There’s a scene in the 60s-era AMC series “Mad Men” that involves a pregnant woman smoking and drinking while her friend’s child runs around with a dry cleaning bag over her head. All of this happens in the space of about a minute, and there are so many things done wrong during that time that, by today’s standards, you can’t help but wonder ...

The recent tragedy in Connecticut has spurred debate on topics related to public safety, which is good. Our most vulnerable citizens need protection. This includes children, the elderly and infirm, and patients in hospitals. That list includes healthcare workers, too. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ...

Are you lost without that morning cup of coffee before starting your first set of runs? Apparently athletes are too. The use of caffeine in day-of-the-race energy supplements is common and widely accepted as helpful for athletes during endurance competitions like marathons and triathlons, but how much is too much? “Caffeine has ...

Respiratory directors and hospital administrators across the country are constantly on the prowl for new ways to save money or increase revenue. One gold mine taking the country by storm is the practice known as ''common canister''. For those of you not familiar with it, allow me to explain. In a nutshell, the practice goes like this: Patient ...

When nurses switch to 12-hour shifts, I wonder if back injury claims increase. Nurses and nurse assistants literally do the heavy lifting in hospitals, and patients aren’t getting smaller. Forcing fifty- and sixty-something people with a lifetime of cumulative spinal stress to lift an extra four hours a day seems foolhardy. The question was ...

I just saw the blockbuster movie Contagion and must say I was pretty impressed. When I watch a medical-themed movie, I always look at it with a critical eye. How factual is it? Is it authentic in terms of scenarios, equipment, procedures and vocabulary?I look for how realistically roles are portrayed. For example I tend to roll my eyes and become ...

If you go to “Hospital Compare,” a site maintained by the US Department of Health and Human Services summarizing the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) scores, you can find out how quiet the hospitals in your area are, among other things. Patients who report the area around their room is “always” quiet at ...

At COLA, we’re all part of the same work community. Together we help promote patient safety by promoting lab excellence. Considering that lab testing impacts more than 70 percent of diagnostic decisions, the COLA community’s efforts impact a lot of people. Individually, however, we are all part of two other communities: The lab community in ...

First, it was San Francisco banning Happy Meal toys. And now it looks like New York wants to follow suit. A time.com article recently stated: ''New York City Council member Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., of Queens is leading the charge to ban kid-friendly toys from any fast-food meal that doesn't meet certain nutritional standards, arguing that the plastic ...

We are looking for seasoned laboratory professionals to write detailed articles about their specialties for our website. Specifically, we are seeking articles on improving workflow, delivering more accurate test results and new technologies in hematology, coagulation, microbiology, blood banking and molecular diagnostics; in addition to ...