Autism and ABC...shame on you!

I, too, feel that ABC has done a great disservice to American people with the showing of this episode.  The science doesn't exist to link autism to vaccinations.  What this show does do, however, is show how trials can result in outcomes that are ludicrous and have no basis in science.  Read the AAP's statement here.



erik

40 intubations in 2 weeks?

a question about how I got 40 tubes in my two week rotation (abot 20 missed). To set the record straight, I did a 4 week anesthesia rotation. I did 4 weeks of anesthesia in the morning and 4 weeks of radiology in the afternoon. This awesome, since cases are in the morning, and reads happen all day long. It was about the second week when I started to get comfortable with intubation. That is the point when everybody finishes, but I had another two weeks to perfect my skills. In fact, 30 of the 40 were in the final two weeks.

So, if you have anesthesia and radiology in the same institution, I recommend trying this. You will love it.

Erik

---sent from my treo 700p...pardon my spelling---

Pronouncing patients dead

President Gordon Hinckley, prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) died tonight @ 7 P.M. This got me thinking of the times that I pronounced a patient dead. Quite frankly, it was the most akward thing I have ever done. I walked into the room, and didn't really know what to say. I wallked out of the room with the resident and still didn't know what to say to the family, who was waiting outside the room. All I could think to do was to shake their hand and say, "I'm sorry for your loss" (they already knew the patient was dead, thus, no "I'm sorry, but your loved one has died".). I felt so dumb.

I know that KCOM has a difficult topics lecture and lab, but we don't have a lecture on pronouncing patients and how to handle the family. We were told to find a good time to break the news...uhhh, there really is no good time. Walking to another location would be weird, since the family already knows what has happened. I would like to know how best to handle a pronouncement that takes place in the unit with family already there. Curriculum committee, are you listening?

Erik

---sent from my treo 700p...pardon my spelling---

email on a cell phone

I just read an article on dslreports about a new web service that will allow users to access their email on their phones via POP3. They said that it was going to put blackberries out of business. I am just puzzled...

My non-blackberry phone is synced via IMAP to my google email, meaning any changes I make on my phone (deleted email) shows up on my computer and gmail. That blows blackberry out of the water. Also, my email is constantly connected via the IDLE command, which means I get email instantaneosly without my battery being drained. In fact, I check the email on my phone about 98 percent of the time (since my email is all taken care of by the time I get to a computer). This makes for a better family life.

Finally, I can blog from my very own treo (as seen by this post), which just makes me smile.

In short, I'm not giving up my treo with chattermail.

Erik

---sent from my treo 700p...pardon my spelling---

last day of radiology

it has been fun. I have fallen asleep every day now, and today is no better. I just caught myself losing it again.

I scrubbed in on a inguinal hernia repair of a three month old. I feel like a baked potato as I was standing right under the heating lights for the baby.

Next month is OB/GYN. Time to catch some babies!

Erik

---sent from my treo 700p...pardon my spelling---

17 year-old HIV+

I was on the anesthesia-side of an HIV+ c-section of a 17 year-old girl. From what I was told, the poor girl didn't know that her partner was full-blown AIDS. I was sick to my stomach and just felt terrible. We need to make stricter laws to protect these people.

Erik

---sent from my treo 700p...pardon my spelling---