FDA just approved a nasal spray of the opioid (ex. heroin, Demerol, Codeine, Percocet) reversing drug – Naloxone (Narcan®).

Legally acquired or not, this class of ‘pain killers’ drugs can go from euphoria to slowing breathing and even kill you. Naloxone nasal spray does is quick and sends a measured dose. This prescription product can be used on adults or children and is easily used by anyone, – no medical training needed.

Simple – squeeze one spray in each nostril while person is on their back.

We in the emergency medical care have been using injectible Naloxone for a very long time. It is dramatically effective and can be used all ages. No side effects other than causing rapid reversal of the drugs action. Unpredictable behaviors even violent can occur with its use.

Another use for your smartphone! Check your alcohol level through a miniature (25 x 12 x 12 millimeters) attachment on your smartphone using an app. Using a paper strip that can measure quantitatively alcohol level  and store it into your smartphone App. The test sensitivity is good enough to determine is a person can drive within the law. Watch this may soon come to a police force near you!

Purdue researchers came up with this! Reported in the Journal Applied Optics.

Doc Handal personally uses Alivecor’s  attachment on her iPhone for monitoring heart rhythm. One ‘lead’ of your ECG can be recorded for durations of  30 seconds to five minutes.  Then you can share via email, pdf or may $12. to have a cardiologist interpret (read) the ECG tracing. DocHandal had written ECG books so ‘No’ she does not send them for a reading!

Almost all ‘smart attachments’ are made for Android and iOS devices.

Odds for return of a stopped heart to normal function is abyss able. Yearly approx. 525,000 cardiac arrests occur with nine of 10 happening outside of hospitals. research has shown 3-4 fold survival if quick action and teamwork comes into play. A heart has stopped and unless something is attempted the person will remain dead. The AHA has updated the 2010 guidelines for resuscitation to emphasize action for lay persons – bystanders no matter their training. Even if you have not taken a ‘CPR’ course there is evidence that your try can result in improvement outcome. The 2015 update emphasizes the importance of the chain of survival starting with you the bystanders. If you have help call 911, place the dispatcher on speaker and you will be directed the actions for chest compression. Yes it is best to take a 2 hour program and practice on mannequin. Online programs and on site are offered by organizations like AHA and ARC. That said placing your hands in the middle of a person’s chest locking your elbows and pressing fast (100-120 per minute) pressing about 2″ the chest CAN make a difference in outcome. 

Mobile dispatch systems that notify potential rescuers of a nearby presumed cardiac arrest can improve the rate of bystander CPR and shorten the time to first chest compressions. Communities may want to consider this service to improve the chain of survival.

Have a listen to my podcast podcast- ‘Hands Only Chest Compressions’ for more details. 

We all have friends who only order salad no matter what else is available. Many think they are eating healthily. Protein should be both from plants as well as from non-plants – meat/fish. At least 10% of your daily calories, but not more than 35%, should come from protein (Institute of Medicine). The serious lack of protein in your diet has serious consequences. The results included a decrease in calcium absorption and a slight taking of calcium from bones. Consequences can take years to show up as fragile bones, weakness and poor mobility. Our bodies need calcium and protein in adequate balance.

The Institute of Medicine recommends adults daily get at least 7.2 grams of protein for every 20 pounds of body weight. In the US, the recommended daily allowance for those over 19 is 46 gr./day for women, and 56 gr./day for men. Elderly folks need more! 

Plenty of new alternatives exist for immediate episodic medical care from a ‘Doc-in-a-box’ to pharmacy chain walk in ‘clinics’-aka Minute Clinic? (CVS).

Healthcare Clinic-Walgreen

Those seeking quick episodic care may suffer from a few realities including: antibiotics will likely be overprescribed as no pre-knowledge of you as a responsible person exists and follow up unknown, limited or no access to your medical history.

Retail clinic commonly are marketed for such things as minor illness/injuries, physicals, administration of vaccines, monitoring, and blood testing. Realize at the corner medical clinic, evaluation space is small and support staff limited. The credentials of healthcare professional delivering care will vary greatly. State law, age of patients vary hence staffing variations even within the same chain.

Suggestions:

– if you are on multiple prescribed medications such a venue is not optimal

– if you use such a facility please give the name of your primary healthcare provider so a copy of the encounter can make its way to the office.

Why do people go to same hairdresser/barber yet when needing attention for their body they seek care from the corner retail clinic? Your hairdresser knows your hair your attitude and how you care for it, plus you know who/where to find him/her. Why accept anything less for your health.

Ask your doctor for what circumstances you should use a retail medical clinic, better yet suggest that she/he do flexible scheduling, or offer after hours care.

Compared to other US workers, physicians (MDs/DOs) have higher ‘burnout’ rates. One in three physicians across all medical specialties (Critical Care and Emergency Medicine over 50%) have burn out! No surprise Dr. Drummond (family physician – www.TheHappyMD.com) developed the “Burnout Proof” mobile app for physicians.

The 2015 Medscape Physician Lifestyle Survey* reported an even higher burnout rate – 46 percent versus 39.8 percent in a 2013 survey.

Naturally there are unwanted costs: lower patient satisfaction and care quality, greater medical errors and increased malpractice risk, increased staff turnover. Changes in personal behavior such as overuse of alcohol, drug abuse even addiction, and suicide is common. You may her wishers in the office or outright recognize such problems.

Burn out is like running on low or no batteries, one is not efficient realize as a health care consumer that the odds are that 1 of your 3 physicians could have burn out.

BE vigilant and take stock of your healthcare provider.

* Medscape Physician Lifestyle Survey 2015. http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/lifestyle/2015/public/overview#2. Accessed Aug. 19, 2015.

‘When life gives you lemons…’, we all have heard this proverb but what good things can lemons do?

Abundant citric acid is found in lemons but it is also made by our bodies as we convert nutrients to energy thru chemical reactions. While lemon juice has no nutritional value it does serve as a safe and practical disinfectant. Lemon juice and sunlight is well know to disinfect water by making the DNA of E. coli unable to reproduce. A study from the German Cancer Research Center scientists by chance building on a US study recently showed that citric acid might prevent the highly contagious norovirus from infecting humans. The norovirus is known to cause severe gastrointestinal infections.

Blood Sample

Eight million people worldwide die each year from cancer. Early diagnosis and better care monitoring can make a difference. On the frontier is fast sequencing DNA machines and liquid biopsies. Rather than cut tissue out (biopsy) to make a diagnosis of cancer, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are finding certain cancers (lung, colon and blood cancer) by a blood test. 

Exciting to hear Dr. Jose Baselga, “This could change forever the way we follow up not only response to treatments but also the emergence of resistance, and down the line could even be used for really early diagnosis.”

Further needed studies are now being done across the country.

Review of several studies, although small revealed that if children are exposed to indoor insecticides (ex. home, school) there is a significant increase leukemia and lymphomas risk. You can control what chemical are used in your home as pest control but do you know what is used in kindergarden school or daycare? Use of pesticides beyond irritating your skin/eyes and effecting your hormone balance can result in cancer. A site worth visiting is National Pesticide Information Center.

NOTE: There was no statistically significant association between outdoor pesticides or outdoor insecticides and childhood cancer in this study.