Thursday, September 30, 2010

Dr. A Show 186 Tonight: EMS Newbie



BlogTalkRadio Listen Live

Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 9pm ET (0100 UTC)

I hope that you can join us tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 186 when our guests will be the hosts of the Confessions of An EMS Newbie Podcast. The show describes itself as this: "Follow as a complete newbie goes through paramedic school and gets advice from his paramedic mentor."

Ron Davis (@RonDavis007 on Twitter), is a computer programmer and a photographer. He took EMT-Basic at Lone Star College North Harris in the summer of 2010 and is now in the Paramedic program. Steven “Kelly” Grayson (@AmboDriver on Twitter) is a Critical Care Paramedic of 16 years in southeast Louisiana. He’s been an EMT instructor. He has a long running blog, A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver, and is author of the book, En Route A Paramedic’s Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Technology Ailments Interviews


Earlier this week, I shared with you my print interview (actually just a soundbite quote) for the American Medical News newspaper. Well, in addition to that print interview, I was also interviewed by the ReachMD network for a soundbite for their weekly AmEdNews roundup in regards to tech ailments. Then, my local TV news station saw my article and wanted me to talk about it on TV yesterday as well. So, in the first part of the clip above - this is my audio interview with ReachMD news, and in the 2nd part of the clip - this is my interview with local TV news. Enjoy!

Show 186 Preview


This week on Doctor Anonymous Show 186, the hosts of the Confessions of an EMS Newbie podcast will join me. Ron Davis, is a computer programmer and a photographer. He took EMT-Basic at Lone Star College North Harris in the summer of 2010 and is now in the Paramedic program. Steven “Kelly” Grayson (aka @AmboDriver on twitter) is a Critical Care Paramedic of 16 years in southeast Louisiana. He’s been an EMT instructor. He has a long running blog, A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver, and is author of the book, En Route A Paramedic’s Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between.

In addition, I invite you to check out the video promo above. As I discussed above, the huge EMS Expo conference is also going on in Dallas, and @AmboDriver will be calling in from there and, hopefully, will be able to give us a report on what is going on there. So, join me on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time/8pm Central Time on BlogTalkRadio for Show 186. Hope to see you then!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Dr. A Show 183 Wrap-up: Radio Rounds


Thanks again to Avash Kalra and Shamie Das for joining me for Doctor Anonymous Show 183. They are of course part of the group that founded the Radio Rounds program which is a show/podcast that is written and produced by medical students. In the video segment above, Avash and Shamie describe to me the origins of the show.

During the course of show 183, I was able to invite myself (*wink*) to check out their studios which is a mere 4-5 hours away from Doctor Anonymous world headquarters. I will be in their neighborhood next month. So, I hope to drop by to see the magic happen during one of their live shows. That will definitely be a treat for me.

I invite you to check out the entire audio podcast by downloading it from the Dr. A Show iTunes page. I did also want to thank Radio Rounds for mentioning their appearance on my show on their Radio Rounds episode 406. I also invite you to check out the Dr. A Facebook page and encourage you to hit the "Like" button at the top of the FB page. Thanks as always for your continued support of me and of the show. I really appreciate it!

Monday, September 27, 2010

AmEdNews: Technology Ailments


It's not surprising to people that I'm a "techy" type of guy. Reading tech stories about the latest gadgets is a nice occasional escape from work. One of the ways that medicine and tech intersect is in some "overuse injuries" that I've seen and talked with people about. When the nintendo Wii first came out, there were many stories of "Wii-itis" and tendonitis related injuries.

Last week, the American Medical News interviewed me for a story posted on their site today called "New Personal Technology Creating New Ailments." The article opens like this...
When Mike Sevilla, MD, sees young patients at his Salem, Ohio, family practice, he often finds them text messaging or listening to music on portable media players. These tech-savvy patients may not realize it, but they could be on the way to developing health problems related to overuse of personal technology. That's why Dr. Sevilla uses such exam room encounters as a springboard to talk about the potential health impact of today's tech devices.

