Tag Archives: education

Humans vs. disease: How it all began

Posted on by April 3, 2017

An eternal battle

I have always been fascinated by the history of medicine and disease. I minored in medical history in college and have probably read dozens of books on the subject.

If you’re interested but don’t have that kind of time to invest, I just ran across a couple of short (very short!) videos on YouTube that I found to be remarkably good overviews of a complex topic.

The first is from Crash Course World History:

If only my history teachers in high school had been so entertaining!

I especially loved his statement: “You … Continue reading

Be informed – Poison control number

Posted on by March 6, 2017

poison control numberThe Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just released a warning about keeping hand sanitizers out of the reach of small children. Because more people use hand sanitizers during cold and flu season, there are more reports of children being poisoned by the main ingredient, either isopropyl alcohol or ethanol. About 90% of these poisonings were in children younger than five.

Anyway, here is a re-post about preventing childhood poisonings in general, and links to Poison Control and other resources. 

Stay safe! FN

A rising number of childhood poisonings

I don’t know much about e-cigarettes and vaping, but a recent study … Continue reading

Learn CPR and first aid

Posted on by February 13, 2017

♥It’s Valentine’s Day!♥ In honor of that I thought I would re-post about learning CPR. It’s a great skill to have! FN

Here’s a feel-good story about a young man who saved a life because he knew how to perform CPR—and wasn’t afraid to use it!

CPR delivered: “I left a pizza boy and came back a pizza man”

CPR is a great skill to know. It’s not going to be useful in every scenario, but just having the knowledge of how to do it can be very empowering in an emergency situation. And many CPR classes also teach you … Continue reading

Stay healthy – Toy safety tips

Posted on by December 5, 2016

December is Safe Toys and Gifts Month!

Miami Children’s Hospital has a great public service video with toy safety tips.

 

My local pediatric hospital, Seattle Children’s, has a webpage devoted to toy safety and safety tips, including how to choose age-appropriate gifts, how to recognize potential dangers, and how to keep toys in good condition to keep them safe.

They also offer links to toy and gift suggestions for different age groups.

The sponsor of Safe Toys and Gifts Month, Prevent Blindness, has this toy safety list on its website:

Before purchasing

… Continue reading

Guts and Bolts – It’s fun, it’s educational!

Posted on by November 13, 2016

guts and boltsI just found this great game, Guts and Bolts, while I was surfing around on the internet last weekend!

It’s not new, just new to me  🙂

It’s a creation of BrainPOP, which features all kinds of cool educational games and tools.

The game is kind of a Dr. Frankenstein meets Joe the Plumber as you are introduced to different body parts and organs and learn how they are connected and work together.

As you level up, there are game quizzes that test your knowledge of what you’ve learned. I took these thinking they would be a piece … Continue reading

How to read your pathology report

Posted on by June 27, 2016

Last week  I posted that you should always ask for a copy of your medical reports.

One of the downsides, of course, is that those reports are often written in medical language that can be confusing or alarming.

But in response to a more savvy patient population, the College of American Pathologists has made a video to explain how the system works and to encourage patients to be involved in obtaining and understanding their pathology reports.

You can watch the video here on the medical website KevinMD.

They also created a two-page educational brochure to guide a patient through … Continue reading

Healthy food choices – Dining Decisions

Posted on by May 25, 2016

healthy food choicesEven toddlers seem to be playing with smartphone and tablet apps, so why not make it educational as well as fun?

Obesity among children is still a major public health problem. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) hopes their new app, Dining Decisions, will help teach young children how to make healthy food choices.

The app was just released last month, and it’s only available for iPhones and iPads, so I haven’t been able to try it out yet. Hopefully it will be available in an Android version soon! I want to play.  🙂

Related post: Healthy kids … Continue reading

National Stroke Awareness Month

Posted on by May 15, 2016

It’s Stroke Awareness Month!

May is  National Stroke Awareness Month, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) want you to be aware of the most common stroke symptoms, and know what to do if you see them.

