A two-year-old girl had been admitted to the hospital because she had burned her hands. How her legs became amputated will have to be seen. Authorities are looking into the matter.

Just how do mistakes like this happen? Are they mistakes or are they malpractice? It’s so scary that they do happen, but the trick is finding out how and why they happen.

We’ve all heard stories of people going in to the hospital to have surgery on one leg or arm, only to have it done on the other. There are check and balances, there are procedures to follow, but a mistake like this doesn’t happen because one person did something wrong, it’s usually the result of a series of mistakes. These mistakes can include charts that aren’t clear, information is incorrectly recorded, information isn’t relayed properly, and so on.

Whatever the reason was for this girl’s lost legs, nothing will ever make up for that type of mistake.

~~~

Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

It’s the latest bizarre internet phenomenon that’s sweeping the world, causing people to, well, basically, lie down in the strangest places, including the engine of a jumbo jet (engine off, on the ground)

There’s only one rule – you must have your palms flat against their sides and tips of your toes touching the ground.

No place is out of bounds. And the more public the better. Pictures posted on the Facebook site have people lying down in front of tanks, on roads, on roofs…

In one British hospital, the medical staff on night shift in the Emergency war laid down on the floors, the resuscitation trolley, and the hospitals helipad. Hospital management were not amused. Seven of the 18 staff who participated and posted pictures to the Lying Down Game website were suspended for having apparently “breached health and safety and infection control regulations.’

Obviously, the hospital didn’t find it at all funny. But to suspend the staff – that’s really a bit of overkill if you ask me.

What do you think?

Post from: Healthbolt

According to one psychologist, yes it does.

Dr. Tracy Alloway from University of Stirling in Scotland, who studies working memory, recently told an audience at the British Science Festival that some social-media behaviors are much more conducive to developing working memory than others.

In her opinion Facebook is good while twitter is not.

In fact, she sees microblogging activities such as twitter as reducing a person’s attention span.

On the other hand, Alloway sees participating in facebook as enhancing intelligence.

Interesting but I’m not buying it. To me, both social media behaviours can be as intelligence enhancing or intelligence numbing as you choose. It all depends on what you do with them and who you are following.

What do you think?

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

Answer a few simple questions and you’ll be enlightened, perhaps even frightened. Of course, it can’t actually predict when you might kick the bucket. But it is able to  calculate your risk of dying in the next year and allows you to compare that risk to others in the world.

More specifically, it displays the risk ranking for up to 66 causes of death, provides  easy and direct comparisons, and estimates of the number of people that die for a specific group.
To find out more, click here if you dare….

Post from: Healthbolt

Queensland Health’s new doctor fatigue policy, soon to take affect in public hospitals around Queensland, Australia, suggests the antidote for sleep-deprived doctors is …. six cups of coffee.

This will, apparently, prevent them from harming their patients while in state of exhaustion.

Honestly. I’m not making this up. The policy document claims that the standard solution of ‘more staff’ really isn’t feasible. Therefore, the doctors need to find a way to work effectively on little sleep.

And that way is caffeine. The document suggests recommends a dose of 400 mg of caffeine (about 5 to 6 cups of coffee) as the doctor’s fatigue fighter.

And if they can’t drink coffee, then perhaps, the document goes on to say, they should try caffeine tablets instead.

For more on this, read the full story at the Courier Mail

Post from: Healthbolt

The hybrid assistance limb, otherwise known as HAL, was developed with the goal of helping the injured and the weak get around.

Made by Japanese robotics company Cyberdyne, the exoskeleton is a 10 kilogram (22 pound) machine that belts at the waist and has a battery and computer system at the back.

HAL’s bio-electrical sensors, which are attached to the body, are able to capture electromyogram signals on the person’s skin control the way someone walks.

As a result, a HAL suited individual will be able to walk up to speeds of 1.8 kilometres an hour.

Interested?

Well, you can rent your own suit from Cyberdyne for  220,000 yen ($2,200) a month.

Post from: Healthbolt

It’s not something that I’d do.

But according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, it’s becoming a common occurence as more and more people check out against medical advice.

