Friday, November 13, 2009
The Sad State of Hand Washing at Your Local Hospital
Freakonomists Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner recently gave a talk at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. One of the topics was doctors' compliance with hand washing procedures and how to sway them into following the protocol. Here's a few minutes from the event:
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
"Oh Shnocks! The state of healthcare technology in '09"
The Healthcare Human Factors Group from Canada's University Health Network produced a short comic video that gives a sense of what it's like to deal with all the gadgetry in a modern hospital. The clips come from the group's own in-lab usability tests where doctors and nurses are closely observed to see how technology could be improved to increase safety, ease of use, and efficiency.
Link: Healthcare Human Factors...
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Take Along Bidet for Sanitary Travels
Beware: a person next to you in the airport restroom stall might not be doing what you think he is doing. The SkyMall now offers a portable battery powered bidet, designed to satisfy the urges of all types of maniacs.
From the product page:
This little wonder, which comes with its own handy travel pouch, provides a refreshing, pulsating spray of water just where and when you need it.Your Travel Bidet is ready to go, just open the box and install the included AA battery, then when you are ready to use it... "just add water". When folded the Sanicare Pocket-Sized Travel Bidet is small enough to easily fit into your pocketbook or briefcase. When extended it provides an ergonomic shape that gives you the reach required for a thorough and comfortable cleansing.
Being able to restore your personal hygiene and comfort after travelling has not always been possible until now; with your personal Sanicare Travel Bidet relief is at hand. Rinsing with water prevents irritation from toilet paper abrasion, incomplete cleansing, perspiration and bacteria, which can cause unpleasant odors. Whether you travel by plane, car, cruise ship or train, you can now feel shower fresh every time after using the restroom.
Product page: Sanicare Travel Bidet
(hat tip: RGS)
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Friday, September 4, 2009
Seen on Wisconsin's Scenic Byways
CNN video explains:
More from Plasmetic.com...
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Coital Model Takes a Pounding For Science
Somehow we missed an article in last year's Contraception, a magazine we read over morning coffee and brioche, that presented findings of a study that tried to identify why condoms break. Beside analyzing broken samples and questionnaires asking those with first hand experience, the researchers from SSL International, manufacturers of Durex brand condoms, used a painful looking "coital model" to identify "blunt puncture" as the cause of breakage. The blunt puncture action turns out to be when "the tip of the thrusting male penis progressively stretches one part of the intact condom wall until it ultimately breaks."
Picture of the Coital Model is hidden under the drape below.
Abstract: Male condoms that break in use do so mostly by a "blunt puncture" mechanism.
(hat tip: NCBI ROFL via Gizmodo)
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Monday, August 10, 2009
Where The Sun Never Shines: Under a Pannus
George Vera, 25, was arrested last week for selling bootleg recordings on a street corner in Houston. Following at least four body searches of the suspect, authorities later booked Mr. Vera into the Harris County Jail. Turns out he managed to hide an unloaded 9mm pistol under a pannus in his massive body. Considering that a handgun recently appeared momentarily on the FDA rule books, we'll consider this incident as an example of an implanted device.
The Houston Chronicle reports:
Police arrested Vera on Sunday after he was spotted selling apparently bootlegged compact discs out of the back of a sport utility vehicle parked at Hollister and Pitner, Hawkins said.Police spokesman Victor Senties said Vera was searched three times by police personnel: once at the scene, again, more thoroughly, when he arrived at the city jail, and a final time before he was transferred to the Harris County Jail.
Vera was subjected to an additional search at the county lockup.
City and county law enforcement spokespeople said inmates at both the city and county jails are not required to pass through a metal detector or undergo wand searches.
Vera's possession of the firearm came to light Monday when he approached a county guard during a shower break and admitted having smuggled the weapon, authorities said.
Perhaps he forgot about the gun and discovered it only when washing up all the nooks and crannies in the shower.
More at the Houston Chronicle: Gun found on obese inmate after 5 searches...
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Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Keep In Mind Those Safety Protocols!
Here we have a hospital bed making love to an MRI machine because someone didn't take proper precautions.
Source: FAIL Blog
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
Japanese Gizmo Wants to Keep You Mildly Awake
Now here's an odd item stereotypically coming out of Japan that might be of circumstantial interest to those in medical schools. The Wink Glasses are clip-ons that can detect one's blinking, and when the blinking slows, as when you're dozing off, the glasses turn opaque. This supposedly should wake you up and get back to highlighting the tome.
Google translation of the product page...
(hat tip: Engadget)
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Monday, July 20, 2009
iPhone App Helps Find Medicinal Marijuana Dispensaries
Imagine yourself a Californian and a proud owner of a medical marijuana license. You are tired of sitting at home on a workers comp, so you go on a weekend camping getaway, a trip that you rightfully deserve. Having run out of provisions, perhaps because of greedy friends, you find yourself in need of a refill, but your local dispensary is too far away. You can either curse the Governator for the deplorable state of the Californian dispensaries, or you can empower yourself! To help locate the nearest facility that will sell you a few buds, a new $3 iPhone application has been created featuring a database from two sources overlaying all the known legal spots on the map.
Here's a quick video demo:
Product page: iPhone Cannabis Locator Application
iTunes link...
(hat tip: Gizmodo)
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
DIY Circumcision Makes Writing This Post Difficult
An English gentleman, possibly skeptical of the offerings provided by the National Health Service (NHS), decided to perform his own circumcision at home. Apparently not aided by anything other than some ethanol, the patient/physician brought a pair of nail clippers to the surgical theatre/kitchen sink. Inevitably something went terribly wrong and medics had to be brought out.
