Global Health Experience - Honduras
Here at Sonosite we have a pool of equipment that we loan for global health missions in under-served areas. We were fortunate to be able to support Dr Braehler's recent mission to Honduras. This is what he had to say:"We came back from our Operation Rainbow trip to Comayagua/ Honduras last Sunday and it was an amazing experience.We were able to do surgery for 43 patients in four days and almost all of them got at least one nerve block, quite a few got two for lower extremity surgeries. We did a total of 50+ blocks, all of them ultrasound guided and they all worked very well. The surgeons were…
Global Health Experience, Macedonia
At Sonosite we are very fortunate to know a large group of doctors and care workers who are invested in global public health. Those rare people that go to remote locations to treat patients and train the local healthcare workers rely on Sonosite to provide them with the ultrasound equipment necessary. Through charities, they are often able to provide ultrasound equipment to be left at the location and used by the newly trained staff. One of these individuals is Dr Randall Malchow who wrote this summary of his experience in Macedonia:
Dr Randall Malchow’s Experience in…
Deep Needle Procedures: Abstract, Interview and Article
Promoting patient safety and increasing health care quality have dominated the health care landscape during the last 15 years. Health care regulators and payers are now tying patient safety outcomes and best practices to hospital reimbursement. Many health care leaders are searching for new technologies that not only make health care for patients safer but also reduce overall health care costs. New advances in ultrasonography have made this technology available to health care providers at the patient's bedside. Point-of-care ultrasound assistance now aids providers with real-time diagnosis…
Global Health: Dr. Wes Wallace - La Moskitia, Honduras
La Mosquitia has the largest wilderness area in Central America, consisting of mangrove swamps, lagoons, rivers, savannas and tropical rain forests. Manatees, tapirs and jaguars all still thrive here – they have learnt to be circumspect around man, and they may not be easy to spot. Crocodiles can be seen in the waters.
Access to healthcare is made difficult due to geographic make-up of the region. There are few healthcare structures in existence, and those that do exist are often deprived of a doctor, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. By virtue of geography and socio-…
Global Health: Kiwi Doctors use ultrasound to help save boy in rural Indonesia
Returning to try and save Thomas: A 5 year old boy in the final stages of heart failure in Indonesia.
To watch the news video report click here: http://tvnz.co.nz/seven-sharp/he-could-walk-indonesian-child-s-miracle-turnaround-after-kiwi-doctors-intervene-video-6309161
Dr Tom Mulholland is the Senior Medical Officer, Department of Emergency Medicine, Auckland City Hospital. He is also an Honorary Lecturer in Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland
Taken from the mission page of www.drtomonamission.com
Dr Caroline Meadows and I are…
Improving Safety and Quality with Best Practices: Focus on Central Venous Access
2014-05-15T04:00:00Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC, Chief Medical Officer at Sonosite, and clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Southern CaliforniaDr. Mandavia points out that device-associated infections and surgical site infections together account for nearly half of all hospital acquired infections, with infections from central-line placement having reported between 12% and 25% mortality rates. Hospitals where physician added the use of ultrasound to guide placement of central lines such as Cedars-Sinai…
Our Journey to Zero Patient Harm
Group Practise Journal
Michael Shabot, M.D. FACS, FCCM, FACMI, is chief medical officer, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, Houston and Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics and the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston.
Michael Warneke, M.D. is medical director of quality, Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital.
The authors stress the safety benefits of ultrasound visualisation are overwhelming to the extent that in 2001 AHRQ identified ultrasound-guided central venous access as an important safety practise meriting widespread use, and…
Ultrasound Guidance at the Point of Care
March 21, 2011Executive InsightBy Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC
Despite a few recent volleys from radiologists in their longstanding turf war with non-radiologists, within the wider healthcare community the focus has shifted to ecient, appropriate use of ultrasound at the point of care across medical specialties. Robust evidence from multiple studies demonstrates that using this technology at the patient's bedside delivers proven value by improving patient care and safety at a fraction of the cost of such advanced imaging technologies as computed tomography and magnetic resonance…
CT Dose in Children
2014-03-04T05:00:00Yahoo! Health, Day in HealthBy Lisa Collier CoolHighly regarded healthcare journalist Lisa Collier Cool covers the risks of sending children straight to CT for scans to investigate potential appendicitis. She points out that ionizing radiation from CT poses cancer threats to children and that ultrasound is a viable alternative and could be the first line of imaging for children for certain diagnostic investigations.Read article
Emergency Ultrasound at the Bedside Improves Safety
Patient Safety & Quality HealthcareDavid Bahner, MD, RDMS, FACEP, FAAEM, FAIUMDr. Bahner underscores that since the 1980s, emergency ultrasound performed by emergency physicians at the point of care has been recognised as a valuable technology to improve the department. Employing ultrasound at the bedside, he asserts, can reduce medical errors, provide more efficient real-time diagnosis, and in certain clinical scenarios, supplement or replace more expensive imaging modalities such as CT and reduce patient exposure to ionising radiation. This article details how ultrasound can…
Flip The Funnel For Increased Physician Efficiency and Improved Patient Satisfaction
Becker's Hospital Review
Chuck Thigpen, PhD, PT, ATC, Clinical Research Scientist, Proaxis Therapy, and Mike Kissenberth MD, Vice Chair of Orthopaedics, Greenville Health System
The emerging healthcare environment requires expanded patient access while minimizing the cost of care. This is of particular importance for accountable care organisations that are assuming significant risk and must develop more innovative ways to deliver care to drive better outcomes and wring out inefficiencies. Our practise has experienced this struggle on a daily basis as patients, who needed a surgical consult…
Imaging Economics
2011-04-15T04:00:00True ValueDavid B. Case, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at Cornell University Weill College of Medicine in New York
John E. Postley, MD, FACP, assistant clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University.
