Here’s an entertaining but insightful peek into the issues surrounding good vs bad science. It’s pitched to the lay public, but brings up a lot of the issues about the pressures of publishing, vagaries of study design, and why things get reported the way they do. Well worth the time (and laughs) to watch!
Here’s something I ran across during my reading last week. In the “old days”, I used to encourage my trainees to be generous with pain medicine prescriptions for patients being discharged from the hospital. I would routinely send people home with 60, 75, or more pills. I got a hint of the folly of this just a few years ago when I underwent an outpatient procedure (biceps tendon repair).
The orthopedic surgeon prescribed 15 narcotic pain pills for me to take home. I scoffed at the low number, although I didn’t tell him that. But once I got home and the regional block wore off, how many do you think I took? Exactly one. I (safely) disposed of the rest. This prompted me to start rethinking our role in the opioid problem here in the US.
Tomorrow, I’ll write about a recently published paper and guideline for discharge opioid prescriptions. But today, watch the TED talk embedded below. It reveals the inadequacies within our health care system for those who, one way or another, have developed a dependence on these medications. It was an eye-opener for me.
This 10 minute video was developed with prehospital providers in mind, but all trauma professionals will find some tidbits of interest.
Pay no attention to the hideous screenshot, though. I was not trying to look like House.
Several readers asked me to dust off this video again. Enjoy this parody of the Dos Equis “Most Important Man In The World” commercials. This video was part of the Trauma Education: The Next Generation conference produced a few years ago. Enjoy, and please comment or give it a thumbs up on YouTube!
Michael
Here’s a short video that shows you everything you need to know. Enjoy!
