Dr. A Show 186 Tonight: EMS Newbie

Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 9pm ET (0100 UTC)

I hope that you can join us tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 186 when our guests will be the hosts of the Confessions of An EMS Newbie Podcast. The show describes itself as this: "Follow as a complete newbie goes through paramedic school and gets advice from his paramedic mentor."

Ron Davis (@RonDavis007 on Twitter), is a computer programmer and a photographer. He took EMT-Basic at Lone Star College North Harris in the summer of 2010 and is now in the Paramedic program. Steven “Kelly” Grayson (@AmboDriver on Twitter) is a Critical Care Paramedic of 16 years in southeast Louisiana. He’s been an EMT instructor. He has a long running blog, A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver, and is author of the book, En Route A Paramedic’s Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

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.

Technology Ailments Interviews

Earlier this week, I shared with you my print interview (actually just a soundbite quote) for the American Medical News newspaper. Well, in addition to that print interview, I was also interviewed by the ReachMD network for a soundbite for their weekly AmEdNews roundup in regards to tech ailments. Then, my local TV news station saw my article and wanted me to talk about it on TV yesterday as well. So, in the first part of the clip above - this is my audio interview with ReachMD news, and in the 2nd part of the clip - this is my interview with local TV news. Enjoy!

Show 186 Preview

This week on Doctor Anonymous Show 186, the hosts of the Confessions of an EMS Newbie podcast will join me. Ron Davis, is a computer programmer and a photographer. He took EMT-Basic at Lone Star College North Harris in the summer of 2010 and is now in the Paramedic program. Steven “Kelly” Grayson (aka @AmboDriver on twitter) is a Critical Care Paramedic of 16 years in southeast Louisiana. He’s been an EMT instructor. He has a long running blog, A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver, and is author of the book, En Route A Paramedic’s Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between.

In addition, I invite you to check out the video promo above. As I discussed above, the huge EMS Expo conference is also going on in Dallas, and @AmboDriver will be calling in from there and, hopefully, will be able to give us a report on what is going on there. So, join me on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time/8pm Central Time on BlogTalkRadio for Show 186. Hope to see you then!

Dr. A Show 183 Wrap-up: Radio Rounds

Thanks again to Avash Kalra and Shamie Das for joining me for Doctor Anonymous Show 183. They are of course part of the group that founded the Radio Rounds program which is a show/podcast that is written and produced by medical students. In the video segment above, Avash and Shamie describe to me the origins of the show.

During the course of show 183, I was able to invite myself (*wink*) to check out their studios which is a mere 4-5 hours away from Doctor Anonymous world headquarters. I will be in their neighborhood next month. So, I hope to drop by to see the magic happen during one of their live shows. That will definitely be a treat for me.

I invite you to check out the entire audio podcast by downloading it from the Dr. A Show iTunes page. I did also want to thank Radio Rounds for mentioning their appearance on my show on their Radio Rounds episode 406. I also invite you to check out the Dr. A Facebook page and encourage you to hit the "Like" button at the top of the FB page. Thanks as always for your continued support of me and of the show. I really appreciate it!

AmEdNews: Technology Ailments

It's not surprising to people that I'm a "techy" type of guy. Reading tech stories about the latest gadgets is a nice occasional escape from work. One of the ways that medicine and tech intersect is in some "overuse injuries" that I've seen and talked with people about. When the nintendo Wii first came out, there were many stories of "Wii-itis" and tendonitis related injuries.

Last week, the American Medical News interviewed me for a story posted on their site today called "New Personal Technology Creating New Ailments." The article opens like this...

When Mike Sevilla, MD, sees young patients at his Salem, Ohio, family practice, he often finds them text messaging or listening to music on portable media players. These tech-savvy patients may not realize it, but they could be on the way to developing health problems related to overuse of personal technology. That's why Dr. Sevilla uses such exam room encounters as a springboard to talk about the potential health impact of today's tech devices.

"I talk about listening to loud music and being distracted while driving. ... I bring up those examples of people who were hurt or killed because they could not disconnect themselves from their cell phone," he said. Dr. Sevilla and other physicians across the nation are adding questions about cell phone use and computer habits to the office visit at a time when dependence on electronic devices has reached unprecedented levels.

