Archive for the ‘Emergencies’ Category
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
A recent study published in the journal Health Affairs reported what anyone who has recently gone to an emergency room already knows; waiting times to be seen are increasing. The average wait time has increased by 36 percent or 30 minutes per patient. Fully one quarter of patients ...
Posted in Emergencies, News, Public Health | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
CPR, also known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is well recognized as being a potentially life saving technique when performed quickly on somebody who has a sudden cardiac arrest(stopping of the heart). A simpler version of CPR where one administers only chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation may be just as effective ...
Posted in Cardiology, Cognitive Dysfunction, Emergencies, Medical Training | 92 Comments »
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
A recent series of two studies was conducted to hopefully lend further support for the use of steroids (dexamethasone - not anabolic steroids illegally used by athletes) along with antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial meningitis. Researchers unfortunately found that the steroids were of no benefit - contradicting more positive ...
Posted in Emergencies, Infectious Disease, Neurology, Pharmacology, Public Health, Race | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
A large study recently published looked at Emergency Department vists for older adults caused by reactions or toxicity to certain medications. Between 2004 and 2005, a total of 177,504 visits to the ER were caused by adverse reactions to drugs in patients over 65. The top three offenders were Warfarin ...
Posted in Emergencies, News, Pharmacology, Public Health, toxicology | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 12th, 2007
A recent article investigated the commonly held belief that outbreaks of heroin overdose and subsequent deaths are related directly to the quality or purity of available street heroin. In Austria, investigators collected data on drug related emergencies and post-mortem reports of drug related deaths and then analysed the samples of police-collected ...
Posted in Drug Abuse, Emergencies | No Comments »
Saturday, November 10th, 2007
A recent review of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) published by authors from George Washington University, noted that there has been a decrease in prevalence in SIDS over the last two decades. In fact, risk reduction campaigns have reduced the incidence (new cases) by 50-90%. However, it remains the ...
Posted in Emergencies, Smoking, pediatrics | No Comments »
Thursday, November 8th, 2007
A recent study in the British Medical Journal reported that in cases of cardiac chest pain (pain found to be coming from a blockage in the heart's arteries), the single most significant delay in getting proper treatment is the time it takes for patients to seek help. This accounts for ...
Posted in Emergencies, Heart Attack | No Comments »