Wednesday, February 21, 2007
(Another Reason Why) I Like Desflurane
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I've
posted before on why I think the desflurane Tec 6 vaporizer is a good design (it doesn't need to be turned off to be refilled). I'd like to add another reason to the list: it has alarms.
The Desflurane Tec 6 has a 'low agent' alarm and a 'no output' alarm, in addition to the ability to detect when it has been tipped (and therefore shouldn't be used). The other common agent, Sevoflurane, is delivered via a vaporizer that has none of these things. I am personally aware of two cases where no volatile anesthetic was delivered despite the vaporizer being 'open'. Two cases that would have been uneventful if desflurane and a Tec 6 vaporizer had been used. I'm going to ask the Society for Technology in Anesthesia listserv if there is any reason the Sevoflurane vaporizer couldn't have these features.
DaVinci Surgical Robots. A Hospital CEO Asks Advice.
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Running a hospital: da Vinci Uncoded -- or, Surgical Robots Unite!
"Here you have it folks -- the problem facing every hospital, and especially every academic medical center. Do I spend over $1 million on a machine that has no proven incremental value for patients, so that our doctors can become adept at using it and stay up-to-date with the "state of the art", so that I can then spend more money marketing it, and so that I can protect profitable market share against similar moves by my competitors?"
I just discovered this blog today via Medgadget and am already impressed. The large health system our group works in purchased a DaVinci last year. I don't know outcomes yet but it was apparent to me before the purchase that it was largely driven by regional competition in Central Pennsylvania. I think it's telling that many of the institutions which were the early adopters no longer use the systems.
I'm hoping to pick one up cheap in a couple of years so I can do labor epidurals from home. ;-p
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Bring Your Own Applications--Portableapps.com
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PortableApps Suite | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives
" PortableApps Suite™ is a collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go."
Hospital computers tend to have Internet Explorer as the only web browser. It works (mostly), but it's not as secure, extensible, fast, standards-compliant as, say, Firefox. Besides that, I use Firefox at home and like to have the same bookmarks available. Portableapps.com allows me to carry my own apps in on a USB thumb drive.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
VeinViewer
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"
VeinViewer Shipped!
"The VeinViewer, a device that reveals the underlying venous anatomy for easy IV placement, is now being shipped, according to RedHerring.com....Note to nurses on the floor: call VeinViewer and not an on-call anesthesiologist.
Company website | Video of VeinViewer
"
[Via Medgadget]
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Google That Medal Count
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Just Google 'Olympic Medals' to see the top three countries in the medals race.
via [LifeHacker]
Sunday, February 5, 2006
High Tech Noise Canceling Stethoscope
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Also via A Chance To Cut is a Chance to Cure, a pointer to a new stethoscope: 3M Littmann Electronic Stethoscope Model 3000
Listening to a patient's heart and lungs before anesthesia is something I don't do nearly enough. This may just be the gadget that makes it fun again...
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
For OR Nurses: iPod 101
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"Just in time for the Holiday season Apple has posted iPod 101...[which] covers everything you might want to know about the iPod, but were afraid to ask (or perhaps didn't know you should want to ask)."
[Via TUAW]
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Greg Pierce: Pragmatic Security
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Greg's "Pragmatic Security," for the Rest of You ;-):
" Greg has just published a very pragmatic set of instructions to help "friends and family of geeks" deal with security issues on the internet. Very good recommendations, all of them, and so I'd like to ask all of my friends and family to go check them out. He obviously spent a lot of time writing that essay, and I believe that most will find it an 'easy read'.
He admits it's not a complete solution to everyone. It's a plan to get started. I think it's a good plan.
The most important issue he left out, in my opinion, is the huge number of "phishing" email messages being sent out these days (these are attempts to trick you out of your username and password). Nobody is safe from these, many of them are just too good. I wrote up a little blurb and posted it in a reply to Greg's message, so please include it in your reading. "
[Via Truer Words - A Journal]
Friday, July 1, 2005
My take on the rumored iPhone
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Podcasts. Everybody's talking about music, but I'd listen to podcasts (like this Make podcast on biodiesel). Any good medical podcasts out there yet?
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
IBM To Launch Electronic Medical-Record-Sharing Project
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InformationWeek: IBM To Launch Electronic Medical-Record-Sharing Project > April 27, 2005:
"IBM wants to help pave the way for the free exchange of electronic health-care records that today are trapped in hundreds of disparate hospital, physician, and health insurance systems.
By the end of the year, IBM will launch a pilot system, the Interoperable Health Information Infrastructure, that will link IBM sites in San Jose, Calif.; Rochester, Minn. (home of the Mayo Clinic); and Haifa, Israel, to demonstrate how electronic medical records based on open standards could move from one health-care provider to another and follow a patient around the world. "
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Crossing the Digital Divide...And Continuing the Ascent
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Crossing the digital divide is a phrase often used to describe what sets apart those that have computers with internet access and those that do not. It is as if, once the divide is crossed, that's it. You've arrived. Joined the enlightened hoards in digital nirvana. You've got a Dell, a cable modem, Internet Explorer, and a Yahoo account. You can now start looking for the last page on the internet.
The far greater reward waits for those who consider crossing the Great Divide the first step in a journey, and look for ways to travel more easily and extensively (and safely). To do that, you need to read, learn from others, and explore new things. One such facet to be explored is the Firefox web browser. Once you have that, you'll need this one book: Firefox Hacks: Tips and Tools for Next Generation Web Browsing. Nine chapters. 100 Hacks. Let me give you some examples:
- Find stuff
- Identify and Use Toolbar Icons
- Flush and Clear Absolutely Everything
- Make Firefox go fast
- Play with the preference system
- Installing complementary tools
- Take Firefox with you
- Modify tabbed browsing (by Seth!)
- Govern image and ad display
- Add stuff to your toolbars
- Create your own search plugin
Learn this stuff and your own hospital IT staff will bow to your superior knowledge...and what could be better than making their smug look disappear?
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Nov Mar
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