Listen LIVE tonight

Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 10:00pm Eastern Time

Join us tonight for GruntDoc: Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas. The "Most Popular Posts" section of the blog is also an interesting read, including "Nursing Home MAR’s sent to the ED with all times removed: A new and horrible trend." This post has garnered a slim 44(!) comments so far. See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:

*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of my show site. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. (If not, you will be designated as "guest")

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll be taking calls beginning at around the bottom of the hour. Hope these tips are helpful!

Update: Thanks so much to Grunt Doc for being on the show. Also thanks to Dr. Val and Scanman for calling into the show. I really appreciate it. The chat room was as busy as I have see it. Maybe this show is really starting to catch on. Yay!

In our interview, Grunt Doc talked about how he found his ER career (cute story). Then, we discuss medical television shows and how they portray docs.

With regards to blogging, he mentions some of the first blogs that he read, including medical blogs. The GruntDoc blog started in May 2002. Dr. Val describes him as a "pioneer" in medical blogging, and I would have to agree.

Then, right on cue, I get kicked off the system. I think it was Skype, but I'll have to do a post morteum on this show to figure out what happened. I don't know how long the silence was, but, as always, it was too long for me.

If you did not tune in live, you missed a treat. Not only was the chat room hopping, but the video feed from my iSight camera was working and I was waving at the listeners - Live video feed - pretty cool. I've been trying on other shows to have a video feed as a guest, but without success, yet.

I'm also kind of concerned because the archive for tonight's show is not available yet (30 minutes after the show ended). It's usually up by now. I'm starting to get worried. For the Grand Rounds Premiere show, I think it was about 18 hours before the archive was available on the BlogTalkRadio site. We'll see what happens this time.

Next week, look out! It will be The Doctor Anonymous holiday show. Little medicine, but a lot of fun. I will have a panel of holiday experts (hehe) to debate the very controversial topics of the following -- favorite holiday song, fave holiday cartoon, fave holiday movie, and favorite holiday memories. The Panel: Dr. Val, MexicoMedStudent, and Blog Talk Radio personality Dr. Blogstein. So, come back next week for the fun. Have a great weekend!

The GruntDoc Interview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show welcomes the one and only GruntDoc who authors GruntDoc: Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas. Among his blogging accomplishments include the 2004 Medgadget award for Best Medical Weblog (I'm jealous).

I definitely recommend taking a look at the "My Favorite" section in the left hand column - especially "My Grandfathers' Guns," which was featured in the Editor's Picks of my Grand Rounds edition last year. My other recommendations include "Best Chief Complaint of The Night" from last year and "LCPL Anthony Sledd, USMC" from 2002.

Join us on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 10PM Eastern Standard Time where we will talk about this and a whole lot more. You can also join us in the live chat room (the show within the show) or even call into the show to ask us a question. The chat room worked for the last show. Let's hope it works again. You'll just have to tune in to find out. Check here tomorrow for details.

M&Ms: Mint Chocolate

First of all, I want to apologize for not really blogging that much lately. No excuse! I've been trying to get back to the swing of things, but not quite there yet. Maybe too much goofing around on Facebook lately...

Anyway, our office is completely out of Diet Coke. What a travesty of justice! So, I ventured out to the local superstore and got my usual 20 ounce of caffeine fix to take with me back to work. As I was standing at the checkout counter, I heard this bag of M&Ms calling me. "Dr. A....."

I looked at it and the bag read, "Happy Holidays! Mint Chocolate - Limited Edition." So, naturally, I had to try it out. Let me tell ya - There's nothing like it. Great stuff. I know what you're thinking - Diet Coke and M&Ms? Yeesh! Anyway, if you haven't tried it out, I recommend the holiday edition of mint chocolate m&ms. They have the Dr. A seal of approval!

Lowest gasoline prices in Ohio

Are you tired of the high gas prices out there across the state and across the country? Well, then why not drive to Salem where we have the lowest gasoline prices in the entire state of Ohio, according to Ohiogasprices.com (at least as of this posting). You can read all about it in our local newspaper.

Salem — Christmas presents came early for Salem area residents — gasoline prices that appear to be the lowest in the state. Smith Oil on East State Street posted its lowest price in some time Tuesday — $2.71 a gallon.

“We’re swamped,” said Paula Crum, station manager.

Out-of-towners are among those filling up. Crum has spoken with numerous people from the Youngstown area and Pennsylvania who were driving through town and stopped when they saw the prices. These people know a good deal when they see one.

Ohiogasprices.com lists Salem has having the lowest prices in the state. The Web site, which uses prices reported by drivers, lists five Salem stations as the only ones in the state to have prices under $2.80. No other area stations were even close.

