Automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) are machines that are designed to be used by non-medical personnel in the event of a witnessed sudden collapse. The AED is connected to the chest of the patient and automatically detects the patient's heart rhythm. If the AED detects a rhythm that requires an electric shock, the AED delivers the shock and monitors the rhythm until paramedics arrive. The time between collapse and delivery of the first shock is critical to survival. So it was hoped that...
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Insurance for Routine Care: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed
Patients paying doctors directly for their care is best for patients, best for doctors, and best for the country. Most of my patients know that this simple idea has been my obsession for the last few years. Initially, I thought this idea was just a good way to reorganize my practice. But now, with Medicare within a decade of insolvency, with decreasing numbers of medical students choosing primary care as a career, with increasing numbers of patients finding good primary care either unavailabl...
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It’s Never Too Late to Treat High Blood Pressure
New Feature Ask the Doctor
I've read a lot in the news in the last two weeks scary stuff about Singulair. Should I stop taking it? -- Jeff K.
About two weeks ago the FDA released a communication that it was investigating the incidence of suicidal thinking and mood changes in patients taking Singulair, a medication used to treat asthma and nasal allergies. No connection between Singulair and these symptoms has been est...American Heart Association Recommends Hands-Only CPR
Despite many encouraging advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, heart attacks remain the largest cause of death in the US. Many of those heart attacks happen suddenly and cause a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation. Patients frequently suddenly collapse, and without prompt restoration of a normal heart rhythm, survival is unlikely.
There are two critical factors that determine whether the patient will survive without serious br...
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