Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds 4.06 is now up and running over at Running A Hospital. This blog is run by Paul Levy who is the president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. According to the site, the theme is the following: A personal experience I (or a loved one) had at a hospital and how it caused me to change my behavior or beliefs.

If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science? Next week, GR moves to Counting Sheep.

AHEM! If you haven't heard already, on November 13th (two weeks from now) Grand Rounds 4.08 will be right here! Yay! So, get ready. Right as of this moment, I'm not planning to have a theme. So, start getting your best posts ready.

Also, The Doctor Anonymous Show is scheduled to have Dr. Nicholas Genes (the GR founder) on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time. I hope you will be able to join us for the show and to participate in Grand Rounds!

What time is it?

So, I come into the office this morning to find all the phones and computers screwed up. The time is off by an hour. How could have this happened? Is this the twilight zone? Well, sort of. Thanks to our favorite US Congress, they changed the dates when Daylight Savings time happens. Yeesh! Why do they have control over time? They can't even run Medicare? (image credit)

Relaxing

I had a great weekend! I hope that you did. I was out of town relaxing and not thinking about work or even blogging (ek!). So, if I'm not posting that much for the next few days, I'm slowly getting back into things. And, I'll be getting my home Mac ready for upgrading to the new system released last week. (image credit)

Mimi LIVE tonight on Dr. A show

Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 10:00pm Eastern Time

Show Link - Chat Room Link - Archive Link

Join us tonight (actually in a few hours) for Mimi Lenox. There is a little bit more detailed post below, or just click here.

After the last couple of shows, I'm getting a little more comfortable with the 60 minute format. So, we'll be doing that again tonight. I chat it up with Mimi for most of the first half hour of the show. And, then welcome callers (like you) for questions, to say hello, or to talk about whatever your like.

The chat room is always "the show within the show." The chat wasn't working for the last show. So, hopefully, it will be working tonight. The only way to find out it to tune in tonight! Talk to you later....

Update: Thanks so much to Mimi for appearing on the show. Also, thanks to MJRN and Roy for calling into the show. I'm very frustrated that the chat room was not working again tonight. This is the second time that happened. I really have to get that fixed.

Anyway, that's not going to get me down. This show is continuing to grow. We had the largest live audience this show has ever had. And, it's growing every week - Thanks to you. If you missed the show, you can listen in the sidebar or check it out anytime on my BTR site (you can even download it, that's scary LOL). Have a great weekend, everybody!

MRSA panic

There is so much apathy in the country these days about a number of issues. Unfortunately, the only way most people learn about pertinent issues is during a crisis situation (image credit), or during a tragedy. This is evident now through the California wildfire situation. I admit that I really did know much about the specifics of how wildfires happen until recently reading about them.

The same can be said of MRSA. I think it's reasonable to say that most of the public didn't know what MRSA was until recently, especially before the tragic death of that Virginia teen.

Now, it seems to be everywhere in the media. And, our office is getting calls about this every day. In today's Newsday, an associate professor at NYU School of Medicine outlines what's probably been happening in doctor's offices across the country.

But thanks to widespread media coverage of the CDC report, people are worried. Last week many of my patients called me with fresh concerns over their usual pimples and boils, and a frightened neighbor refused to shake my hand, pointing out that because I worked in a hospital I might be in contact with the superbug.

Such hypervigilance will do nothing to eradicate MRSA. Quite the contrary, in fact. Excessive concerns over rare bacteria lead patients to pressure physicians for antibiotics to treat the slightest sniffle or scratch. Though more than 90 percent of upper respiratory infections are viral and don't respond to antibiotics, and though most skin bumps go away on their own, physicians are nevertheless quick to overprescribe oral antibiotics. This bad habit leads to more impervious bacteria, which develop resistance to existing treatment.

This is an interesting national article, and I encourage you to check it out. But, when it comes down to it, all politics is local, right? People really don't learn all the ins and outs of an issue until it hits home. Here is the beginning of an article from one of our local papers today:

Niles — A McKinley High School football player has contracted a drug-resistant staph bacteria infection, sparking city health and school district officials to take precautionary measures. ‘‘We are taking precautions,’’ Niles schools Superintendent Rocco Adduci said.

City Health Commissioner and school physician Dr. William Eddy said it takes 48 to 72 hours to determine that a staph infection is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). The confirmation of the Niles case was made Tuesday.

But, what I really enjoyed was the end of this local article. It is so pragmatic. It makes total sense. It's definitely what this community needs right now. And, of course, the quote is not from a doctor, but from a nurse and mother. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Still, infections can happen, according to parent Cindy Rosenberger of Niles. Although she’s a nurse in a local hospital and taught her kids how to wash their hands and prevent infection, three of her children — one of them an athlete in the schools — have come down with staph infections over the years. ‘‘It’s definitely a concern,’’ she said. ‘‘You hear of schools where there are staph infections, where kids may have died.’’

When her children had staph infections, Rosenberger watched for signs of illness, such as fever and chills, and also made sure they finished the prescriptions their doctor gave them. ‘‘Kids want to take one or two of the doses, and then when the symptoms go away, they don’t want to take any more,’’ she said. ‘‘I always make sure they finish them.’’

