EZ-IO Enhancement

From Medgadget:
A press release for Vidacare Corporation states that the company has equipped its intraosseous vascular access system EZ-IO® with lithium-powered driver to replace the alkaline battery-powered drivers used previously.
The new EZ-IO Power Driver addresses the single biggest concern associated with using a battery-operated device in an emergency situation: the condition and reliability of the [...]

Australian EMS Technology

From ARNnet:
Victoria’s Metropolitan Ambulance Service has issued its paramedic teams with fully ruggedized Panasonic CF-18 Toughbook laptops for use across its entire fleet of 160 ambulances.
The Toughbooks will be used primarily in tablet PC form and will run a software program called Vacis (Victorian Ambulance Clinical Information System), which the ambulance service designed and [...]

Hospitals Train Staff with iPods

From the BBC:
Two hospitals in Glasgow are using iPod music players to train staff. The gadgets give new recruits an “audio induction” to the workplace, which is followed by a computer-based test.
Hopital managers at NHS Greater Glasgow say the iPod tours can be used to train staff on issues like superbugs, moving patients and [...]

Most ER Patients Are Insured, Study Says

From the LA Times, referencing a study by ACEP:
Challenging a common notion that uninsured patients are clogging hospital emergency rooms, a new study has found that the vast majority of adults who turn up there frequently have health insurance and regular doctors.
The finding suggests that expanding health coverage will not by itself significantly help emergency [...]

Course Educates Docs on Malpractice Issues

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer via Symtym
Except for a crop of gray hair, the enrollees in Sean Byrne’s malpractice course at the University of Richmond Law School look like normal students. They sip Starbucks coffee and tap out notes on their laptop keyboards. And with lumpy hair and bleary eyes, a few looked like they rolled [...]

Fewer physicians offer free care

From CNN:
The percentage of physicians who provide free care to the poor has dropped over the past decade, signaling a growing problem for the uninsured, a survey suggests.
About three-quarters of physicians provided charity care in the mid-1990s, compared with about two-thirds now, according to a study released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System [...]

Detonator on the Cot…

From 14WFIE (Evansville, IN) , emphasis added:
Three employees of the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center were hurt Tuesday when detonators they were unpacking detonated prematurely.
Base officials said the employees were treated initially at Crane’s medical facility and were reported to be in stable condition. Local news reports said at least two employees were transferred [...]

Waist packs track ER patients

From Boston.com, via Symtym:
Emergency room doctors and nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are getting some high-tech help watching vital signs and rapidly locating patients in the waiting room.
Under a trial funded by a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the hospital will today begin distributing 10 waist packs to patients that [...]

Fire Marshal Cites WakeMed For Overcrowding

From NBC17.com (Raleigh, NC)
The Raleigh fire marshal issued WakeMed on New Bern Avenue a citation last week because hospital beds were crowding the hallways in the emergency room.
Over the last two weeks, the hospital has been operating at 120 percent capacity.
“At one point last week, we got to the point where we were going to [...]

Doctors are fallible, just like the rest of us

From the Concord (NH) Monitor:
My mother-in-law died 11 years ago. But the recent death of John Arsenault brought it back to me again. The hospital staff sent Arsenault by cab from the emergency room to a local homeless shelter. Six hours later, the shelter staff, concerned by his inability to sit or stand, called an [...]