Subaqua Sternal Rubs

I was working in the Emergency Department yesterday when one of the Clinical Care Coordinators came up to me and asked if I knew that the hospital was giving out flu shots, and I should go on up there and get one. Evidently my name got on a list of those eligible for the most coveted immuniztion of the year. (Only Techs/RNs working in patient care roles in the ED/ICU/CSU were initially being offered the shots.) Now I am a young (24-year-old) male in generally good health, well that is as long as I eat well and sleep regularly. Since I work in an Emergency Department/volunteer on an ambulance, neither of these are likely to happen. So while I was technically "at-risk," I still fell like I was stealing that flu shot from a more deserving candidate.

In related news, Yahoo News/AP is reporting that the US is working to import 5 million doses of Influenza vaccine from Canada and Germany:

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While this is slightly old news, I missed it when I was across the pond on vacation. Scary stuff… but good for me, I am only a volunteer…

October 19, 2004
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - The Selective Service has been updating its contingency plans for a draft of doctors, nurses and other health care workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the military's medical corps.

In a confidential report this summer, a contractor hired by the agency described how such a draft might work, how to secure compliance and how to mold public opinion and communicate with health care professionals, whose lives could be disrupted.

On the one hand, the report said, the Selective Service System should establish contacts in advance with medical societies, hospitals, schools of medicine and nursing, managed care organizations, rural health care providers and the editors of medical journals and trade publications.

On the other hand, it said, such contacts must be limited, low key and discreet because "overtures from Selective Service to the medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft," and that could alarm the public.

In this election year, the report said, "very few ideas or activities are viewed without some degree of cynicism."

President Bush has flatly declared that there will be no draft, but Senator John Kerry has suggested that this is a possibility if Mr. Bush is re-elected.

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After surviving my flights yesterday, where the reservations computer must have hated me, since it put me next to a screaming baby every single time… They make owners give their cabin-carried pets sedatives so that they won't bark/meow the entire flight, then why not babies?

The vacation started last week with a flight into Frankfurt, and then directly into the InterCity Express to Berlin. Two friends from the ambulance corps, her fiance and I checked into the hotel, met with some friends, and went out for a nice, traditional German meal. The next day, went out and walked around the city, hitting some of the traditional tourist spots, such as the Brandenburg Gate (Tor), the Rathaus (Town Hall), the Berliner Dom, and Checkpoint Charlie.

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After a couple of weeks of hard work, it's time for me to take a vacation. I will be leaving for Germany tomorrow with a couple of friends to visit my sister, parents, and other friends (all w/o blogs) currently in Germany. It will be an American-style whirlwind tour, visiting 6 cities in 10 days, and possibly Italy too… Hopefully I'll be over the jet lag by the time we leave I will try and update, but posts may be sparse over the next few days… Sayonara!

From Email:

Teacher Arrested

At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney general John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement.

He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math nstruction.

"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult," Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value.

They use secret code names like 'x'and 'y' and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."

When Emily Martin was hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery last summer, her doctors found that she also had acid reflux, causing erosion of her esophagus.

"My stomach was very unsettled,'' said Ms. Martin, a 26-year-old mother in Oradell, N.J. So she asked her doctor for Nexium, the "purple pill" that is the nation's most widely advertised prescription drug. "I saw the commercial and they showed people talking about immediate and miracle relief,'' she said.

It has worked, without side effects, said Ms. Martin, who pays only a $30 monthly insurance co-payment for Nexium, which can cost $200 a month or more.

Patients like Ms. Fleming are why the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca spent nearly $260 million on television and other mass-media advertising aimed at Nexium users last year.

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001 as a treatment for severe acid reflux disease, Nexium is now so commonly prescribed for heartburn and indigestion symptoms that it has become one of the nation's best-selling drugs, with United States sales last year of $3.1 billion - even though many medical experts say that for most patients, cheaper over-the-counter heartburn remedies may work just as well.

The issue of drug advertising directly aimed at consumers was thrust into the news recently when Merck withdrew its arthritis painkiller Vioxx from the market, citing studies indicating a risk of heart attacks or strokes. Critics noted the role that advertising and marketing played in the drug's being widely prescribed to patients who might have done just as well with ibuprofen or other inexpensive over-the-counter remedies.

Vioxx, whatever its safety risks, was hardly unique as a prescription drug that became a best seller on the strength of advertising aimed directly at consumers. In the seven years since the F.D.A. lifted longstanding strictures against such ads, prescription drug advertising has grown into a $3.8-billion-a-year business. And the F.D.A. says that, despite the controversy accompanying the withdrawal of Vioxx, it has no plans to place new curbs on such ads.

Nexium is typical of the brand-building trend. No one is arguing that the drug poses serious health risks, beyond a slight chance of side effects like headaches and flatulence. Despite clear beneficiaries like Emily Martin, though, many medical experts say most patients would do just as well with various cheaper over-the-counter remedies for indigestion and heartburn, including AstraZeneca's own Prilosec - a chemically similar predecessor that no longer requires a prescription and sells for $40 a month or less.

"Nexium is no more effective than Prilosec," said Dr. Sharon Levine, an executive with Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest health maintenance organization. "I'm surprised anyone has ever written a prescription for Nexium."

Read more at nytimes.com

Dear Readers,

This site will be up and down over the next few days, and some features may only work intermittently, as I am upgrading Wordpress to 1.2.1. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

This past weekend I attended Meliora Weekend at University of Rochester, which is sort of an alumni/parents/homecoming weekend all rolled into one. It actually turned out to be a pretty busy weekend… Thursday night went out to dinner with some friends of college days vintage, who I hadn't seen in a year or so. On Friday, I started my marathon shift with my former college EMS squad by signing out a pager to provide ILS to the campus 24/7 while I was there… Luckily only two calls, neither of which was acute enough to require me to do anything. (A woman who wore sandals and was impaled in the foot with a nail, and an underage male who, per his own admission, drank too much alcohol/smoked too much weed, and then didn't feel well…) I also attended a few lectures and other events, one of which was a performance by comedian Dennis Miller. He was pretty good, but it was kinda short… ($35 for an hour performance.) Then on Saturday I hosted an IV workshop for the members of my college EMS squad… It went well, with most people getting their first stick, even if they did exsanguinate their patients… I am not quite sure if this was legal or not, so shh… (I love going to school in a country without so many blood-sucking lawyers, and the resulting ridicioulous laws)… On Sunday, it was time to head back for my regulary scheduled EMS shift for my hometown vollie squad.