"I talk about listening to loud music and being distracted while driving. ... I bring up those examples of people who were hurt or killed because they could not disconnect themselves from their cell phone," he said. Dr. Sevilla and other physicians across the nation are adding questions about cell phone use and computer habits to the office visit at a time when dependence on electronic devices has reached unprecedented levels.
The article goes on to say that the most common physical problems that are seen include problems with vision, elbow, thumb, and wrist. These are due to prolonged use of computers and mobile devices like cell phones and electronic handheld devices. In addition, our friend Dr. Gwenn also chimes in on this issue.
"A child might come in with thumb pain, but the last thing the pediatrician will think of is that it's related to their cell phone use," said Dr. O'Keeffe, an executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Communications and Media. "That needs to change." The Hudson, Mass., pediatrician recommends that physicians ask all patients what types of technology they use and how often they use them. She suggests that doctors schedule a follow-up visit to discuss technology habits if health problems are suspected.
Thanks so much to American Medical News for talking with me. These technology related injuries will become more common, and unfortunately, more deadly. It was only a few days after my interview that my local paper posted a story entitled "Texting Kills." Texting while driving is an entirely different issue, but a tech issue that is being talked about more now...

Addendum: I also invite you to check out my radio and TV interviews on this subject by clicking over to this post...

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Show 184 Wrap-up


Doctor Anonymous Show 184 was another Saturday nite show with me and my co-host Kat where we discussed a variety of serious and not-so-serious stories from the past week. In the video above, we discuss a story of a child whose community service project is walking across America. Can you believe that? You can download the entire audio podcast for Show 184 over on the show's iTunes page. And, as always, check out the show's Facebook page and hit the huge "Like" button at the top!

Show 182 Wrap-up


I'm a little late posting this, but Doctor Anonymous Show 182 was broadcast on September 11, 2010. In the video above, you'll see some of the thoughts that I had that night during the broadcast - including that day 9 years ago and what I was doing. My co-host Kat and I had other stuff to talk about during the show. And, I encourage you to go to the iTunes page of the show and download the entire audio podcast there. Don't forget to check out the Facebook page for the show...

Friday, September 24, 2010

Show 185 Wrap-up


I know that I did not do any kind of promotion of Doctor Anonymous Show 185. This was mainly because I know the only person interested in the show was me. This was in follow up of show 178 where I talked about my medical school and their proposed name change. This does not affect any of you out there, and I know that most of you out there don't care about this topic.

But, since this is my blog and my podcast show, I chose to talk about it. Hours before the show, there was a meeting at the medical school to talk about it and answer questions. And if you're curious about the "press conference" style presentation, I encourage you to go to the med school website where the event was live streamed to the internet (don't wait too long since the med school will not keep this link up for ever)

I won't bore you with the details of the meeting here in the blog post. I basically summarize things during Show 185. You can listen to the show in the player on the sidebar. You can also go to the show's iTunes page to download the show and listen for yourself. I also encourage you to check out the Facebook page for the show. Have a great weekend everybody!

Addendum: I encourage you to check out my five part series on this topic including "Why It Matters," "The Response," "Name Change," "The Podcast", and "Show 185 Wrap-Up."

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

CyberSafe book By Dr. Gwenn


Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe just released her book called "CyberSafe: Protecting and Empowering Digital Kids In The World Of Texting, Gaming, and Social Media." As you know from her website, Pediatrics Now, Dr. Gwenn has been talking and writing on this topic for a while now.

In the video above, Dr. Gwenn talks about her book, gives us a rundown of the table of contents, and gives us an idea of what being CyberSafe is all about. I also invite you to check out the CyberSafe website where you can check out a sample chapter.

