for the first time -- some suspect he killed many more. Cullen's interview and the first interviews with key figures in his arrest will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, April 21 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Cullen is the first serial killer to appear on 60 Minutes in its 45 years on the air and though he says he murdered between 30 and 40 victims on his confession tape -- portions of which will be broadcast for the first time -- some suspect he killed many more. Cullen's interview and the first interviews with key figures in his arrest will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, April 21 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Friday, March 15, 2013
It's National Poison Prevention Week
National Poison Prevention Week is March 17-23, 2013. Is your hospital prepared to handle any type of poisoning referral? Be prepared. Antidotes for Emergency Treatment of Poisonings
Source: Texas Poison Center Network
Free, confidential hotline available 24/7 for poisoning emergencies or questions: 1-800-222-1222. Specially-trained doctors, nurses and pharmacists here to help day or night.
Source: Texas Poison Center Network
Free, confidential hotline available 24/7 for poisoning emergencies or questions: 1-800-222-1222. Specially-trained doctors, nurses and pharmacists here to help day or night.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Does Horton Give A Hoot?
At the crossroads of our big debate about job growth and our big debate about healthcare debt, the public radio show Marketplace brings this animated short inspired by Dr. Seuss and composed by senior health care reporter Gregory Warner.
Learn how local politicians seeking job growth may encourage hospital over-expansion, driving up our insurance premiums and taxes and even creating a health care jobs bubble.
Hobbs is a fictional city whose mayor has a very real problem: How will he implement his scheme to bring in good clean health care jobs when every other American city is trying to do the same? How far will he go to nab those fabled 'medical tourists?' And how much will this medical arms race affect our insurance premiums and taxes?
Oh The Jobs (Debt?) You'll Create! from Marketplace on Vimeo.
Learn how local politicians seeking job growth may encourage hospital over-expansion, driving up our insurance premiums and taxes and even creating a health care jobs bubble.
Hobbs is a fictional city whose mayor has a very real problem: How will he implement his scheme to bring in good clean health care jobs when every other American city is trying to do the same? How far will he go to nab those fabled 'medical tourists?' And how much will this medical arms race affect our insurance premiums and taxes?
Oh The Jobs (Debt?) You'll Create! from Marketplace on Vimeo.
Monday, December 3, 2012
60 Minutes | Hospitals: The Cost Of Admission
One of the driving forces for my early retirement from the profession was that I'd become disillusioned with the loss of our professional freedom and control of our own destiny. According to the CBS News television program, 60 Minutes, it seems like many other healthcare professionals feel the same way.
For more than a year, 60 Minutes has been looking into the admission and billing practices of Health Management Associates. It's the fourth largest for-profit hospital chain in the country with revenues of $5.8 billion last year, nearly half of that coming from Medicare and Medicaid programs.
60 Minutes talked to more than 100 current and former employees and heard a similar story over and over: that Health Management Associates relentlessly pressured its doctors to admit more and more patients -- regardless of medical need -- in order to increase revenues. Here's their report -
Source: 60 Minutes | Hospitals: The cost of admission
For more than a year, 60 Minutes has been looking into the admission and billing practices of Health Management Associates. It's the fourth largest for-profit hospital chain in the country with revenues of $5.8 billion last year, nearly half of that coming from Medicare and Medicaid programs.
60 Minutes talked to more than 100 current and former employees and heard a similar story over and over: that Health Management Associates relentlessly pressured its doctors to admit more and more patients -- regardless of medical need -- in order to increase revenues. Here's their report -
Source: 60 Minutes | Hospitals: The cost of admission
Friday, November 23, 2012
INSiDE | A Short Story
Are you still sure that you want to work at the Arizona State Hospital?
You never really know what someone else is thinking. The most innocent looking person can harbor the most diabolical intentions. But, don't just take my word for it. See for yourself.
INSiDE from INSiDE Short on Vimeo.
You never really know what someone else is thinking. The most innocent looking person can harbor the most diabolical intentions. But, don't just take my word for it. See for yourself.
INSiDE from INSiDE Short on Vimeo.
Monday, July 30, 2012
ZDoggMD | Beware The Clostridiapocalypse!