Facebook: Docteur Incognito

I briefly talked about this during my show last week. About a year ago, I was totally against social networking sites. In fact, I have made fun of them in a post back then. Maybe it was just an anti my space thing. Who knows?

But, since then, I've been further exploring and investigating this. I guess I really started appreciating social networking after I got my radio show up and running. Through some of the features on Blog Talk Radio, I how have supporters of the show who call themselves "friends" and even make my show a "favorite" (Thanks so much).

After that, I started doing a little bit more with my Twitter account. And then, someone invited me onto Pownce. Although, I admit that I'm not as much a Powncer as much as I am a Twitter. You can definitely waste a lot of time on these sites.

Which leads me into Facebook. For months and months, I've been hearing the hype from the media. And, I've had people send me invitations for be Facebook friends, but I initally ignored them. Not anymore. Last week, I opened a Facebook account.

I was kind of inspired by my podcasting Facebook friend who is the Dashing MD. Or, his Facebook profile lists him as "Dashing Docteur." So, naturally, I had to seek out the Facebook name "Docteur Incognito." That has kind of ring to it, doesn't it?

So, if you're so inclined, please make me your Facebook friend. How often will I be over there? Who knows? But, it looks kind of fun. Just another Web 2.0 social networking site to pass the time on. Do you have Facebook? Why or why not....

Show # 16 Epilogue

Well, that's another show in the can. It was weird. It's been two weeks since I've done this internet radio show, and I totally forgot how to do it. It really took a few minutes until I got back into the rhythm of things again. And, of course, there was the usual beginning of the show glitch. For some reason Skype cut out at about 16 minutes in. Why does it do that? Who knows?

The international reach of the show still amazes me. Bongi tuned in live from his computer in South Africa. And, Scanman who is in India again was able to join the chat room for the live show. Something cool (and helpful) is that when you register at the BTR site and make my show a favorite (yay), the site sends you an e-mail an hour before the show. I would imagine this is very helpful halfway around the world when you're trying to figure out which time zone you're in.

Thanks so much to Kerri for being a guest on the show. Reading her blog this week, she told us that she is being treated for strep throat. So, I really appreciate you calling in even though you're feeling under the weather. Hope you're feeling better!

I did want to highlight her post called, "An Open Letter To My Pancreas." Very well written, and I highlighted it on my Grand Rounds post last year. We talked about her blog, the growing diabetes internet community that is going on out there, her work at dlife.com, getting ready for her wedding, and she's almost convinced me to try to learn code so that I can get out of blogspot and create a unique website of my own (that would be scary, huh?)

The chat room got a little surprise at the end of the show. I'm not going to say anything, yet. And, I hope those who were there in the chat room at the end of the show will keep the little secret. I'll reveal it in due course (cue sinister laugh).

Finally, I did not have a guest for next week, until I started hanging out in the chat room afterward. Grunt Doc who joined the chat room before the show even started and stayed the entire time; Grunt Doc has graciously agreed to be a guest on next week's Doctor Anonymous Show. How cool is that? So, stay tuned for more details...

Dashing MD Podiversary

Just wanted to give a shout out to the Dashing MD for reaching the one year anniversary of podcasting. He's a great guy and you could really tell by his appearance on the show a few weeks ago. Check out his one year anniversary podcast. There, he recites poetry and tells you why his cats are better than your cats (no kidding). And, as he does best, he answers e-mail questions from his listeners. Hats off to D,MD! I wish you continued success with your podcast!

Change of Shift: Vol 2, Number 12

Welcome to Change of Shift, the best of the nursing blogosphere!

Thanks so much for Kim for inviting me to be a host. Actually, she asked me about a year ago. So, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to accept the invitation. You may be familiar with my work on Grand Rounds this year and/or last year. Hopefully, I can uphold the high quality of this nursing blog carnival.

By the way, if you haven't already, I encourage you to check out my interview with Kim on Doctor Anonymous LIVE which is my internet radio show. It was a great time and I hope to have Kim back soon on the show. Now, onto the links!

The holiday season can be very stressful, especially Christmas Eve. But, as ERNursery shares, even though the ER was packed with people, there was still room for A Holiday Surprise.

From the UK, Mousie relates a tragic story of a eight year old girl and how her death affected her mother. Reading this really made me think about a lot of things. The 20 comments really shows the impact of this story as well.

Emily from Crzegrl.net reflects on how difficult it is to be a flight nurse in her post "Potent Thanks." She writes, "I am grateful for every moment I am given with those I love." How true.

Do you remember playing the game telephone when you were growing up? Oh yeah, I did - with the soup cans and the wire and the whole thing. How does this relate to patient care? Well, Rae tells us in a post called "Let's Play Telephone." Phone triage and phone handoff of patients are always interesting. The end of the post shows how one can make a diagnosis just by talking for another 3.3 minutes on the phone.

