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Wanted: Surgeons, nurses, and other medical personnel to help in Haiti

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Picture 22By Partners in Health

We are deeply grateful for the multitude of people who have contacted us wanting to provide medical  assistance. As patients flood to our sites from Port-au-Prince, we’re finding ourselves in need of both medical personnel and supplies. In particular, we need surgeons (especially
trauma/orthopedic surgeons), ER doctors and nurses, and full surgical teams (including anesthesiologists, scrub and post-op nurses, and nurse anesthetists).

If you are a health professional interested in volunteering, please send an email to vo*******@*ih.org with information on your credentials, language capabilities (Haitian Creole or French desired), availability, and contact information.

As phone lines in Haiti remain down and transportation and communication are difficult, PIH is still in the process of determining where we can set up operations in Port-au-Prince, and how we can transport patients and volunteers to our sites. We will be able to offer more concrete information after these logistical matters are resolved.

Once again – thank you for your support.  Kenbe fèm.

Related :

Become a Fan of Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). Here …

Visit the Haitian Earthquake Relief Facebook page. Here.

Reports of Disinformation spreading:

The report circulating on Twitter and Facebook claiming that American Airlines is flying medical teams to Haiti for free is a fabrication. The story seemed a little too good to be true to us, so we called American Airlines corporate headquarters in Dallas to look into it. The Airline says it is contributing to the relief effort through the American Red Cross, but says it is not flying doctors and nurses to Haiti.

The company sent us the following official statement:

“Our humanitarian flights out of San Juan to PAP continue again today. We’ve incentivized our 62 million AAdvantage members to give cash to Red Cross and receive bonus miles from us.

Last night’s hoax on Twitter about American and Jet Blue flying doctors and nurses to Haiti for free was just that — a hoax. We do not know who is responsible.  We cannot fly any passenger flights to Haiti at this time (U.S. Military in control of airport) and our efforts on the humanitarian front are as described above. We do not yet know when we will be allowed to resume passenger flights.”

A similar story suggesting that the United Parcel Service is shipping packages under 50 pounds to Haiti for free is also fabricated. The company tells the Miami Tribune that is donating $1 million to the relief effort instead.

The moral for bloggers and other citizen journalists? Your seemingly harmless Tweet or Facebook posting is potentially a powerful weapon of mass disinformation. So stop and think for a second before you pull the trigger. Take a moment to consider the report you’re reposting before you pass it on. Does the story make sense? Is it logical? Or does it – well – sound just a little too good to be true?  If the source provides contact information, do what a good reporter would do and call to check.  (As it turns out, the number provided for American Airlines is actually for the Honduran Consulate in New York. American Airlines is based in Dallas.) Don’t simply assume that a story checks out because somebody you know said so.

The Dog’s OAuth

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By ADRIAN GROPPER, MD

Adrian Gropper A simple technology for linking EHRs will have a major impact on health care.

We’ve all heard the one about what does the barking dog do when it catches the car.

The dogs of health IT seem to have caught their car when the Interim Final Rule for standards for meaningful use accepted certification of “EHR Modules” and left it up to the marketplace to decide how the modules would communicate with each other. I think ONC deserves much praise for a very fair and innovation-friendly approach.Continue reading…

Update: Surgeons, nurses, and other medical personnel needed to help in Haiti

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By PARTNERS IN HEALTH

We are deeply grateful for the multitude of people who have contacted us wanting to provide medical assistance. At this time, while we wish we could use all of the support so generously offered, we are unable to accommodate any volunteers without significant surgical or trauma training and experience.

We are in need of: orthopedic surgeons, trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, OR nurses, post-op nurses, and surgical technicians.

If your qualifications match this need, please fill out the following form ..

“FDA More Pro Industry Than Any Time in 35 Years”

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By MERRILL GOOZNER

Merrill

So says Jim Dickinson, editor of FDAWebview, an industry newsletter that closely follows enforcement issues at the agency. After reviewing the deregulatory shifts at the Food and Drug Administration since the Carter administration, he writes:

It has taken almost a generation, but by now, the pro-industry infiltration of FDA’s culture is firmly entrenched. Not only is collaboration in product reviews officially encouraged, but good relationships across the regulatory fence hold the prospect of a possible future career in a well-paid industry job – a connection that is less likely to be publicly noticed in news media that now have to line up for information that has been filtered through agency press offices. The arm’s-length relationship that formerly ruled every contact between agency and industry has become a fading memory.

He says the shift in culture accelerated after the 1992 passage of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, which made the agency dependent on industry funding. He concludes there’s nothing that Margaret Hamburg, the new commissioner, and Joshua Sharfstein, her deputy, can do about it. Quoting a former chief of enforcement, he writes:

User fees at FDA are the primary villain, because they “allowed the industry to dictate the changes at the FDA in programs, procedures and practices. It will be impossible for the Obama administration to reverse the trend because as long as the user fees are in place the industry has the upper hand.”

Radical stuff from an unexpected source.

The Union “Cadillac” Tax Sweetheart Deal

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By ROBERT LASZEWSKI

Just when you thought you couldn’t be more cynical about the health care bill.

As I have said before, there wasn’t a lot of hope the same administration that ignored the rule of law in granting unions priority over Chrysler bondholders was going to offend them on the “Cadillac” tax.

We’ve seen the “Louisiana purchase” giving Senator Landrieu hundreds of millions for her vote, only to be upstaged by Ben Nelson’s Medicaid deal for Nebraska. Then the Democratic leadership claimed the $250 billion Medicare physician fee problem didn’t have anything to do with health care reform. Add to that a “robust” Medicare commission that can’t touch doctor or hospital costs. Or, how about six years of benefits under the bill and ten years of taxes. Or, counting $70 billion from the new long-term care program as offsetting revenue to help pay for it.