I hope to have Dr. Gwenn back on The Doctor Anonymous Show soon to talk about her book. As you know, Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician, health journalist, and CEO of Pediatrics Now, an online health and communications company. Through www.pediatricsnow.com and the nationally syndicated blog www.drgwennisin.com, she addresses issues ranging from general health to those concerning the intersection of health care and social media.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Family Medicine TV: Tough Medicine


In a previous post, I talk about Dr. Doug Farrago who is a Family Medicine physician in Maine who is doing his best to spread the story of Family Medicine through the medium of television. Wanna see what the concept of his television show, well then click here and you'll see the video.

It looks like Dr. Doug has taken the next step in this wild dream of a project and recorded a type of pilot episode for the television show that he is calling "Tough Medicine." He describes this show as "traveling across America to work with some of the country's best Family Doctors on some of their toughest cases." I continue to wish the best of luck to Dr. Farrago. This is great stuff and hope that others will see that as well...

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Dr. A Show 183 Tonight: Radio Rounds


BlogTalkRadio Listen Live

Thursday, September 16th, 2010 at 9pm ET (0100 UTC)

I hope that you can join us tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 183 when our guests will be the hosts of the podcast Radio Rounds which is a show completely produced and created by medical students at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. Avash Kalra, Lakshman Swamy, Shamie Das, and John Corker are schedule to appear on tonight's show. (I invite you to check out each of their bios before the show)

The video above has the newest co-host of the show, Casey McCluskey, who shares her story of what it was like to be a patient. You see, at the end of her first year of medical school - like during finals week - she was diagnosed with breast cancer (as a medical student) and she shares her journey through this with the tremendous support of her classmates, her friends, and her family.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Ohio Governor Debate

Last night in Columbus, the first of two televised debates took place between Democratic Governor Ted Strickland and Republican nominee John Kasich. This debate was only televised in the Columbus area (which I have a little problem with, since I don't live in Columbus, but that's another post). I was able to catch some TV highlights from the local TV news station down there.

It's always interesting seeing how the campaign messages are structured. The incumbent governor is taking the Wall Street Vs Main Street approach to appeal to his constituents (quote below from an article from the Columbus Dispatch)
My opponent has worked on Wall Street while I was here in Ohio fighting to create jobs," Strickland said. "He worked for Lehman Brothers, a big company that manipulated and lied and acted unethically, and cost Ohio pensions over $400 million. While they were going into bankruptcy, two years ago tomorrow my opponent was getting a $400,000 bonus. This is a question of Wall Street values versus Ohio values.
On the other side of the isle, the former congressman is focusing on the state's economy and the loss and lack of jobs to get his message out:
Governor, we've lost 382,000 jobs on your watch. You promised to turn Ohio around and you failed and you want to blame everybody else. You've got to learn to accept personal responsibility.... If I'd lost 382,000 jobs, I'd engage in the politics of distraction as well...If you can't sell your own record, you attack the other guy. But you know what, I'm not distracted.
I have always disliked the term "bell weather state" in the description of Ohio politics - meaning that, the way that Ohio state elections go (whether it be for democrats or republicans) - sometimes being predictive of how national elections may go.

I don't do a lot of political commentary, but this 2010 US national election cycle is going to be an important one. So, even though it's not a US presidential election year, I encourage everybody to at least learn about some of the important issues on a local, state and national level. The first step at change is making yourself aware of what is going out there. And, I guess this post is to help me a little with that...

FMEC 2010 Site

For those of you who follow me on twitter, you may remember that I tweeted out the message above stating that I was excited about a new project that I was a part of. Well, in this post, I will share this with you. I am going to be part of a panel during Halloween Weekend coming up next month in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the Family Medicine Education Consortium (FMEC 2010) NE Region Conference. I'm going to be talking about (what else) - Social Media and Family Medicine.

And, in getting ready for the conference, my enthusiasm got the best of me in that I created a "fan page" devoted to the FMEC 2010 meeting. Why is it a "fan page?" Well, it's definitely unofficial and not necessarily endorsed by the organization and I am solely the one responsible for the content of the page.

