Dr. A Show 67: ProMed Network

Thursday, January 15th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 GMT)

Join us tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 67 where our guest will be Jamie Davis who is the Managing Director of The ProMed Network which is a new network of medical/health podcasts. In addition to the ProMed Network, Jamie also produces a number of podcasts including The MedicCast. The player above is the most recent episode of The MedicCast talking about Antifreeze Poisonings.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! 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 "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the green "Chat Now" button. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. If you have a headset microphone, you can "call" into the show by looking for the "Click To Talk" button at the top of the chat box to try out the BTR VoIP option. Hope these tips are helpful!

Today's Video Picks

Just today, I saw three great vids from fellow medbloggers and new media medicine peeps out there. They follow below. First is Kerri from SixUntilMe.com (BTW, vote for her blog in the Medgadget Awards!). In this video blog, she talks about her latest adventures with her HbAIC.

Next is our blog friend Medi-Medi-Mary who does what looks like a parody video of me doing a promo for The Doctor Anonymous Show. Unfortunately, I could not find the code to place here. So, check out her blog post called My first (kinda) video post. Finally is our buddy LizzPiano and her "secret project" which is a video shot by her hospital. It's a very well done music video which I think is about a recent quality improvement project that their hospital nursing staff did. Check it out below. Great use of video. If you're not using video yet, why not? You'll be glad you did!

Show 67 Preview

Join is this week for The Doctor Anonymous Show as we welcome Jamie Davis, RN, NREMT-P, from the ProMed Network. This is a new network of medical and health related podcasts - of which I am a proud member. As of this posting, there are 17 podcasts which are part of the network. And, I think the network has been up and running for about a month now. I'm hoping this year to let, you, the Doctor Anonymous listener, know more about medicine/health related podcasts.

In addition to building an empire of health/medical podcasts, Jamie produces a number of podcasts on his own including the popular podcast called The MedicCast: A Podcast for EMTs, Paramedics, and EMS Providers. In addition to this, Jamie also has The Nursing Show, the MedicCast News Podcast, HealthLiner News Roundup, and a number of other projects.

I encourage you to check out the video post above which was shot in my garage last night where the air temp was 22F and with the winds, the temp feels like -1F - Brrrr! So, join us on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time for Doctor Anonymous Show 67 on BlogTalkRadio. See you then!

Prevent colds? Go To Bed!

Through the years, there have been volumes written on how to prevent the common cold. There are some people who swear by things like zinc and other "natural" or herbal therapies. There's even this pretty good article which outlines tips like washing your hands and keeping household surfaces clean.

On Monday, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh shared something that is very simple to prevent catching a cold - Get some sleep, Dude! It's kind of been conventional wisdom which has said that those who slept more would probably fight off infection better (Reuters).

"Although sleep's relationship with the immune system is well-documented, this is the first evidence that even relatively minor sleep disturbances can influence the body's reaction to cold viruses," [Sheldon] Cohen [a researcher at Carnegie Mellon] said in a statement. "It provides yet another reason why people should make time in their schedules to get a complete night of rest."

In this study, they took about 150 people and locked them in a hotel for five days after infecting them with the cold virus. Now, we'll never find out, but I wonder how did the people with less sleep keep awake those extra hours during those five days - Hmmm? Inquiring minds want to know.

Anyway, those with less sleep developed more cough and cold symptoms verses those who had more sleep. So, I know what you're asking. Why am I up late typing this post when I could be sleeping and preventing future colds? Maybe it is time to go to bed. I mean, I am a primary care doctor. I should be all about prevention, right? hehe

Nationwide Cell Phone Ban While Driving?

Now, everyone knows that using a cell phone while driving is distracting. Even six states ban the use of cell phones while driving and seven states ban texting while driving. On Sunday, the National Safety Council called for a nationwide ban of using mobile phones while driving (Reuters)

"It's time to take the cellphone away," said Janet Froetscher, president and chief executive officer of the non-profit group. "Studies show that driving while talking on a cellphone is extremely dangerous and puts drivers at a four times greater risk of a crash," Froetscher said in a telephone interview.

You may have heard of the use of a "hands-free" device while using a cell phone and driving. The states above do NOT ban the use of a hands-free device. However, the National Safety Council is recommending all use of cellular phones while driving - including the use of hands-free devices and texting.

Personally, I think this is a little extreme. I admit that I see people all the time kind of paying attention to the road while talking on the phone, or tuning their radio/mp3 player, or shaving, or putting on make up, or eating while driving, or talking to passengers in the car. Banning texting and encouraging use of hands-free devices make sense to me. But banning all use of cell phones while driving. I think that takes it a little too far. What do you think?

What A Flight Nurse Wears

I might get in trouble for showing you this top secret information, but I thought all of you wanted to know (hehe). Ever wanted to know what a flight nurse wears? Well, I found this exclusive footage from our fave flight nurse - the one and only Crzegrl.

Looks like she was responding to a request from nursing students in the Philippines (Who-Hoo!). Actually, I had no idea what Emily was talking about. I'm just a sucker for (almost) anyone in a flight suit. Great job Emily!

Show 65 Wrap-up

Thanks to Angelo Mandato from Podcamp Ohio 2 for being a guest on The Doctor Anonymous Show 65. We talked about possible sessions for the event, along with seeking sponsors, setting up in-person meetups in the Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati areas, doing promos for the event, and other things.

Thanks to Crzegrl and Jason for calling into the show to ask questions. Finally, wanted to wish the best of luck to Angelo and his wife Heather on their coming baby - possibly as soon as next week! I'm sure he'll give us an update next month when Angelo returns for the next Podcamp Ohio update. Have a great weekend everybody and hope to see you for The Night Shift with Dr. A on Saturday!

Saturday Night with Dr. A

No, silly - Not Saturday Night Live. If you didn't already hear, I have started a new Saturday night show called "The Night Shift with Dr. A." I would say that it's completely different than the Thursday night show. My co-host for the show is Kat from another Blog Talk Radio show called "The Llanview Lowdown."

If you haven't checked out last week's show yet, I invite you to click here and to take a listen. It's kind of funny, because I'm still trying to find a decent format and flow of the show. And, to be honest, it's kind of exciting to try to start up a new show that is different than what's going on now.

For now, I've committed to doing the show through January and seeing how things go. We talk about a variety of things to what's going on in our lives at that moment (whether it be work or non-work related), or some news, or some sports, or whatever comes up. So, I invite you to catch the latest edition of The Night Shift which will be Saturday, January, 10th, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time on Blog Talk Radio. If anything else, it'll be a good time!

Dr. A on The Web Mix

The Web Mix a video show that review and highlights websites and other new media tools. On their latest show, namely Show #11, Jason, the show's host (and also from NE Ohio - WooHoo!), reviews gives "you ways to use the web to get healthy and track your diet, exercise and fitness."

Thanks to t-rave's twitter, he let me know that The Web Mix mentioned my blog and my show. Thanks to Jason for mentioning me and thanks to t-rave for the heads up. I encourage you to not only check out this episode above, but also check out The Web Mix website. Jason does a great job! Thanks for mentioning Doctor Anonymous!

Dr. A Show Tonight

Thursday, January 8th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 GMT)

The Doctor Anonymous Show welcomes Angelo from Podcamp Ohio to discuss plans for the June 20, 2009 event.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! 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 "Live/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Live/Chat" 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 the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. Hope these tips are helpful!