The Telegraph quotes one from the rescue team:
"This is something we would advise men never to attempt," a medic said, "The results can be quite horrific and long-lasting and have quite an affect on a man's sexual performance."Using a pair of nail clippers must have caused excruciating pain, even if he had had a few drinks beforehand."
More from The Telegraph...
Image: mokolabs
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Life Size Fetus Replicas Make for Nifty Presents for Expecting Parents
Jorge Lopes, a design student at the Royal College of Art in London, has been turning 3D ultrasound images of fetuses in the womb into actual models. The technique uses an RCA 3D printer to make the unique mementos that may one day replace photographs as take home souvenirs from the obstetrician.
More from the Daily Mail...
(hat tip: UberReview)
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Thursday, June 4, 2009
Fetus Sonogram Cufflinks Make a Fashion Statement
Continuing this week's streak of medical fashion coverage, we found these custom sonogram cufflinks that are advertised as a perfect present for an expecting father. It would probably be out of taste to present a cardiac patient with cufflinks featuring echocardiography scans of his mitral regurgitation or aortic insufficiency from endocarditis.
Product page: Sonogram Photo Cufflinks
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Circulatory System Stockings Bring Fashion to Anatomy Class
Ladies in medical school should have no problem attracting the boy dissecting the cadaver at the next table when wearing these stockings. At 41€ ($60 and rising), let's hope the date is old fashioned and will insist on paying for dinner.
Link: Bas veines et artères at UP Factory...
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When Godzilla Needs a New Arm
We regularly come across new ideas in prosthetic arm design, but the Hand of Man is in a class by itself. A diesel powered hydraulic prosthesis that can only have been made for Godzilla, this thing can gently crush cars for a bit of stress therapy when demolishing cities is getting boring.
Here's video of the Hand of Man, including the developer, Christian Ristow, explaining the workings of the "prosthesis":
Link: Christian Ristow's projects page...
(hat tip: MAKE blog)
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Creative Sense Takes The Drab Out of Boring
Via the bookofjoe blog we found the work of designer Diddo Velema who exhibits a mildly dark sense of humor we can appreciate. Above are a pair of wetsuits from a collection that will surely stand out when riding a narly wave, and to the right you see a gas mask that would find itself at home at a Fifth Avenue storefront.
Here's more from Diddo Velema about the wetsuits:
Wetsuits are both functional and protective, but why must they all look the same?Is there some unwritten law that dictates we shed our individuality to blend into the monotone waters? Not to challenge Mother Nature's art direction but it's high time for a change.
With that in mind, I took up the challenge to create an alternative. With custom inks and unique printing techniques, I was able to map textures onto the suits to create original designs that evoke the mysteries of the seas.
The first edition contains four original designs: a rusted iron diving suit evoking the days of Jules Verne, the anatomic musculature suit as a homage to our inner strength, a wet suit which gives the illusion that the wearer has been attacked by a group of hungry sharks and finally a whale shark patterned suit that celebrates the brilliance and originality of our natural water world.
More from Diddo Velema, including an interesting AIDS awareness raising project in conjunction with Levi's jeans.
(hat tip: bookofjoe)
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
DeWalt Hardware Drill Performs Well in Brain Surgery
About a year ago we wrote about a physician from St George's Hospital in London that brings his trusty home drill when performing charity brain surgery in Ukraine. From BBC we now learn of an Australian physician who, in an emergency, had to save a boy with intracranial bleeding and resorted to using a DeWalt drill. Our previous story featured a Bosch model, for those interested. To make the experience a bit more exciting, the physician, who has never performed the procedure, received instructions on what to do over the phone from a neurosurgeon that provided all the details.
The small hospital had no special tools, so the team had to use a household drill.Dr Carson called the neurosurgeon who talked him through the procedure by telling him where to aim the drill and how deep to go.
"All of a sudden the emergency ward was turned into an operating theatre," Michael Rossi [patient's father] told Fairfax Radio.
"We didn't see anything, but we heard the noises, heard the drill. It was just one of those surreal experiences."
Dr David Tynan, an anaesthetist who helped Dr Carson, said the procedure took about a minute.
"It was pretty scary," he told ABC.
"You obviously worry, [are] you pushing hard enough or pushing too hard, but then when some blood came out after we'd gone through the skull, we realised we'd made the right decision."
Here's a quick video report from BBC:
More from BBC...
Flashback: Home Depot for Some, Neuro Depot for Others
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009
iSnort Simulates Sniffing California Cornflakes
The iPhone has surprised us over the past two years by the number of medical and health related applications that have been made for it. Here's an application that those quitting from a cocaine snorting habit can use to get off the drug. Or probably not.
Link: The iSnort - I can't believe it's not cocaine.
(hat tip: Babochkov)
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Coming Swine Flu Epidemic of The 70's
For a bit of perspective, and a mild dose of 70's nostalgia, here's a public service announcement to get a swine flu shot.
(hat tip: FunnyOrDie)
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A Modern Way to Bring Home a Taste of Third World Toiletry
A team from Arizona State University decided to redesign the toilet, brazenly removing the seat and forcing the user to apply yoga techniques while flexing a variety of muscles. Perhaps the old fashioned among us, can choose to multitask on the commode with a bit of some light reading. No doubt some of our readers can do that, some yoga, and chew gum at the same time.
ASU reports:
The Flo toilet is an ergonomic, sustainable design concept for baby boomers that functions like a squat toilet. Designers maintain that using the Flo toilet is akin to yoga - by building and strengthening abdominal and back muscles. Only one-half to one gallon of water is used for flushing and The Flo reuses water from hand washing. To flush water from the tanks to the toilet, the Flo employs an electromagnetic ball valve. Go With the Flo also is free of mechanical parts. The toilet is fully self-sustaining and independent of electric power.
ASU press release: Industrial product design wastes away the competition ...
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