The article goes on to say that the most common physical problems that are seen include problems with vision, elbow, thumb, and wrist. These are due to prolonged use of computers and mobile devices like cell phones and electronic handheld devices. In addition, our friend Dr. Gwenn also chimes in on this issue.

"A child might come in with thumb pain, but the last thing the pediatrician will think of is that it's related to their cell phone use," said Dr. O'Keeffe, an executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Communications and Media. "That needs to change." The Hudson, Mass., pediatrician recommends that physicians ask all patients what types of technology they use and how often they use them. She suggests that doctors schedule a follow-up visit to discuss technology habits if health problems are suspected.

Thanks so much to American Medical News for talking with me. These technology related injuries will become more common, and unfortunately, more deadly. It was only a few days after my interview that my local paper posted a story entitled "Texting Kills." Texting while driving is an entirely different issue, but a tech issue that is being talked about more now...

Addendum: I also invite you to check out my radio and TV interviews on this subject by clicking over to this post...

Show 184 Wrap-up

Doctor Anonymous Show 184 was another Saturday nite show with me and my co-host Kat where we discussed a variety of serious and not-so-serious stories from the past week. In the video above, we discuss a story of a child whose community service project is walking across America. Can you believe that? You can download the entire audio podcast for Show 184 over on the show's iTunes page. And, as always, check out the show's Facebook page and hit the huge "Like" button at the top!

Show 182 Wrap-up

I'm a little late posting this, but Doctor Anonymous Show 182 was broadcast on September 11, 2010. In the video above, you'll see some of the thoughts that I had that night during the broadcast - including that day 9 years ago and what I was doing. My co-host Kat and I had other stuff to talk about during the show. And, I encourage you to go to the iTunes page of the show and download the entire audio podcast there. Don't forget to check out the Facebook page for the show...

Show 185 Wrap-up

I know that I did not do any kind of promotion of Doctor Anonymous Show 185. This was mainly because I know the only person interested in the show was me. This was in follow up of show 178 where I talked about my medical school and their proposed name change. This does not affect any of you out there, and I know that most of you out there don't care about this topic.

But, since this is my blog and my podcast show, I chose to talk about it. Hours before the show, there was a meeting at the medical school to talk about it and answer questions. And if you're curious about the "press conference" style presentation, I encourage you to go to the med school website where the event was live streamed to the internet (don't wait too long since the med school will not keep this link up for ever)

I won't bore you with the details of the meeting here in the blog post. I basically summarize things during Show 185. You can listen to the show in the player on the sidebar. You can also go to the show's iTunes page to download the show and listen for yourself. I also encourage you to check out the Facebook page for the show. Have a great weekend everybody!

Addendum: I encourage you to check out my five part series on this topic including "Why It Matters," "The Response," "Name Change," "The Podcast", and "Show 185 Wrap-Up."

CyberSafe book By Dr. Gwenn

Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe just released her book called "CyberSafe: Protecting and Empowering Digital Kids In The World Of Texting, Gaming, and Social Media." As you know from her website, Pediatrics Now, Dr. Gwenn has been talking and writing on this topic for a while now.

In the video above, Dr. Gwenn talks about her book, gives us a rundown of the table of contents, and gives us an idea of what being CyberSafe is all about. I also invite you to check out the CyberSafe website where you can check out a sample chapter.

I hope to have Dr. Gwenn back on The Doctor Anonymous Show soon to talk about her book. As you know, Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician, health journalist, and CEO of Pediatrics Now, an online health and communications company. Through www.pediatricsnow.com and the nationally syndicated blog www.drgwennisin.com, she addresses issues ranging from general health to those concerning the intersection of health care and social media.

Family Medicine TV: Tough Medicine

In a previous post, I talk about Dr. Doug Farrago who is a Family Medicine physician in Maine who is doing his best to spread the story of Family Medicine through the medium of television. Wanna see what the concept of his television show, well then click here and you'll see the video.

It looks like Dr. Doug has taken the next step in this wild dream of a project and recorded a type of pilot episode for the television show that he is calling "Tough Medicine." He describes this show as "traveling across America to work with some of the country's best Family Doctors on some of their toughest cases." I continue to wish the best of luck to Dr. Farrago. This is great stuff and hope that others will see that as well...