We're taking a break from all things medical the last two weeks of December. Hopefully these videos will make you smile and as a bonus, each post will have a book/gift card winner drawn from the subscribers/followers list. So, sounds like a great time to start subscribing and following!Check back frequently and often to see if you've won. Address must be e-mailed to jredwood1@gmail.com by 12/31/2011 to claim. Today's winner is: Dianna Benson who subscribes via FeedBlitz!Now enjoy the video! I love Sinbad and he provides a good medical les...
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
We're taking a break from all things medical the last two weeks of December. Hopefully these videos will make you smile and as a bonus, each post will have a book/gift card winner drawn from the subscribers/followers list. So, sounds like a great time to start subscribing and following!Check back frequently and often to see if you've won. Address must be e-mailed to jredwood1@gmail.com by 12/31/2011 to claim. Today's winner is: Nancy Lynn Jarvis who follows via Networked Blogs!Now enjoy the video. This has been one of my holiday favorit...
Monday, December 26, 2011
Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Any funny stories out there? Best gift? I have one. My 9 y/o daughter came up to me, "Santa is so rude.""Why?" I ask."He put my cookie back in the bin.""Ummm..."How about you?We're taking a break from all things medical the last two weeks of December. Hopefully these videos will make you smile and as a bonus, each post will have a book/gift card winner drawn from the subscribers/followers list. So, sounds like a great time to start subscribing and following!Check back frequently and often to see if you've...
Friday, December 23, 2011
We've been enjoying some holiday fun. I certainly hope your Christmas morning does not go like this. I loved this video and I hope you enjoy it too.But before we have Christmas fun, our next winner is: km.weiland@.... who subscribes via FeedBlitz! Remember, you must e-mail me your address by 12/31/2011 to jredwood1@gmail.com. Now, please remember to check those fish Christmas morning before the children come down to see them.Hope you all have a Merry Christm...
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
We're taking a break from all things medical the last two weeks of December. Hopefully these videos will make you smile and as a bonus, each post will have a book/gift card winner drawn from the subscribers/followers list. So, sounds like a great time to start subscribing and following!Check back frequently and often to see if you've won. Address must be e-mailed to jredwood1@gmail.com by 12/31/2011 to claim. Today's winner is: Leila Rose Foreman who follows via Networked Blogs. Now enjoy the vid...
Monday, December 19, 2011
We're taking a break from all things medical the last two weeks of December. Hopefully these videos will make you smile and as a bonus, each post will have a book/gift card winner drawn from the subscribers/followers list. So, sounds like a great time to start subscribing and following!Check back frequently and often to see if you've won. Address must be e-mailed to jredwood1@gmail.com by 12/31/2011 to claim. Today's winner is: twobellesandabook!Now, enjoy the video. Love this because I'm a dog lov...
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Over the next two weeks, Redwood's Medical Edge is celebrating all those who subscribe and follow. On my regular post days (Mon, Wed, and Fri) I'll be drawing names from these lists for prizes. All you have to do is subscribe or follow!I'm really humbled that so many of you are keeping track of things here and finding the information useful. I have great things planned for January that I know you'll enjoy but I think it's good to take a step...
Friday, December 16, 2011
Today, I'm concluding my three-part series on the HIPAA law. I'm going to focus on how I've seen it violated in published works of fiction.Situation 1: A hard-nosed journalist makes entry into the hospital and begins asking the staff about a current patient. One nurse pulls him aside and gives him the information. This is a clear violation of HIPAA. All media requests will go through the public relations office. For any information to be released,...
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Situations involving minors can be an easy way to increase conflict in your manuscript. Here is an easy area to use.Minors presenting to the ED for evaluation of a pregnancy or STD related complaint.Here's a set-up. Mother brings her 14 y/o daughter in to "get checked for pregnancy". Okay, great. Already we have inherent conflict. After all, if the daughter was in agreement about allowing her mother to know this information, they could have done...