Update (1pm): Niles player has MRSA infection

The Mimi Lenox Interview

The Queen of Memes herself is coming to visit the Doctor Anonymous Show on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 starting at 10pm Eastern Time. What time will it be where you're at? Well, click here and find out so you can tune in.

As you know, Mimi is the Founder of the Peace Globe Movement and will be having the Blogblast for Peace coming up on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 (only two weeks away now). We'll be talking about this and a lot more on the upcoming show.

I encourage you to check out her post from Thursday, October 12, 2006 as kind of an insight on how this entire idea started. In addition, Mimi's own post from Tuesday, November 7, 2006 - the first peace globe day. Here's my post as well.

If you haven't already, get your 2007 peace globe right here and place it on your blog - place it on your sidebar - place it anywhere and everywhere. Do it now, before you forget. Tell you friends about it. 

And, while you are personalizing your peace globe, don't forget to join Mimi on the Doctor Anonymous Show on October 25th. We'll be LIVE on internet radio and will be taking your phone calls. Check here tomorrow for more details....

Vibrate to lose weight

I know this probably sounds like an exercise DVD with Jenna Jameson, but I assure you, this real science here. And, no, I'm not an investment partner in the equipment featured above in this youtube link. What am I talking about?

Well, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, here is an article from National Geographic (really). Researchers in New York placed mice on a vibrating platform for 15 minutes a day. The result? These mice developed 28 percent less fat than the mice not receiving this intervention.

Scientists theorize that as the mice developed, the vibrations mimicked muscle activity and induced their stem cells to develop into bone or muscle cells rather than fat cells.

"We're not burning fat or taking fat mice and making them skinny," said lead author Clinton Rubin, a biomedical engineer at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. "We're taking mice who are growing and ... influencing the decision of stem cells [so that they don't] become fat cells."

Uh, yeah. Likely story. I don't believe that. Finally, a way to avoid the gym, eat what I want, and still lose the weight. This sounds too good to be true! Oh yeah, that means it is probably too good to be true. Oh well....

Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds 4.05 is now up and running at PalliMed: A Hospice & Palliative Medicine Blog. The writers of the blog are Drew Rosielle, MD, Christian Sinclair, MD, and Thomas Quinn, APRN, CHPN. This is an interesting blog. I encourage you to check it out.

The theme for this week's GR is "Prognostication." If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science? Next week, GR moves to Running a Hospital.

Breathalyzer for smokers

Are you a secret smoker? Have you been fooling your family and co-workers into thinking that you're smoke free? Well, your days of secrecy are coming to an end - because of a science project. Yes, that's right, a high school science project.

Ashray Reddy, a sophomore high school student, and his father Dr. S. Reedy presented data at the American College of Chest Physicians meeting in Chicago on Monday. They took a pulse cooximeter, a machine used to identify carbon monoxide in patients and firefighters, to identify if the study subject was a smoker (HealthDay News).

The device, which Reddy said costs $4,000-$5,000, measures the level of carbon monoxide in hemoglobin. It accurately spotted up 95 percent of all smokers when Reddy looked only at those who had a 6 percent or higher level of carbon monoxide.

It will be interesting to see if these results are able to be repeated. If they are, then the ramifications of this are huge. I can see insurance companies using this to see how high your premiums will be if you're identified as a smoker. I see other entities like schools and employers utilizing this machine for their own purposes. Who knew a high school science project could have such wide ranging implications? (image credit)

Professor/Student Love Contract

Now, when I was in college, I always wished that I could date the hot female professor. Isn't that the dream of most male and some female college students? Of course this was taboo and of course it was against the rules. This was part of the thrill of the whole thing, right?

Well, now there is a UCLA professor who is standing up for the professor/student romantic relationship. That's right, boys and girls. Psychology professor Paul R. Abramson, 57, currently on his fourth marriage, in a new book, argues that consenting adults (meaning professors and students) should be able to have a romantic relationship. (LA Times) So much so, that he advocates this:

To allay legal fears, he suggests an alternative: All faculty and students would read and sign a release (a "love contract") that would warn about the power differences and favoritism that can arise from faculty-student dating. They then would promise, as in a medical release, not to hold the school responsible if the romance goes sour.

Uh, yeah. Like that would really work. This "policy" would be in place for about half a semester until the first allegation of rape took place. Universities always like dealing with rape allegations (see: Duke University).

As far as concepts and policies similar to this idea, one only has to look here to the Antioch College Sexual Offense Prevention Policy. Yup, that worked so well it was parodied on SNL (although I couldn't find it on youtube, but it was hilarious!)

Finally, why the picture from The Graduate? (image credit) I don't know. It really doesn't fit with this post. But, oh well. This movie just came to my mind when I was writing this....

Update: Thanks to The Guardian for linking to this post. I really appreciate it!

Another blogger, Dr Anonymous, cheekily included an image of the actor Dustin Hoffman's most famous academic moment, as if to ask, "Are you trying to seduce me, Mr Abramson?"