There seems to be quite a lot of debate around the subject of organ donation at the moment. The Herald today warns people off looking for “bootleg kidneys“. The university of Victoria ran a conference yesterday on the issue and Eric Crampton at Offsetting Behaviour has run a series of articles here, here and here. [...]
Dr Tim Parke, the clinical director of the adult emergency department at Auckland City Hospital, puts his concerns into an article in the Herald today. He writes that, in his opinion, the proposed use of public facilities for extra private procedures will produce a two tier system where, eventually, richer patients will have better medical [...]
The news that Timaru Emergency Department is “turning away” patients (actually, sending them to their GPs) is exciting Labour’s health spokesperson, the barely noticeable Ruth Dyson. Labour MP and health spokesperson Ruth Dyson believes essential frontline health services are being cut. “You can’t get much more frontline than the emergency department. The Government promised there [...]
A recent high quality study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the use of intravenous drugs in out-of-hospital resuscitation does not lead to better survival rates – just more admissions to hospital. This is a significant finding for two reasons. First, it emphasises that good quality CPR and early access to [...]
It is always a tragedy when a young life is lost, but it is especially heart-wrenching when a young man dies from something you would not normally expect such a person to die from. Such is the case of Dean Carroll, the 22 year old who presented to an emergency department and left with a [...]
One of the hallmarks of emergency departments is the unpredictable nature of the throughput. Accidents, in particular, are relatively unforeseeable although certain types do tend to cluster. Cuts with knives seem to congregate around mealtimes (for obvious reasons) and minor traffic-related injuries have an obviously predictable flurry at rush hour. I recall analysing the data from [...]
Oh wow. A health boss that wants to get rid of bewildering bureaucracy. Lester Levy, who has taken over the running of the sickest DHB in the country, Waitemata Health, clearly understands the massive problem that has built up in the health bureaucracy. “It has surprised me, after being away from it for quite a [...]
I read with some horror that a Herald on Sunday investigation has found an energy drink with 3333mg caffeine per litre in it. The Demon Energy Shot, which contains this horrendous amount of caffeine, gets around the Food Standard Authority regulations (which restricts caffeine to a level of 320mg per litre) by calling itself a [...]
The HoS reports that Waitakere Hospital’s emergency department closes its doors after 6.30 at night and emergencies are redirected to the Whitecross A&M or to North Shore Hospital, 25 minutes drive away. Actually, this is not news at all. Waitakere hospital has been doing this for nearly a year. The only thing that has changed [...]
Kerre Woodham comments on the latest deaths of young people on the road and asks when a government will have the moxie to put the driving age up. I wouldn’t be holding my breath, Kerre. It seems fairly easy for Governments to lower the threshold age, regardless of the predicted and predictable consequences, but it [...]