The authors discuss that the turf wars of several years ago have given way to discussion regarding the appropriate use of ultrasound at the point of care across medical specialties including obstetrics, cardiology, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, musculoskeletal and beyond. Given ultrasound’s benefits and cost effectiveness, the authors…
Pathways That Deliver Increased Physician Efficiency And Improved Patient Satisfaction
2014-08-15T04:00:00American Association of Orthopedic Executives NewsletterChuck Thigpen PhD, PT, ATC- Clinical Research Scientist, Proaxis Therapy
AAOE (American Association of Orthopedic Executives) NewsletterThe authors walk through the rationale, steps taken and results from a re-engineered clinical shoulder injury pathway program focused on rotator cuff tears. By using the appropriately skilled provider at the right time and through first line use of ultrasound instead of MRI, the program lead to the clinic being able to serve more patients by improving physician efficiency. …
Ultrasound Needle Guidance in Rheumatology: Advances, Applications and Clinical Pearls
Rheumatology Practise News Special EditionJanak R. Goyal, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical SchoolDirector, Division of Rhaematology, Raritan Medical CentrePerth Amboy, New JerseyThis article enumerates the benefits and applications of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound and details procedural guidance for join and soft tissue injections and aspirations. Dr. Goyal also explains that ultrasound technology has been shown to be 6.5 times more sensitive than x-rays for early, accurate diagnosis of small bone erosions in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.…
Inside the Beltway: The 114th Congress and Healthcare Policy
2015-03-05T08:00:00Inside the Beltway: The 114th Congress and Healthcare PolicyJill RathbunJill Rathbun of Galileo Consulting breaks down the new Congress and what they are facing in the first few weeks of the year. We anticipate, as usual, healthcare issues and policy to be at the front of the Federal agenda. Sonosite will run the series for our customers to stay informed on what is discussed and coming as well as our work in this area.Read article
The health care industry is increasingly facing payment pressures, especially from the shift to value-based medicine - high-quality care that is also cost effective.
2015-01-27T08:00:00Q&A with Jill RathbunGus IversenThe health care industry is increasingly facing payment pressures, especially from the shift to value-based medicine - high-quality care that is also cost effective.
In this Q&A article for DOTmed News, Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, in Arlington, VA, discusses the ever changing and complex topic of Medicare Payment Policy and what all health care executives need to be aware of in the coming months. An expert in health care policy and reimbursement, Ms. Rathbun explains and walks hospital executives…
Diagnostic Shoulder Ultrasound: The Results Are In
2015-03-06T08:00:00Diagnostic Shoulder Ultrasound: The Results Are InDon Buford, MDIn this article for Becker's Orthopedic Review, Dr. Don A. Buford explains both the clinical evidence and benefits for the use of diagnostic ultrasound for shoulder evaluation. In particular, evidence for the use of ultrasound as the first imaging study in cases of suspected rotator cuff tear. Dr. Buford, an orthopedic surgeon, also covers the benefits of ultrasound to patients, his clinical practice and the costs to the healthcare system. As the healthcare system moves toward both Appropriate Use Criteria for…
Why the ultrasound-guided approach to central vein catheterization is replacing the landmark method.
2014-05-15T04:00:00Safe and ultrasoundBy Nicole GraySince 1900, life expectancy has increased from less than 50 years to more than 80, thanks in part to remarkable improvements in medicine and healthcare delivery. Nonetheless, as renowned surgeon Atul Gawande once wrote, “We look for science to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure, but it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, fallible individuals and, at the same time, lives on the line.”Read article
Welcome to the CMO Corner
As an emergency physician, I have taken care of thousands of patients who have benefitted from bedside ultrasound and I consider it to be an indispensible tool.
Many across the medical profession share the same view. In fact, the value of ultrasound is of such importance that the sheer volume of published information is overwhelming.
That’s why we’ve created CMO Corner. It is meant distill relevant information about portable ultrasound so you can access it without spending hours…
Improving Care while Reducing Costs in Health Care
Would you let your family fly in an airplane at night if the pilot didn’t have radar? I certainly wouldn’t. That pilot would be flying blind. It’s the same for ultrasound. When a physician performs an invasive procure without ultrasound guidance, it’s akin to a flying blind. In one of my recent articles, “Ultrasound Guidance at the Point of Care: This Practice Lets Health Systems and Accountable Care Organizations Improve Patient Safety and Costs,” published in Executive Insight, I argue that health executives should carefully weigh the safety, efficiency, and potential for reducing (or…