Hot in CHEST: April 2014
April 8, 2014
By: Deep Ramachandran, MBBS
Each month, we ask Drs. Chris Carroll and Deep Ramachandran, Social Media Co-Editors of CHEST, to weigh in on the hot topics in CHEST. It’s April, so let’s hear from Dr. Ramachandran as he outlines his highlights from the April issue. After reviewing the issue, what’s on your hot list? Be sure to share on our Facebook wall, tweet with the hashtag #AprilCHEST or discuss in the CHEST e-Community!
The Intelligent Use of Digital Tools and Social Media in Practice Management
I was rather impressed when I read this incredibly informative primer on getting social media involved in your practice, but I have a question. Aren’t the people who write the “Hot in CHEST” blog the same people who wrote this amazing article itself?
I’m all for tooting your own horn and all, but is that even allowed?
Yes they are, and yes it is.
The Ethical Issues Associated With ECMO Use in Adults
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of life support in which blood is removed from the body, oxygen is added, and CO2 is removed. The blood is then returned to the body; the device essentially acts as a peripheral lung. This technology is finding increasing uses in adults. However, use of such therapies raises ethical issues that need to be examined. ECMO is typically a “bridge” therapy to be used until a person improves or another therapy, such as lung transplantation is undertaken. What do we do when these goals are not achieved, but the patient remains alive on ECMO support? How do we use extracorporeal CPR? The authors tackle these questions in this thought-provoking article.
The Preventable Burden of Productivity Loss Due to Suboptimal Asthma Control: A Population-Based Study
Asthma places a significant burden on patients due to its propensity to cause disabling symptoms. While the personal effects of asthma are well-known, its economic burdens are not as well-quantified. In this article, Sadatsafavi and colleagues attempt to put a number on the cost of poorly controlled and uncontrolled asthma in real dollar terms. The loss of productivity caused by a worker with uncontrolled asthma, either because those workers cannot work (absenteeism) or attempt to work impaired (presenteeism) is substantial (see the abstract for details). When regulators consider the cost of asthma treatment, the cost of uncontrolled asthma must also be considered.
Big Data in the ICU: Leveraging a Critical Care Database
This study is an example of a new and exciting trend seen in the medical literature of late. The study reviewed electronic medical records from a public domain, which contains de-identified information on patients admitted to the ICUs of Beth Deaconess Medical Center. The study did demonstrate an increase in mortality among those taking SSRIs, but how the study was performed was probably at least as significant. As the authors state, “the study serves to demonstrate the potential for the future application of advanced data examination techniques upon detailed [electronic] databases being made available by the digitization of medicine.”
Could not have said it better myself.