Headache or ER visit?

How can you distinguish between a headache and something more serious? When should you head out to the ER and when should you just take a pain medication and head off to bed? Various analyses have been taken, and there was one study conducted by the University of Southern California-Neurology, Los Angeles, CA a couple of years ago. It looked at: “the demographics, diagnosis, and treatment patterns in patients with headache-seeking treatment in one of the busiest emergency rooms (ER) of an academic medical center in the USA. The question one wants to ask is it really a good idea to go to the ER or can one find more appropriate and efficient care elsewhere? One has to ask if they are just panicking (due to the understandable severity of the pain) or really need to see an ER doctor. The ER really should be used for just that – emergency medicine. If a headache can be taken care of by avoiding the ER, that should be done. Remember: being in the ER can be very loud and stressful; two factors that are not good for people suffering from very bad headaches. But if nothing eases the pain and your local physician is not available then a trip to the ER would be advised. Take care to analyze the specifics of your situation before heading for the ER.

Learn Basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

Of course, it isn’t something one wants to have to do ever need to know, but having the know-how when it comes to CPR, is something one definitely should try and learn. There isn’t always the time needed to get to the ER. One can begin these lessons by studying the subject online.

3 Common Summer Dangers: Dr. Josyann Abisaab

During the summer, doctors in emergency rooms see an increased rise in visits. This is particularly true in the pediatric emergency rooms, and often involves a number of repeat issues. Certainly, if emergency room doctors like Josyann Abisaab can make parents aware of these dangers, it may help to decrease emergency room visits.

“In the summer, we see a much higher incidence of injuries caused by accidents and sports,” says Dr Scalzo, who is a SLUCare pediatrician at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. “Kids are going to be kids and they are going to get hurt. But many of these accidents could be prevented by proper parental supervision.”
Three areas that create many accidents include trampolines, all-terrain vehicles and bikes/skates/skateboards.

Parents need to be very careful when allowing their children to use any of these items, and children need to do so under adult supervision. Obviously, these items are used during other times of the year as well, but children have more time for these activities during the summer and they tend to be less supervised than they are during the school year.

Kids, Parents and Drugs

What do you do if your child asks you a direct question like “have you ever used drugs?” and your truthful answer is “yes”? Pediatrician Dr. Perri Klass recently addressed this issue. Honesty is important for our children even if we still want to prevent them from taking their own risks. As a pediatric resident, Klass was asked this question herself so knows it is likely to arise. One way of dealing with this is that we know much more about substance abuse now than we did then. So we can explain that we had no way of knowing what the damage would be back then. Things are different now, for our children. For example, today, scientists understand way more about the neurobiology of the brain of a teenager and the impact of drug and alcohol abuse this has on it. We now know that it is not until 20 that the brain ceases development so such experiments at 16 for example, could be extremely detrimental. The best way to stay healthy is to maintain health through preventive measures. In addition, one never knows what they are going to be negatively affected by before trying it so the education we should be giving to our children is that the risk is just too high.

Advances in US Health Care Reform and New York-Presbyterian Hospital

There have been some tremendous advances in America’s health care reform which have led to the country’s 70 million children receiving coverage to meet their specific needs. Timely access is what will often save lives. This has resulted in “two patients from NewYork-Presbyterian/Phyllis and David Komansky Center for Children's Health and NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and their families went to Washington, D.C., to discuss their personal health care stories with lawmakers who are carefully monitoring how health reform implementation rolls out.” These families are Castro and McKiever (along with 30 other families from America). The obstacles that still remain include: inadequate amount of pediatric doctors; insufficient reimbursement from Medicaid for pediatric care; lack of consistency for quality measures and incentives across states; threat of more state-level Medicaid cuts.

Beware of Outdoor Accidents This Summer

The sun is shining, your kids are desperate to go out and you love sitting outdoors. But you should be aware that there are many little mishaps that could potentially ruin your carefree summer activity. While there is no doubt (and studies have proven this) that kids do better in the classroom when they’ve had time outdoors, one should always remember to take special care when kids are outdoors. Ensure that you take a few tips into consideration as a preventive measure of going to the ER. Let your kids have a great summer, but make sure they do it safely and if something does happen untoward, be in the know about the best and fastest way to react. If necessary, don’t hesitate, just go straight to the ER.

Josyann Abisaab and the American University of Beirut

Josyann Abisaab studied at the American University of Beirut, from where she graduated with a BS (Distinction) in 1984. Recent news from the university is that Dr. Fuad N. Ziyadeh (chair of the Department of Internal Medicine) was appointed a member of the International Foundations of Medicine (IFOM) Oversight Committee. For the university this appointment means that it is now part of “an international assessment of medical students.” For Ziyadeh, this is quite an honor since he is the only individual on this committee selected from outside North America and Europe. And for the university it’s great, as, according to AUB Faculty of Medicine’s Dean, Dr. Mohamed H. Sayegh, Raja N. Khuri, it “makes AUB a key player in international medical education.”