A Float Floor RN shares a story of how difficult one shift can be. Did you know that "Sometimes It Just Hurts To Be In The Hospital" - especially when you can't get any narcan?

Kintropy In Action describes two hypothetical patients with possible diagnoses and possible treatment plans. He gives three pieces of advice from a parent of a child with disabiliies. He ends this post with a simple statement, "Let's work together, doctors, to keep her well, shall we?" I agree.

When I was a medical student (which wasn't that long ago), I remember that it was a challenge to find a case of C. difficle infection in the hospital for a case study write up. Now, it's so commonplace, that we add the letters MRSA and VRE in this discussion as well. Heart Matters reminds us that we as health care professionals and the public need to still respect C. diff and its potential fatal complications.

Speaking of MRSA, Fit Buff writes an educational post defining the term, its symptoms, and ways to prevent acquiring/spreading this contagious and potentially fatal disease.

Getting back talking about medical school, I remember my first day on the ward. It's that stereotypical first day that's depicted on television shows where virtually everybody ignores you and you as a student question why you're even there when you only feel like you're in your way. The Oracle is a student nurse now and shares a similar story in this post called, "What?"

The docs I work with at the hospital have 10-20 and sometimes 30 years more clinical experience that I do. I get intimidated when I sometimes have to say, "I think that's done a little bit differently now." Disappearing John RN asks, "How do you teach someone who knows more than you?" The story of a less experienced preceptor and a more experienced pupil.

When you pass on from this earth, have you ever thought of who will sit in judgement of you? Brain Scramble has and believes that it will not be a deity, but your patients will meet you at the pearly gates -- maybe.

What is high quality health care? This is something that Life in the NHS is asking. Even though, as a health care provider, you may hit your number targets for cost and quality numbers, the patient's perception of health care is also important.

Did you know that according to the CDC, one person out of one million who are immunized with the flu shot may be at risk of getting Guillian-Barre syndrome? The Pixel RN discusses this further and also nurse-run shot clinics.

Congrats to Pixel One, Purl Two for passing a national certification exam in her specialty. Unfortunately, she's not feeling the love from her employer who rewarded her with a huge 1/2% raise. Yeesh!

Kate from the Alternative Nursing Careers blog proclaims that nurses can do so much more than pass meds. Do you want to go beyond clinical nursing? In these posts, she outlines three steps to get you started. She also describes the career of information technology and how nurses are uniquely qualified for this type of work.

Patient privacy and confidentiality are issues that medical professionals constantly struggle with. The Nurse Practitioners Place shares some tips on how to keep patients comfortable as they share information with you.

That's it! Thanks so much for checking out Change of Shift: Doctor Anonymous style! Feel free to check out the rest of my blog. Make yourself at home. Also check out The Doctor Anonymous Show where we go "Beyond The Blog" to bring you the brightest stars in the medical blogosphere. Thanks Kim for the opportunity to host Change of Shift. The next edition of CoS will be December 13th over on Emergiblog. So, get those posts ready!

Listen LIVE tonight

Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 10:00pm Eastern Time

Join us tonight for Kerri Morrone who authors the award winning blog Six Until Me. I'm hoping the show will be "featured" again on the front page of the Blog Talk Radio website. We'll just have to see.

Also, this radio host and blogger was given some props by Alan Levy, the BlogTalkRadio CEO on a radio show last night. Don't believe me? Well, tune in to my show tonight and I'll play the sound clip for you. HA!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:

*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of my show site. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. (If not, you will be designated as "guest")

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll be taking calls beginning at around the bottom of the hour. Hope these tips are helpful!

The Kerri Morrone Interview

This week The Doctor Anonymous Show welcomes Kerri Morrone who authors the award winning blog Six Until Me. In my opinion, Kerri is one of the most popular bloggers in the diabetes blogosphere. Kerri, a type I diabetic, has reached out and touched so many people with diabetes and their families.

Join us on Thursday, November 29th at 10pm Eastern Time where we will talk about her blog, her life, and other things. She's planning a wedding for next year. That's got to be fun!

Yes, she's a Boston Red Sox fan - and as you probably know, they beat my Cleveland Indians on their way to a World Series victory. I was watching some of those games during my blogtalkradio shows. Finally, I think she has a thing for Larry Bird. If we have time, we'll have to go into that.

I've been having a string of shows where I have internet issues at the beginning of the show. Will that happen again? Will the chat room be working? Will a mutiny occur during the show? Will chaos ensue? Well, you'll just have to tune in to find out. Check back here Thursday for more details.