A comment on my post below about unnecessary testing before cataract surgery presents a striking example of one problem in medicine–the inability of specialists from different disciplines to agree on and incorporate best practices in patient care:In my experience this process (pre-op testing prior to cataract surgery) is completely driven by anesthesiology. At my institution we have fought to change this process to no avail so recently we started having topical days without any anesthesia staff present. We give the patient a mild oral anti-anxiety medication (if needed) and do the short case under topical conditions. Without anesthesia monitoring the cost is even lower.
Category: hospitals
Coast Guard assists sick Vineyard man
A 68-year-old man who became ill on Martha’s Vineyard was flown off the island to a Boston hospital early Thursday morning by a Coast Guard air crew. The Coast Guard 1st District Command Center was notified at midnight by Martha’s Vineyard Hospital that the man had internal bleeding and needed immediate transportation to a mainland medical facility, according to the Coast Guard.
Snapping defeat from the jaws of victory
What is it about opthalmologists and cataract surgery? If there were ever a success story in the world of medicine it is this: Better and more consistent quality than years ago delivered at a remarkably lower cost. But it seems like the profession insists on ways to make it more expensive.I have discussed one such “innovation,” the femtosecond laser, and the thousands of dollars in direct consumer cost that it entails and that has been authorized by CMS, the Medicare agency.Now Michelle Andrews at Kaiser Health News summarizes a recent NEJM article. Excerpts:Requiring patients to get blood work and other tests before undergoing cataract surgery hasn’t been recommended for more than a dozen years. There’s good reason for that: The eye surgery generally
The cost that is hiding in plain sight
Jack Sullivan at Commonwealth Magazine summarizes recent findings surrounding high deductible health insurance plans. I covered some of these points back in November, and it is helpful to have them restated with the latest analyses. The American Academy of Pediatrics has likewise made the case strongly. Jack’s lede:U.S. News & World Report is out with its annual index on health insurance and its impact on the economy. To the surprise of few, many of the costs are declining or at least not rising at the dizzying pace they had been.But much of those savings are going into the pockets of businesses and insurance companies, with consumers picking up an increasing share of out-of-pocket expenses because many companies are going to higher deductible
Ayer Mom who fought breast cancer encourages support for Emerson run
In 2013 Lindsay McGloughlin, an Ayer resident and 28-year-old mother of 18-month-old Charlie, had just started a new job as a firefighter and an EMT with the Concord Fire Department when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. With the unwavering support of her new co-workers, her friends, and her family, she began a six- month journey to regain her health.
Planning for our healthy future
All of us in the health care sector work hard every day to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the patients and families we serve. At Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), this mission of service and caring is our North Star – something we always look to for direction and focus. Fulfilling that mission can be very challenging given the pace of change in healthcare. The demands on our services are growing and changing. The patients we see are living longer, and often have more complex conditions. They also frequently have higher expectations for their health care experience than in years past. And while technological breakthroughs are offering new treatments and new hope, they often come with a steep price – high tech tools are expensive.
About privilege
An excellent reminder from Toby Morris about how some people–more and more, it seems–end up where they are. I’m sorry to say, but I see an awful lot of the left-hand plate attitudes from people in leadership positions in hospitals–a belief that they deserve to be where they are, relative to those who’ve led less privileged lives.An excerpt, one of a sequence….(With thanks to Vijay Sadasivan, in Salem, India.)
Band-Aid Focuses On Brand Equity In New #CoveringIsCaring Effort
Adhesive brands for wounds and abrasions are about product attributes. But Band-Aid, like Kleenex or even Xerox, has so much brand equity that for most people it pretty much has become the name for the category, which is kind of a curse.
Hospital drill involves simulated medical helicopter crash
Southern New Hampshire Medical Center is conducting an emergency drill involving a simulated medical helicopter crash atop the hospital’s parking garage. The Telegraph of Nashua reports the test including teams from the city of Nashua and the hospital on Friday morning involves a scenario in which a Boston Med Flight copter has engine trouble during a hospital transfer, and crashes on the helipad.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Enters Into Research Collaboration to…
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing bavituximab, a novel immuno-oncology agent in Phase III development for the treatment of lung cancer, today announced that the company has entered into a sponsored research agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to explore the potential of Peregrine’s proprietary phosphatidylserine -targeting antibody platform. The goal of the research is to identify effective treatment combinations based on Peregrine’s PS-targeting agents, including Peregrine’s lead clinical agent bavituximab, with other checkpoint inhibitors or immune stimulating agents that will further guide the bavituximab clinical development program.
New portable x-ray provides better care for surgical patients
Dr. Peter Hayashida manipulates the mini C-arm for a procedure in which a fishing hook was removed from the patient’s hand. Registered practical nurse Mike Alfermann looks on. Surgical patients at Rouge Valley are healing more quickly thanks to our physicians, staff and the use of new technology. Both Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) hospital campuses, Rouge Valley Centenary (RVC) and Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering (RVAP), each now have a new portable X-ray machine. Known as a mini C-arm, this diagnostic equipment creates an X-ray picture producing a live and continuous X-ray image for surgeons during procedures to aid in the diagnosis and repair of feet, hand, wrist, and finger injuries. The surgeons of Rouge Valley are taking full advantage of