Now, the unions and public employees are going to be exempt from the “Cadillac” excise tax on high cost plans until 2018.It will be interesting to see how proponents, or should I say apologists, for this health care effort spin the latest. I would just ask that you please, please, please, not call this mess health care reform.

There is an important election on Tuesday in the Bay State that looks to be
focused on the Democratic health care effort. This kind of stunt may just be enough to push it over the edge.

Is it 2013 (or 2014) Yet?

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By JD KLEINKE

Nope, it’s only 2010 – a new year to be sure, as evidenced by stabilizing home prices and normalizing presidential approval ratings.  But you can stop holding your organization’s breath, slow down the conversion of that emergency room to a primary care clinic, and forget coming clean with your health insurer about your actual medical conditions.  Health “reform” won’t be here until 2014, if the Senate bill – passed just as Santa Claus was loading up his own sled with presents – prevails in the legislative horse-trading that begins this week.

Or it could be here as early as 2013, if we give way to the reckless abandon of the House bill.  In either case, fear not: full implementation of The Plan does not occur until well after the end of the world, according to the Mayan calendar.  If this is a government take-over of health care, taking their sweet time may prove to be a brilliant poker strategy.Continue reading…

MS-HUG Awards; let’s see you, Health 2.0 gang!

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By Matthew Holt

Last year I was a judge in the MS-HUG award for the HealthVault applications category. The quantity and standard of the entries was pitiful. I think that a few sales reps rounded up a few entries at the last minute

Given that many if not most Health 2.0 applications now link to HealthVault I really hope that the entries this year are way better. Here’s the blurb but if you are a cool Health 2.0 company linked to HealthVault, please enter. You have a week or so (and no Microsoft is not paying me to write this! In fact I didn’t even get paid to be a judge!)

Nominations are accepted in the following categories: 

Clinical Records – Inpatient
Clinical Records – Ambulatory
HIE and Interoperability
Microsoft HealthVault Applications
The nominations have been open since mid-December and will close on January 22 at 5:00 pm Central Standard Time. All of this year’s awards information is on the Microsoft HUG website at: www.mshug.org/awards.

Nurse Practitioners – Doctors?

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By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPABarbara Ficarra

Doctors like to assert, maintain control and continuously patrol over their territories; at least some do. In a recent post on THCB, “Nurseanomics” by Maggie Mahar addresses the heated debate over the difference between a doctor and a nurse. Mahar takles the question that Legislators in twenty-eight states are dealing with. Should a nurse practitioner (NP) with an advanced degree provide primary care, without an M.D. being in charge? But another pressing question that needs to be addressed is: Should nurse practitioners be called doctors (DNP)? (DNP is a Doctor of Nursing Practice.) That is the question that I will address here. I reached out to the medical community to get their reaction. It’s not surprising that the immediate response of some doctors when asked if nurse practitioners should be called doctors (DNP) is “No!” evidenced by Dr. Stangl’s comment.

“NO! Nurse practitioners should NOT be called “doctors” because they are NOT! While many NPs do an excellent job of handling certain types of problems in certain settings, they do not have near the depth or length of education that physicians do and should be credited for what they Do have, which is their nursing background and expertise.” Susan Stangl, MD

Take a look at this comment that appears in THCB:

“An NP has mostly on the job training…they NEVER went to a formal hard-to-get into school like medical school,” wrote one doctor. “I have worked with NPs before, and their basic knowledge of medical science is extremely weak. They only have experiential knowledge and very little of the underpinning principles. It would be like allowing flight attendants to land an airplane because pilots are too expensive. HEY NURSIE, IF YOU WANT TO WORK LIKE A DOCTOR…THEN GET YOUR BUTT INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL AND THEN DO RESIDENCY FOR ANOTHER 3-4 YEARS. NO ONE IS PREVENTING YOU IF YOU COULD HACK IT![his emphasis]”

Continue reading…

The Cost of Mammography Screening for Women Under 50

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By MERRILL GOOZNER

Goozner The tempest that greeted the United States Preventive Services Task Force guidelines on mammography screening for women in their 40s prompted the Senate to insert a mandate in its health care reform bill that every insurer cover every mammography screening test at no cost to beneficiaries. If it passes, it will spark an upsurge in mammography screening, especially among women under 50, and raise the nation’s health care tab.

The Journal of the American Medical Association this morning provides a timely article (subscription required) reminding physicians and women about the serious health costs of adopting that policy.Continue reading…

State vs. National Exchanges – Why it Matters

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By BILL KRAMER

Does it matter whether health insurance exchanges are state-level or national? I used to think that it wasn’t a major issue, but my opinion has changed.

During the health reform debate early in 2009, I thought that other exchange design issues were more important than whether they are organized at the state or national level. In my view, who is eligible to join (all small business employees or just those who receive subsidies?), whether the exchange is the exclusive market for individuals and small groups, and how the exchange will be protected from an adverse selection “death spiral” are critical design features and will determine whether the exchanges are successful.

It seemed to me that the arguments put forward by advocates of a national exchange were not compelling. The most common argument was that a national exchange was needed in order to gain sufficient size, which would supposedly give the exchange more bargaining power with health insurers. But I always thought that size was more important at the local level. Health insurers negotiate provider contracts locally, not nationally, and they gain leverage based on their size locally regardless of how big they are nationwide. In addition, the “bargaining power” argument is relevant only if the exchange is negotiating rates with insurers. In an “all comers” model, the exchange isn’t negotiating rates; it relies on healthy competition among insurers to drive down premiums.

Continue reading…

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