Increasing bacterial drug resistance isn't the only important reason why your doctor won't prescribe you an antibiotic every time you have a case of the sniffles. ZDoggMD can explain it to you -
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Waiting Room
A new documentary chronicles what life is like for patients and doctors at Highland Hospital, a busy, safety net hospital located in Oakland, California.
Documenting the daily life of a large, under-resourced, urban public hospital, The Waiting Room offers no experts and no statistics, just a rare fly-on-the-wall look inside an overwhelmed system and its impact on patients and staff. Film director Peter Nicks set out to profile a community but ended up with a larger story about health care in the U.S.
The film has been screening at film festivals around the country and has already won several awards. It will get a national theater release in the fall, and will air on PBS' "Independent Lens" next year.
The Waiting Room Trailer from The Waiting Room on Vimeo.
Related links:
The Waiting Room - Kickstarter Page
PBS Newshour: Jeffrey Brown | Peter Nicks, Director Interview -
Documenting the daily life of a large, under-resourced, urban public hospital, The Waiting Room offers no experts and no statistics, just a rare fly-on-the-wall look inside an overwhelmed system and its impact on patients and staff. Film director Peter Nicks set out to profile a community but ended up with a larger story about health care in the U.S.
The film has been screening at film festivals around the country and has already won several awards. It will get a national theater release in the fall, and will air on PBS' "Independent Lens" next year.
The Waiting Room Trailer from The Waiting Room on Vimeo.
Related links:
The Waiting Room - Kickstarter Page
PBS Newshour: Jeffrey Brown | Peter Nicks, Director Interview -
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
A Silent Epidemic
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity (including the choice of inaction) will lead to a loss (an undesirable outcome). The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists (or existed). Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks". Almost every human endeavor carries some risk, but some are much more risky than others.
And that's why I'll continue to say: STAY OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!
Of course, they'll be circumstances when being admitted to a hospital is beyond your control, but in many instances, by living a healthy lifestyle and being aware of, and avoiding unnecessary risks, a visit to the hospital can often be prevented.
Being admitted to a hospital carries a significant amount of risk.
Medical advances have brought lifesaving care to patients in need, yet many of those advances come with a risk of HAI. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving healthcare treatment for other conditions. These infections related to medical care can be devastating and even deadly.
A Silent Epidemic is about the many lives that have been impacted by hospital-acquired infections, as well as sepsis, and what can be done to bring an end to this silent epidemic. It is also not in any way an attack on the medical field; it is rather a calling to all people that there are a number of things that can be done to prevent HAIs if we work together.
Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Silent Epidemic from Emily Croke on Vimeo.
And that's why I'll continue to say: STAY OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!
Of course, they'll be circumstances when being admitted to a hospital is beyond your control, but in many instances, by living a healthy lifestyle and being aware of, and avoiding unnecessary risks, a visit to the hospital can often be prevented.
Being admitted to a hospital carries a significant amount of risk.
Medical advances have brought lifesaving care to patients in need, yet many of those advances come with a risk of HAI. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving healthcare treatment for other conditions. These infections related to medical care can be devastating and even deadly.
A Silent Epidemic is about the many lives that have been impacted by hospital-acquired infections, as well as sepsis, and what can be done to bring an end to this silent epidemic. It is also not in any way an attack on the medical field; it is rather a calling to all people that there are a number of things that can be done to prevent HAIs if we work together.
Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Silent Epidemic from Emily Croke on Vimeo.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
I'm A Cool Jerk
It seems that in almost every hospital that I've worked in, the nursing department and the pharmacy department can never seem to get along. I've worked with my share of NWAs, but I've also witnessed pharmacists treating nurses disrespectfully for no apparent reason. It's like cats and dogs.
Personally, I see the nurses as being the front line of patient care, so I go out of my way to put myself in their shoes, and get them their meds accurately and promptly. Not having, or not being able to find, their patient's medications is the biggest gripe they have about pharmacy.
If you ask me, it's easy to get along with nurses. Once you remove "ego" from the equation, most nurses will appreciate your efforts and give you their full support too. And let me tell you, A LOT of problems and errors can be prevented when nursing and pharmacy work as a team.
It works for me. But, don't just take my word for it. Listen to how some of the strange nurses at my facility describe me, while also trying to convince others pharmacists to follow suit -
Personally, I see the nurses as being the front line of patient care, so I go out of my way to put myself in their shoes, and get them their meds accurately and promptly. Not having, or not being able to find, their patient's medications is the biggest gripe they have about pharmacy.
