I’ve never been one with much affection for cold or inclement weather and as such, between November and April, most of my training is done on the treadmill. While many people lament the monotony and unchanging scenery that treadmill running brings, I take the time to lose myself in podcasts.
Recently, during a set of race-pace intervals, I listened to a podcast that ...
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New research just out in the journal Psychology and Aging says pessimists live longer and healthier lives. If this is true, then contemplating the future of anesthesiology ought to make us immortal, because our professional prospects don’t look bright. As we teach residents to do what we’ve always done, shouldn’t we ask ourselves honestly if we’re training them for a future that doesn’t exist?
Especially here in California, it seems ...
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"If you can’t do this drunk, you shouldn’t be doing it at all."
The eminent professor was speaking to a friend of mine about heart surgery. He was not supporting operating under the influence, or am I.
The point is that the technical component of surgery -- the cutting, the sewing, the rearranging -- is very easy. It is true that in the OR, as on the golf course, some are more ...
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Brought to you by MedPage Today.
1. Boston Bombing a Lesson in Prep for Hospitals. The Boston Marathon bombing serves as yet another tragic reminder that American healthcare must be prepared to deal with terrorist attacks that result in the injuries typical of the wide-ranging damage caused by explosive devices.
2. FDA Updates OxyContin Label, Blocks Generics. The FDA has issued new labeling ...
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Next in a continuing series.
Traction and counter-traction: along with maintaining excellent exposure, that is one of the fundamental principles of operating. It's Newtonian: equal and opposite. In nearly all forms of surgical dissection, there's a need for some pull in the opposing direction: tissues that are a little stretched-out, that are under some tension, fall open more easily when dissected. Plus, it's a form of stabilization, another obligatory ...
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Although I rarely get sick with the numerous strains of “bugs” that seem to go around our community this time of year, the week prior to my return to work for my next scheduled string of four shifts was spent mainly in bed, coughing and aching and whining about how miserable I felt. Fully recovered, though, I was excited to return to the emergency department to do my fair share ...
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It's a nightmare that doesn't end for the family of 24-year-old Marek Lapinski, who suffered cardiac arrest recently during the removal of two wisdom teeth in a southern California oral surgery clinic. The former college football player had no known health problems prior to the surgery, but died three days later in a hospital intensive care unit.
While the circumstances of Mr. Lapinski's death are still being investigated, the case highlights ...
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At last it was time for my cataract surgery. Having had one eye surgery done by a different physician in another New York eye and ear specialty hospital a few months earlier, I knew what to look for and could make comparisons from a patient perspective. As I noted months ago on this blog, I really had no choice of hospitals. If I wanted my trusted doctor to ...
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A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
During the Civil War, anesthesia was provided by dipping cloth in chloroform or ether and holding it over a patient’s nose and mouth. Today, anesthetic medications are delivered in a controlled (and more civil) manner through specialized devices to provide unconsciousness for surgery.
Over the last several ...
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I'm involved in a protracted and good-natured (I hope) debate about the merits of robotic surgery with a University of Pittsburgh urologist named Ben Davies. Today he tweeted the following (with translation for the Twitter averse):
“I would love for a $ISRG [stock symbol for Intuitive, makers of the robot] MD hater (like @Skepticscalpel) to actually watch 10 open RRPs [radical retropubic prostatectomies] ...
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"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
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Past 6 Months
Dear lawmakers: This is what it’s like to be a doctor today
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Claire McCarthy, MD | PhysicianPrimary care doctors may no longer be needed
Doug Olson, MD | PhysicianWalgreens moves into primary care, and it’s our own damn fault
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