In fact, in 2007 368,000 patients walked out on their doctor.

So why did they leave?

Turns out that the majority of those who left were uninsured or on Medicaid.
 
They were also more likely to be…

• Male: Men left hospital against advice at a rate of 1.5 per 1,000 population, compared with 0.9 for 1,000 women. In contrast, women were more likely to be inpatients, at a rate of 102.8 per 1,000, compared with 91.5 for men.
• Younger than other patients: The average age those who left against advice was 46 years, compared with 58 years for all other inpatients.
• Urban dwellers: Patients in those areas were nearly twice as likely to leave hospital against advice than patients living in all other areas — 1.8 per 1,000 population, compared with about 1.0.
• Poorer than other inpatients: Overall, inpatient care rates were 1.5 times greater in the poorest communities than in the wealthiest areas, but the magnitude of difference was greater among those who left against advice — 2.7 times higher among those in the poorest communities than in the wealthiest areas.
• Northeastern residents: The rate of leaving against advice was 2.0 per 1,000 population, compared with 1.0 in all other regions.

(source: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample)

The research, unfortunately, doesn’t show what happened to these early discharges – whether they ended up returning to hospital or not.

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

SNAFU at the Veterans Administration

A computer coding error by the Veterans Administration led to more than 1,800 Gulf War veterans being sent letters informing them that they had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurological disease more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Can you imagine opening up your mail and being told that as a veteran with ALS, they were entitled to disability compensation of up to $2,700 a month with additional money for their children and spouses.

Most would have been left scratching their head and wondering how in the world they suddenly had Lou Gehrig’s disease and why the heck no one had told them before.

According to a VA spokesperson, the letter no way inferred a medical diagnosis of ALS. The VA has since offered their apologies for any distress receiving this letter might of caused any recipient.

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

Not sure?

Well, according to reSTART, the first US rehab center for Internet Addiction,  if you have  5 or more of the following signs and symptoms, the answer is probably yes

So, go ahead and check it out. Think about your internet and computer use and then answer yes or no to the following:

•    Failed attempts to control behavior
•  Heightened sense of euphoria while involved in computer and internet activities
• Craving more time on the computer and internet
• Neglecting friends and family
• Feeling restless when not engaged in the activity
• Being dishonest with others
• Computer use interfering with job/school performance
• Feeling guilty, ashamed, anxious, or depressed as a result of behavior
•   Changes in sleep patterns
• Physical changes such as weight gain or loss, backaches, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome
• Withdrawing from other pleasurable activities

How’d you score?

I’m hoping it was less than 5 and better still maybe only 1 or 2.

Anyone one with 5 or more, though, might want to reconsider their time in cyberspace and the computer. Just switch it off and walk away.

And if you can’t do that, there is always reSTART program at Heavensfield Retreat Center in Fall City, Washington, where for $14,500 you can spend 45 days of dis-connect

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

In an attempt to encourage people to go vegetarian, they have introduced a new billboard campaign featuring an obese bikini clad woman alongside this slogan “Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian”.

Yet again, PETA has crossed the line and managed to create another tasteless, tacky, ignorant, and insulting campaign.

Do they really think that this sort of publicity stunt will encourage people to go vegetarian?

According to this Press Release, it seems they do…

A new PETA billboard campaign that was just launched in Jacksonville reminds people who are struggling to lose weight — and who want to have enough energy to chase a beach ball — that going vegetarian can be an effective way to shed those extra pounds that keep them from looking good in a bikini. The ad shows a woman whose “blubber” is spilling over the sides of her swimsuit bottom and features the tagline “Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian. PETA.”

And goes on to add…

“Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA has a free ‘Vegetarian Starter Kit’ for people who want to lose pounds while eating as much as they like.”

They call the campaign provocative. I call it insulting and ignorant.

Let us and PETA know what you think by voting in this poll…

Post from: Healthbolt