Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Shout Outs

 Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one.

Dr. Ottematic is this week's host of Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s edition here (photo credit).
The end of the year is a time of reflection. We look forward to the years to come and look backwards, pondering our triumphs and tragedies. And, if you are anything like me, you might also look behind the dryer for that missing sock.
In late December, the tradition is also to formalize our best intentions for the future, even if we know the process is futile. Though considered nearly a pointless exercise, with failure resulting in an even worse state than before we started, we make these resolutions annually. So, onto the blogs, grouped according to some of the classic New Year’s resolution themes.
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Kim, Emergiblog, is the host of the latest edition of Change of Shift (Vol 4, No 13) !   It is the “Merry Christmas” edition.  You can find the schedule and the COS archives at Emergiblog. (photo credit)
It’s Christmas Eve and time for a new Change of Shift!
Between the hustle and bustle of the holiday rush (and the ending of fall semesters), the nurses of the blogosphere put fingers to keyboard and busted out a joyful Change of Shift!
Grab an Egg Nog (spiked, of course), and settle in for some nursing stories!
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H/T to @EvidenceMatters for the link to this WSJ article:  A Downside of Organ Donation by Laura Landro (photo credit)
Most transplants do indeed save lives. But as demand grows for donated organs and tissues, so do concerns about the risk of disease transmission, including deadly bacterial infections and viruses, tuberculosis, rabies, parasites and even cancers. Some experts are calling for better testing and tracking of organ donors in order to limit the number of infections, though others warn that this could have the effect of delaying transplants, producing false-positive results that would eliminate safe organs and adding costs to the health-care system.
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The “downside of organ donations” has prompted a re-exam of transplantation rules.  Denise Grady reviews this topic in the NY Times article:  Officials Re-examining Organ Transplant Rules
……….The case highlights the lack of a national policy on whether to bar people with poorly defined neurological disorders as donors. For now, the decision is up to individual transplant centers, said Dr. Michael G. Ison, ………..
Dr. Kuehnert said he wondered whether there should be a registry for donors who have brain inflammation, or encephalitis, from an unknown cause.
“It would be difficult to say, ‘Don’t ever recover a donor with encephalitis,’ ” he said. “Some may be O.K. But we don’t know how many times it’s a successful operation, and how many times a tragic operation.”
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H/T to @ChrisCoppola and @DrSonnyO  for the link to this CNN article which shows the good outcome of organ transplantation:  Pediatric heart transplant survivor: 'I thank God every day' by Madison Park.
"Not a day or minute goes by where I don't think about how lucky I am just to be here," said Farley of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. "I thank God every day when I wake up that I woke up."
Around Christmas time, 24 years ago, Farley's heart was deteriorating.
Farley was 12 and couldn't walk without feeling exhausted. She'd stop to catch her breath after taking a few steps. During gym class, her lips and fingers turned purple from low blood oxygen levels. She often felt listless, and she had chronic bronchitis and respiratory infections…………
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Margaret Polaneczky,MD, TBTAM, has done an exception job explaining The New Mammogram Guidelines - What You Need to Know
Unless you've been living on another planet, you know that in mid-November, the US Preventive Services Task Force released new recommendations on screening mammography, in which they recommended against routine mammogram screening in women under age 50, and recommended that mammograms now be every two years in women ages 50-74.
What you may not have heard is that the Task Force has acknowledged that the mammogram guidelines were poorly worded, and have revised their original statement to clarify their intentions, mostly by removing those two little words "recommends against"…………..
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The Diane Rehm Show rebroadcasted their show on the "goat gland man” John Brinkley yesterday morning.  Brinkley was an amazing charlatan who was born in North Carolina, but much of his medical career was spent in Arkansas.  Her guest on the show is Pope Brock talking about his book on Brinkley:  Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam.   You can listen to the show here.
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The Dr Anonymous’ show this week will be New Year’s Eve, 10:30 pm ET.   
Upcoming Dr. A Shows (9pm ET)
1/2 : Saturday Night w/ Dr. A
1/5 : Maybe Tuesday Night Show
1/7 : Maybe Thursday Night Cancelled
1/9 : Saturday Night w/ Dr. A

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