Monday, December 12, 2011
Several months ago, I was watching a local TV news station when a nurse manager was being interviewed about the fact that you could look up ER wait times on the Internet before checking in. That's a whole other can of worms I won't get into today but the problem with her interview was that the camera shot included her standing next to their patient tracking board in which you could clearly see the last name of the patient,...
Saturday, December 10, 2011
This week at Redwood's Medical Edge I'm doing an Author Beware series on healthcare privacy laws. Boring? Hardly... everyone remember how several staff members got fired for looking into Britney Spears's medical records?http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1583480/medical-workers-fired-looking-at-britney-spears-records.jhtmlExactly...I'll be covering the most common authorly violations of the HIPAA act I see in manuscripts. You'll definitely want to avoid these or have your characters suffer some repercussions if they violate this law. Looking forward...
Friday, December 9, 2011
My brother works in the next county over as a deputy sheriff. I always say a writer is blessed if they have a law enforcement officer and a medical person in the family. That helps cover a lot of manuscript issues. My brother does patrol so, at times, he'll bring a person in custody to the ER for drug testing. After a frustrating interaction with the ED staff, I'll get an irate call from him, "Why did the ER do that!" Most often, it has to do...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Bonnie asks:My question has to do with one of my characters who gets a deadly form of influenza (swine and avian flu combined) early in her pregnancy. She winds up in the ICU. She survives but then discovers she’s pregnant. She worried about the baby.What are the possible dangers to the baby?Heidi says:The flu is actually more dangerous to the pregnant woman herself than to the fetus. Most women and healthcare providers delay preventative and...
Monday, December 5, 2011
Babies come when they want to, not necessarily when we want them to. Every labor and delivery nurse and OB provider are well aware of this fact. Nurse assisted deliveries happen daily.The primary reasons for nurse assisted deliveries are:Physicians are over extended. They have more than one patient delivering at one time or are covering OR and/or ER as well as OB.They are not on site due to office hours.Precipitous Deliveries (baby...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Hey all! Hope you have had a great week. Anyone holiday shopping? Finished yet?Seemingly, I have survived my first week post shoulder dislocation. Last Sunday, I asked people to post in the comments section cause of said injury and I would pick a winner today. Well, congratulations, Sandra Ardoin, who said: If it was like my brother's dislocation, someone (who had no clue what they were doing) was trying to teach you judo.That made me laugh...
Friday, December 2, 2011
I'm concluding my three part series on one area of pediatrics that causes a lot of controversy. Immunizations.Why don't people choose to immunize their children? I would say a large majority of these parents would claim a concern about Thimerisol (covered in Part One) and the much talked about but unsupported risk that there is a link between autism and the MMR vaccine (covered in Part Two). This link is not supported by the medical research.Some...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
How many of you have heard the name Dr. Andrew Wakefield? His uber-small, sample study that linked childhood vaccines to autism was retracted by the British Medical Journal. Why is this important? This study fueled the fire for many people choosing not to immunize. But really, what harm is it not to immunize your child against common childhood diseases? You can read about this retraction and the impact it has by following this link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/index.htmlI...
Monday, November 28, 2011
I'm going to focus on aspects of the pediatric immunization controversy that could easily be a whole novel in itself (and has been), but can add layers to novels that have a pediatric character or perhaps you want to add conflict to an issue that involves a child.Issue based novels that are preachy typically perform poorly. It has to be about characters first. A novelist who does this well is Jodi Picoult. There is generally a central issue...
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Normally, I post the upcoming week on Saturday but I had a wee issue with a shoulder dislocation yesterday and was in a slight drug haze after the fine ER doctor put said shoulder into place.I don't know... I think since there's a lot of writers that follow this blog, I should do a book/gift card give-away for whoever leaves the best reason for the cause of the shoulder dislocation. Best comment wins and I'll decide next Saturday. Who's in to win!!Plus, I'm loving Tim Tebow's winning streak and this is another cause to celebrate.This...