The five most common symptoms, which tend to come on suddenly, are:

  1. Numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, especially when on just one side of the body;
  2. Confusion, including having trouble speaking or understanding;
  3. Trouble seeing, in one or both eyes;
  4. Dizziness, having trouble walking or balancing;
  5. Headache, especially pain
… Continue reading

Be informed – Shared decision-making

Posted on by May 1, 2016

Shared decision-making makes better informed patients, and better informed patients use less health care.

…as many as 20% of patients who participate in shared decision making choose less invasive surgical options and more conservative treatment than do patients who do not use decision aids.

Which lowers health care costs.

…a 2012 study…showed that providing decision aids to patients eligible for hip and knee replacements substantially reduced both surgery rates and costs — with up to 38% fewer surgeries and savings of 12 to 21% over 6 months.

[It’s] estimated that implementing shared decision making for just 11 procedures would

… Continue reading

PBS – “Ride the Tiger”

Posted on by April 27, 2016

Tomorrow night at 10pm, PBS is premiering a documentary about the history and treatment of bipolar disorder: Ride the Tiger—A Guide Through the Bipolar Brain.

It’s hard to find a family that hasn’t been affected by this condition, yet it’s still poorly understood and challenging to diagnose and treat.

The show looks at genetics, diagnosis and treatment, and features many highly accomplished people living with the condition.

The PBS webpage also offers resources for more information about bipolar disorder.

I will certainly be watching!

Sláinte,

Frugal Nurse

Facebooktwittergoogle_pluspinterestmail… Continue reading

Allergies 101 Infographic

Posted on by April 11, 2016

I love infographics!

So when Blink Health invited me to share their infographic on allergies, Allergies 101, I was happy to agree.

Blink Health is one of several health care start-ups I’ve been watching that I think provide innovative ways to help people save money on health care. Blink Health specifically helps patients save money on prescription medications.

Blink Health is the first company to develop a proprietary technology to group millions of patients together, creating the strength to negotiate the lowest prescriptions prices possible. They are also the first company to allow patients to purchase their medications online

… Continue reading

ER tips to keep kids safe at home

Posted on by May 16, 2016

As any parent or child caregiver can tell you, keeping kids safe—especially into-everything toddlers—takes a lot of planning ahead. We look around the house or yard and try to think like they do: What will they be attracted to? What will they pick up and put in their mouths? How high can they reach? Etc….

And sometimes we fail.

I just watched two video clips of ER docs talking about some common injuries they see, and what parents can do to make their homes more safe.

The first is from the TV show The Doctors: 3 Dangerous Drugs that Can … Continue reading

Be informed – Informulary

Posted on by March 30, 2016

I love finding websites that provide people with evidence-based health care guidance that is also easy to understand.

Like the law, medicine is full of jargon and tortured language that can leave the most intelligent patient confused about risks and benefits.

Clear communication is especially necessary when talking about prescription medications.

I just ran across a new website called Informulary, which was started with the goal of providing easy-to-use and understand DrugFactsBoxes, similar to nutrition labels on foods.

Since 2009, the Food and Drug Administration has required facts labels on all over-the-counter medications, but so far they have ignored … Continue reading

Spring break and the Zika virus

Posted on by March 20, 2016

Just in time for spring breaks across the country, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has posted the following fact sheets on its Zika Virus homepage:

Most of the tips concentrate on avoiding mosquitoes and mosquito bites by using recommended insect repellents and bed nets, and wearing long-sleeve shirts and long pants, or clothing treated with permethrin.

Related post: Be informed – Bug repellents

It’s believed the Zika virus causes the really tragic birth defect microcephaly, so pregnant women or women planning on becoming pregnant need to … Continue reading

Protect yourself from food poisoning

Posted on by February 20, 2016

Cases of food poisoning, or food-borne illnesses, have been on the rise.

A lot of media attention was on the restaurant chain Chipotle recently because of an outbreak of the potentially deadly bacteria E. coli.

But it seems there is always a story in the news about contaminated foods, food recalls and outbreaks of the most common culprits of food poisoning: E. coli, salmonella, listeria and hepatitis A.

As the health news website Medscape reports:

Contaminated-food recalls in 2015 were on pace to exceed those from 2014, with bacteria discovered in everything from ice cream to spinach. Companies in

… Continue reading