If you ask me, it's easy to get along with nurses. Once you remove "ego" from the equation, most nurses will appreciate your efforts and give you their full support too. And let me tell you, A LOT of problems and errors can be prevented when nursing and pharmacy work as a team.
It works for me. But, don't just take my word for it. Listen to how some of the strange nurses at my facility describe me, while also trying to convince others pharmacists to follow suit -
Monday, February 20, 2012
Pharmacy And Technology
I was just reading an article entitled: CDC Launches New System for Tracking Antibiotics in Hospitals in the February edition of Pharmacy Practice News and thought I would post the following excerpt from that article -
Be sure to read the whole article. Does it seem like some of your "colleagues" are holding you in contempt and trying to remove you from the picture? You decide.
I also recently came across the following video, and an accompanying link to an article written by Eliezer S. Yudkowsky about an experiment which had to do with Artificial Intelligence. I thought it might provide some good food for thought about how technology is impacting the profession.
According to BLR -
In a near future, man will have given birth to machines that are able to rewrite their codes, to improve themselves, and, why not, to dispense with them. This idea sounded a little bit distant to some critic voices, so an experiment was to be done: keep the AI sealed in a box from which it could not get out except by one mean: convincing a human guardian to let it out.
What if, as Yudkowsky states, ‘Humans are not secure’? Could we chess match our best creation to grant our own survival? Would man be humble enough to accept he was superseded, to look for primitive ways to find himself back, to cure himself from a disease that’s on his own genes? How to capture a force we voluntarily set free? What if mankind worst enemy were humans?
In a near future, we will cease to be the dominant race.
In a near future, we will learn to fear what is to come.
Keloid Trailer - A Short Film by BLR from BLR_VFX on Vimeo.
For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be electronically tracking hospitals’ use of antimicrobial medications, using a new national system known as the AU (antimicrobial use) Initiative, part of the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network.
The new system requires very little additional effort on the part of hospital pharmacists: Data on antimicrobial use can be automatically captured and reported from the medication administration record via clinical document architecture.
Be sure to read the whole article. Does it seem like some of your "colleagues" are holding you in contempt and trying to remove you from the picture? You decide.
I also recently came across the following video, and an accompanying link to an article written by Eliezer S. Yudkowsky about an experiment which had to do with Artificial Intelligence. I thought it might provide some good food for thought about how technology is impacting the profession.
According to BLR -
In a near future, man will have given birth to machines that are able to rewrite their codes, to improve themselves, and, why not, to dispense with them. This idea sounded a little bit distant to some critic voices, so an experiment was to be done: keep the AI sealed in a box from which it could not get out except by one mean: convincing a human guardian to let it out.
What if, as Yudkowsky states, ‘Humans are not secure’? Could we chess match our best creation to grant our own survival? Would man be humble enough to accept he was superseded, to look for primitive ways to find himself back, to cure himself from a disease that’s on his own genes? How to capture a force we voluntarily set free? What if mankind worst enemy were humans?
In a near future, we will cease to be the dominant race.
In a near future, we will learn to fear what is to come.
Keloid Trailer - A Short Film by BLR from BLR_VFX on Vimeo.
Friday, December 23, 2011
A Christmas Miracle
Some things in medicine just can't be explained. Here's some happy news for the holiday.
Source: Digital Journal and Barrow Neurological Institute
Source: Digital Journal and Barrow Neurological Institute
Monday, July 4, 2011
Where's The Safest Hospital Located?
Nope, it's not Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, it's also not the Mayo Clinic located in Rochester, nor Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. It's not even considered one of the top fifty hospitals in the country. According to U.S. News & World Report, it's not even the number-one ranked hospital in it's own home State.
The safest hospital in America is Denver Health Medical Center, located in the great State of Colorado. According to a June 30th PBS NewsHour report, it has the lowest mortality rate of any academic medical center in the U.S., and sets the bar for patient safety.
The safest hospital in America is Denver Health Medical Center, located in the great State of Colorado. According to a June 30th PBS NewsHour report, it has the lowest mortality rate of any academic medical center in the U.S., and sets the bar for patient safety.
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