Friday, November 25, 2011
On every crime show where a murder has occurred, there's usually a big scene with the medical examiner asserting time of death or determining the time of an injury. In pediatrics, this becomes important when we look at timing a child abuse injury so we can place who was with the child during the suspected event.The question is, can bruising give an exact time for the injury? http://orthopedics.ygoy.com/ Bruising happens when an object...
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Dr. Edwards concludes his series on anuerysms today with a look at abdominal aneurysms.The last blog in this series discussed problems with the upper (thoracic aorta) and how the condition known as a dissecting thoracic aorta can mimic heart attacks and be rapidly fatal if the wrong medication (a clot dissolving drug, for example) is given. This time we’re looking at the abdominal section of the aorta. www.health-news-blog.com By far the...
Monday, November 21, 2011
Dianna's back for her monthly guest blog. Today, she covers EMS care for a diabetic emergency.EMS 4 diabetic emergency at 123 Fox Street, at 123 Fox Street on TACH Channel 12I stuff the rest of my sandwich into my mouth and gulp down some water as I rush out of the fast food joint to hop into my ambulance. As my partner signals RESCOM (dispatch) we’re en route to the above (sample) call, I speed our ambulance down the road, lights and sirens.I won’t...
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving Week!! http://www.theholidayspot.com/I hope it is blessed and a time of joy spent with your family. Here are the festivities I have planned at Redwood's this week.Monday: Dianna Benson's monthly EMS post. Her focus is diabetic emergencies.Wednesday: Dr. Edwards returns to conclude his series on aortic injuries. Great info here! I'll also be over at Christian Mama's guide talking all things pediatrics. Hope you'll check it...
Friday, November 18, 2011
One thing to keep in mind when you're writing a novel is that some illnesses are seasonal. So if your book covers an obvious time of year-- say the summer. It may behoove you as an author to be aware of the illnesses that are and aren't around.Croup: AKA laryngitis. Used to be seasonal but we typically see it year round. No time restrictions needed here. fyi.utah.eduRSV: The leading viral cause of bronchiolitis typically starts in late fall, early...
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
We've all heard sick people exclaim, "Watch out, I'm typhoid Mary today!" over concern of how many people they could potentially infect.I happened to be reading the book, Deadly Choices, by Dr. Paul Offitt which is a non-fiction book that talks about the effects of the anti-vaccine movement on public health. I happened to come across the true story of Mary Mallon AKA Typhoid Mary.Mary Mallon was a cook. In 1906 she was hired by New York banker Charles...
Monday, November 14, 2011
Have you ever wondered about the origin of some symbols? How about the infamous barber pole? Are you familiar with the role of the barber-surgeon? If you write historical fiction spanning the 13th through the 18th century, you may want to familiarize yourself with their function. aj_da_barber The practice of medicine was separated from the practice of surgery. Medical practice was generally carried out by those who went...
Saturday, November 12, 2011
This week at Redwood's Medical Edge:Monday: Barber-SurgeonsIf you're a historical novelist, knowing about the combined role of the barber-surgeon could be important. Hair cut and splenectomy in one stop shopping!Wednesday: The Curious Case of Typhoid Mary. Interesting story and conflict builder. What power should the government have over protecting the population from disease?Thursday: I'll be over at the WordServe Watercooler on the topic of publication. http://wordservewatercooler.com/Friday: Author Beware: Seasonal Illnesses. How are your Thanksgiving...
Friday, November 11, 2011
I'm so blessed that it's been such a great first year for this blog. I owe it to all of you and your interest in how to appropriately injure, main and kill your fictional characters. Thanks to everyone who follows and subscribes and even the lurkers who peruse by....It isn't surprising to me that this remains the most popular post of all time here at Redwood's Medical Edge with nearly 1000 page views. This myth continues to be perpetuated in books...
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Suspense novelists are a little consumed with finding ways to kill their characters. I'm guessing that's why this post by Kathleen Rouser was the second most popular post.Plants: Poisons, Palliatives and Panaceas Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” Gen. 1:29 NIVShortly after the time Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden...
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