Please measure patients’ weights (for peds primarily) in kilograms, no pounds. I know we use pounds in lay-speak but ALL drug dosages are in mg/kilo so if you measure in pounds, you are inviting a screw up.  Potentially a dangerous screw up.
This was evidenced by a 22 kilo gram patient being weighed in pounds ( […]

Husbands, keep an eye on your wife after she delivers your baby. Watch out for signs of post-partum depression - it can be devastating. Recently we had a woman who in retrospect had obviously been suffering from it for two months (bouts of uncontrolled crying, disinterest in the baby, locking herself in […]

When a young teenager in the examining looks at you with vicious hatred in his buldging eyes, curses you and his family to die, and caps it off with a right hook straight into his father’s nose, causing a bloody explosion, there are underlying issues besides an alcohol level of 100 and marijuana on the […]

Scene 1, a family’s home:  The 7 year old girl starts complaining of abdominal pain followed by vomiting.
What did you eat? asked her Mother.
Nothing!  Just a candy cane!  Ahhhh!  It hurts!
Are you sure?  Are you telling the truth?
Yes!  Ahhhh!  It hurts! (vomits all over the place)
OK, well, I guess we better take you to the […]

I honestly respect old doctors - they have years of experience and often a great rapport with their patients. However, some of them need to hang up the stethoscope. Even with completing CME requirements, some do not not ever seen to change their 20-30 year old practise patterns. Case in point. […]

I hate it when the lab loses specimens.  I really hate it. I hate that we have to stick the patient again. I hate it even more when it is a sample of infected joint fluid I aspirated out of a toddler’s knee!   My response - well, you either find that damn sample or come […]

I always feel bad when I see a child (usually about toddler age) who initially seems to really like me. They smile at me, giggle, hand me things (to which I say “Thank you”), play peek-a-boo, etc.  They let me listen to their lungs, look in their ears, press on their bellies (which makes them […]