drnic's posterous

Top Killers

The CDC has released the top causes of death list. 14 of the top 15 have not changed much in years but Homicide finally got pushed out by pneumonitis.

1. Heart Disease

2. Cancer
3. Lower respiratory diseases; 
4. Stroke and related cerebrovascular diseases; 
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries); 
6. Alzheimer's disease; 
7. Diabetes; 
8. Kidney diseases; 
9. Influenza and pneumonia; 
10. Suicide; 
11. Septicemia; 
12. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis; 
13. Hypertension and related renal disease; 
14. Parkinson's disease; and 
15. Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids.

The good news is that overall the death rates from these causes has dropped including for heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory disease and the oft quoted infant mortality rate also declined to an all time low of 6.14 (per 1000 births).
Life expectancy increased by 1 month to 78 years and 8 months

Not clear if the trends will continue or even improve over time...and it will be interesting to see i the healthcare changes have a positive impact on these measurements

Hospital CEO Thinks It's Perfectly OK To Show Patient's Records To Newspaper

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via consumerist.com

Seems there is much more to this story than first meets the eye. THe HIPAA regulations unintended consequences include the price that healthcare providers pay to suffer claims such as this made with either “no comment” or “disagree and if they follow the letter of the law are unable to comment because of patient privacy regulations.

Is patient privacy....patient privacy…….no matter the consequences or are there times and ways to address issues without jeopardizing patient privacy and patient information.

THere is no easy answer but it does expose another instance where we create regulations with good intentions but end up with unfortunate and undesirable consequences

Social media to educate clinicians

In an interesting response to a problem of getting the word out 

>>>>Despite these compelling findings, an audit of UK hospitals in 2011 showed that, of 412 trauma patients who were ill enough to need a blood transfusion and therefore be eligible for tranexamic acid treatment, only 12 (3%) received the drug. The implementation rate in low-income and middle-income countries could well be lower still. The CRASH-2 trial results were published in this journal, widely reported in the international media, and presented at many trauma and intensive care conferences. How else could researchers reach out to practising clinicians and make them aware of this life-saving treatment?
<<<<<

Despite the compelling evidence implementation and uptake is low so the team came up with a "viral" video to get the word out. 
>>>>>
An enterprising idea that the CRASH-2 team rolls out today involves an adaptation of the concept of viral marketing—ie, a compelling video that internet users pass on to their online contacts. Drawing on the elements that tend to increase sharing (humour, surprise, emotion), the collaborators made a stop-motion animation in which a clay trauma victim, blood squirting heartily from a gaping hole in his abdomen, happily avoids imminent exsanguination by means of a timely injection. The video ends with an invitation to view the CRASH-2 trial results<<<<<

Expect more activities like this in the future

Get on Board the Social Media Train or Get Left Behind Like the Bank of America

Bank Of America Just Had The Ultimate Social Media Fail

Julia La Roche | Nov. 15, 2011, 10:54 AM | 61,418 | 49

This makes you wonder if Bank of America, which is currently axing 30,000 of its staff globally, already cut their social media team.

Or if they don't already have a social media team, they should really consider getting one after this social media fail. 

It's been just a week since Google Plus started allowing for companies to have pages on the social networking site and it looks like someone already beat Bank of America to the punch, according to Carl Franzen at Talking Points Memo.

BofA's Google Plus profile bashes the already embattled Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank. The page, which is no longer available, features unflattering pictures of former CEO Ken Lewis and mocking wall posts.

One wall post said, "Living under a tarp? I am too. My TARP is much bigger, however, and billions of dollars more expensive."

It's possible that the page could have been created by the bank initially and then later hacked. 

However, according to Chester Wisniewski at the IT security blog NakedSecurity, the page was likely created by a group that tricked Google into thinking they were Bank of America. 

We've included a screen shot below. [via TalkingPointsMemo]

BofA Google Plus

Image: TalkingPointsMemo

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via businessinsider.com

The power of social media - few hospitals or healthcare facilities have any focus on this area (building a web site and running and e-mail server does not count).
The University of Maryland Medical Center (http://www.umm.edu/) springs to mind as one of the leaders in this area with an impressive outreach and connection. I'm not sure what or how they staff it but am willing obey its built into every area and not confined to one or two social media job functions.

For those hospitals considering Social Media - this presentation on slideshare is a good foundation on why this is important and what it can do for your facility and originates from the University of Maryland:

This is not just some passing fad. It is messy and this troubles many facilities and executives as it is hard to control and manage but that is just part of our future engagement with our staff, patents and colleagues around the country and indeed world.

This train has left the station - get on board or get left behind