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Giving Thanks in the ER

Deep Frying a Turkey

Oh, the dangers of turkey day. Knives are flying and water's boiling, there's a hot oven door open and the kids keep throwing a football in the house (with the dads, who don't see a problem with it).

Thanksgiving Safety

First Aid Spotlight10

First Aid Blog with Rod Brouhard

Cold, Flu or Swine Flu: Which Is It?

Wednesday November 18, 2009

Have a runny nose? How about a cough? Are you concerned you might have swine flu?

A dry cough indicates it might be the seasonal flu, but a dry cough that develops into a wet cough could mean swine flu. A sore throat is typical of a cold and not the seasonal flu, but the swine flu often comes with a severe sore throat.

It sounds complicated, doesn't it?

Kristina Duda, About.com's Guide to Cold & Flu, has created a wonderful table to help you figure out whether you're suffering from the cold, the seasonal flu or the dreaded H1N1.

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Ice Ice Baby

Tuesday November 17, 2009

My daughter twisted her ankle at dance. She's the toughest kid we have and from the crying, Mom could tell she was hurting pretty bad.

One of the dance instructors iced the ankle. Indeed, that's the way to handle a twisted ankle. The cold helps reduce the swelling, especially when combined with elevation and compression.

The ice pack used was one of those reusable blue things for keeping soda cold in the cooler. You freeze it and toss it in the ice chest on your way out the door.

My daughter's instructor wrapped the blue thing in a paper towel and put it on her ankle. There's not a lot of material in a paper towel, so that's not really any different than putting the ice directly on the skin.

When my wife looked underneath the "ice" she found a blister about the size of a quarter.

It has taken my daughter longer to recover from the frostbite than from the twisted ankle -- talk about a teaching moment.

My daughter assures me she'll never put ice -- or allow anyone else to put ice -- directly on the skin again.

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Zoll: Teaching CPR from Your iPhone?

Saturday November 14, 2009

Zoll -- maker of defibrillators, among other things -- has released an iPhone app to teach folks how to do CPR.

Learning CPR from your iPhone? Hmmmm. I don't know if I buy that.

Since I don't have an iPhone, I can't buy it anyway. But some of you can. If you do, I want to hear about it.

Email me. Write a little review. Add to the comments at the bottom of this post. Put it on the first aid forum. I want to know what you think about learning CPR from an iPhone. Is it enough to teach all by itself, or do you still need a person to help you learn?

Go shopping at the app store and let me know.

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Waiting in the ER: Crowds or Discrimination?

Wednesday November 11, 2009

It's not just me -- it takes longer to be seen in the ER.

New research showed how the wait times for being seen in the emergency department have increased since 1997. We've been blaming the number of uninsured patients going to the ER because they don't have any other option, but the waits are affecting all types of insured patients (those with and those without).

One of the interesting factors the researchers blamed for increasing wait times was simply called "physician bias." It's a reminder that docs are people, too and they have the same biases we all have.

Have you felt the bias of a physician? Do you think you've been discriminated against in the ER? Read as others share their stories of healthcare discrimination and share your own.

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