RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

Here is our Top Blog Post for today, brought to you by MedReader:

• Debt Free

Medical Student Debt is the first thing we need to rectify as we try to address the primary care issue. One quarter of students are graduating with loan obligations totaling over $200,000. Consider that most med school grads are in their late twenties/early thirties and often have families to support. The pressure is on to make some money fast. Why pursue a career in a field that pays pennies?

Here is our Top News Post for today, brought to you by MedReader:

• FDA Seeks Recall Of 25 Weight Loss Pills With Potentially Unsafe Ingredients

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States is seeking to recall 23 different products marketed as for weight loss because they contain undeclared active pharmaceutical substances that may pose serious health risks to consumers. The products are marketed over the Internet and in retail stores, and in some cases are described as “dietary supplements” .

Here is our Top Medical Video for today, brought to you by ScrubTV:

Video

FDA Clears Rapid Test For Meningitis

XPERT EV was developed to help diagnose meningitis. When used with other tests, XPERT EV distinguishes between viral and bacterial meningitis. Results are available in 2 ½ hours. This test should help manage patients appropriately and avoid being treated inappropriately with antibiotics. Since bacterial meningitis can kill within 2 ½ days, they are typically treated with antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

Here is our Top Blog Post for today, brought to you by MedReader:

• The Doctor Can’t See You Right Now, He’s Napping

“On December 2nd, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report suggesting that resident physicians have further limits on work hours than those enacted in 2003 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). While the number of hours per week would remain at the ACGME maximum of 80, the IOM recommends on 30-hour shifts that a “protected sleep period” of 5 hours occurs between 10pm-8am. These measures are aimed at reducing physician fatigue and the number of resultant medical mistakes. It’s about time some limits were set on how long residents could work without a break.” An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a study of 37 million patient records that was released by HealthGrades, the healthcare quality company in year 2004. Preventing medical errors that occur during or after surgery could save lives and almost $1.5 billion a year, according to U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) study. That is what this blog is really talking about, reducing medical errors, saving patient’s lives and avoiding mistakes by tired residents who have been on an 80 hour/week shift.

Here is our Top News Post for today, brought to you by MedReader:

• Ingredient In Cough Medicine Could Treat Prostate Cancer

A study published today in the December issue of the European medical journal Anticancer Research demonstrates that an ingredient used in a common cough suppressant may be useful in treating advanced prostate cancer.

Here is our Top Medical Video for today, brought to you by ScrubTV:

Video

World Health News Today: Hearing Loss Study

Researchers at the University of Michigan are using a vitamin and mineral cocktail to help prevent the damage caused by hearing loss. About ten years ago the thought was that noise damaged the ear by intense mechanical damage to the inner ear. Two factors are actually involved with metabolic activity from intense noise. In the inner ear there is a dramatic decrease in blood flow and the mitochondria begin to spin off free radicals in the inner ear literally exploding small holes in the membrane. It is both chemical and mechanical in mechanism. Looking at the chemical basis for the damage intervention can be used to prevent hearing loss. When vitamins or antioxidants were given to guinea pigs they could prevent hearing loss a little bit; when they put a vasodilator (magnesium) in the guinea pig they could reduce the hearing loss a little bit more. When they combined the antioxidants and magnesium (vasodilator) they found a synergistic effect and they reduced the hearing loss by as much as 80% in noise damaged hearing loss in the guinea pig. A series of clinical trials in humans is now underway funded by the NIH.

Here is our Top Blog Post for today, brought to you by MedReader:

• Creating An Optimal Healing Environment

“Paul Levy’s post regarding unnecessary deaths is something about which I am also passionate. While it may not currently be mainstream, I believe it is enormously effective.
Some of you might say that our theory is Pollyanna in nature, but there is quantifiable information that definitively demonstrates its effectiveness. And I believe that by embracing a philosophy that creates an optimal healing environment, many workplace “never” incidents will ultimately be resolved.” This blog focuses on inspiring us to be the best we can be and to approach life in a positive frame of mind centering on the healing elements of nature in patient care.

Here is our Top News Post for today, brought to you by MedReader:

• Not All Dementia Is Called Alzheimers

A common form of dementia often mistaken for Alzheimer’s can be prevented with good health habits, a new report says.

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), the second most common cause of dementia, occurs in up to 4 percent of Americans over age 65 and up to 20 percent of those with some form of dementia. Brain damage from multiple small strokes, which can occur from narrowing or blocked arteries in the brain, are often the cause of VCI.