Teletrauma

From the McCook (NE) Daily Gazette:
A new service, called “teletrauma,” is now available at Tri Valley Health System in Cambridge to allow instant consultation on trauma cases.
In a front page article, the Indianola News reports that the new video conferencing equipment has been installed and is ready for use whenever needed. A special camera [...]

Concerns About Length of Stay

From WHAS11.com
A Kentucky man who was reportedly frustrated with slow service at a hospital now faces multiple charges after police say he opened fire in the emergency room. It happened Wednesday afternoon at a hospital in Hazard.
Kentucky State Police say Eddie Grubbs was taken by ambulance to the Hazard ARH Medical Center emergency room. [...]

Robotics Use in Mexican Medical School

From Medgadget:
Faced with a growing number of medical students and few training hospitals, this Mexican university is turning to robotic patients to better train future doctors.
The robots are dummies complete with mechanical organs, synthetic blood and mechanical breathing systems.
“The country’s rapid increase of medical students has not kept up with the number of medical facilities,” [...]

Bill proposes funding to promote apologies to patients

A new bill would create a voluntary federal program to help hospitals negotiate fair compensation with patients harmed by medical errors as an alternative to lawsuits.
The bill, introduced by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is modeled on an initiative called “Sorry Works!” in which hospitals own up to errors and apologize [...]

Iowa Doctors March In D.C. Over Emergency Care

From the Iowa Channel:
Iowa emergency room physicians Tuesday joined doctors and nurses from around the country to march on the nation’s capitol.
The group’s goal is to improve the emergency medical care that it gives to patients.
An ambulance rushed to Mercy Medical Center with a trauma patient. It’s part of a busy day’s work for the [...]

Mo. settles antitrust probe of two ambulance companies

From Modern Physician
Missouri signed its second antitrust settlement with an ambulance company in the past two weeks, recovering $2 million from Medical Transportation Management, St. Louis, for alleged overbilling and $400,000 for costs of the investigation.
MTM also agreed not to collect $17.4 million already billed to the state Medicaid program. The company, which provides [...]

College Students, Health Care Insurance, and ED’s

Not exactly non-urban, but it caught my eye as it was published in the Iowa State Daily (ISU’s student newspaper):
Avoiding trips to the emergency room – or avoiding health insurance altogether – could lower students’ healthcare costs as insurance rates rise across the nation.
Health insurance premium rates are up 73 percent since 2000, far outpacing [...]

MP3 First Aid Tips

From Medgadget:
St. John Ambulance from the United Kingdom introduced iFIRSTAID, a website from which you can download first aid tips onto MP3 players, phones and CDs. Guidance available for people when they need it, where they need it, in the format they need it.
The charity said it was prompted by the 25% increase in inquiries [...]

Earthquake Preparations in Montana

From the Helena Independent Record:
As the country watches the Gulf Coast recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, are we ready for our own disaster?
Planners: We’re ready Disaster and emergency officials certainly hope so.
“When I started my job 25 years ago, I would have said, ‘No, we probably aren’t,’ ” says Paul Spengler, Lewis and Clark [...]

It’s Tough Being A Rural Hospital These Days…

From Planet Jackson Hole:
Insiders and longtime observers of St. John’s Medical Center ­ such as SJMC Chief of Staff Dr. Robert “Buz” Bricca, 23-year veteran Jackson physician Dr. Brent Blue, and former Board of Trustee Jonathan Schechter ­ describe the hospital as something resembling Hamlet caught in a Catch-22. Hamlet, for those too busy to [...]