Anyway, my goal in the creation of the page is to hopefully generate dialogue between and among the attendees to the meeting. The meeting participants can be from community family physicians, family physician educators, residents and medical students. It's no secret that I'm excited about social media and I hope to spread the excitement to my peers on this subject. So, if you are a family doc and/or going to the FMEC 2010 meeting, I encourage you to check out my site and spark some discussion over there! (also check out the video below in which I welcome people to the site)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Better Health Live Interviews


Members of the Better Health team - including Dr. Val, KevinMD, and Dr. Rob - will be covering a meeting in Washington, DC on Thursday, September 16, 2010. The meeting is called "Fact Or Fiction: ADHD in America, A Capitol Hill Forum." The moderator for this forum will be Frank Sesno who is for former Washington Bureau Chief for CNN.

The forum concludes at 2pm at which point the Better Health Team will conduct LIVE interviews via ustream.tv with individuals from the forum. Click on this link at around 2pm Eastern Time to not only see these live interviews, but also you can take part in the discussion via the live chat room in which you can ask questions in real time so that you can feel like you're actually there as part of the dialogue.

You may remember that Better Health did similar interviews earlier this year as part of the HIMSS conference in Atlanta. Check out the video above to see a quick snapshot of the interviews. The full interviews are available at the Better Health You Tube site. Hope to see you on Thursday afternoon at the Better Health UStream Site!

Show 183 Preview: Radio Rounds


The Dr. A Thursday night shows return this week with Doctor Anonymous Show 183 featuring the hosts of the Radio Rounds podcast which is completely created and produced by medical students from the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. Hosts Avash Kalra, Lakshman Swamy, Shamie Das, and John Corker will be joining me.

The list of their previous guests is quite impressive including KevinMD, Samuel Shem (author of House of God), the Editor-In-Chief of JAMA, and a show from earlier this year talking with a physician on his way to Haiti.

I invite you to join me for Doctor Anonymous Show 183 on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio. Don't forget to check out the video post above, the twitter page, the facebook page, the iTunes page, and the you tube page. See you for the show!

Dr. A Show 182: Sept 11, 2010


Even though Doctor Anonymous Show 182 was a Saturday night show (and typically Saturday nite shows are lighter in content), Show 182 was on September 11, 2010. All the way back at Doctor Anonymous Show 48 in 2008 - I also shared comments about September 11. And, it is not my goal to make any kind of political statement. I just wanted to share some thoughts of what was going through my head. (Check out the video above which shares my comments about 9/11)

Of course, Show 182 did not totally encompass discussion on 9/11, there were other topics covered as well including some sports stories, entertainment stories and odd stories. As always, Kat was co-hosting with me on Saturday night. You can listen to the show right on this site on the player in the sidebar. You can also download the show and listen anytime by going to the iTunes page for the show. Don't forget to check out the Facebook page for the show and hit the big "Like" button at the top. I also invite you to check out my You Tube page in which I have some TV interviews with local TV news about a variety of health issues. Thanks for your continued support for the show!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Dr. A Show 181 Wrap-up: Reunion


I'm just catching up on these wrap-up shows for prior podcasts. Doctor Anonymous Show 181 orignially aired a couple of weeks ago. That same evening was my 20 year high school reunion. And during Show 181, and in the video above, I discuss the reasons why I did not attend my reunion. And, I admit that I got mixed feedback on why I didn't attend. I really appreciate your discussion on this!

If you missed the show, don't worry! You can listen to the show in the player on the sidebar of this blog. You can also download the show and listen anytime by going to the iTunes page for the show. In addition, please check out the Facebook page for the show and hit the huge "Like" button at the top. Finally, if you like the video above, check out my other videos on my you tube page. Thanks for your continued support for the show!

KevinMD on Video


In the past few days, you may have noticed that our friend KevinMD is utilizing viddler.com to do video previews of upcoming blog/website content. This is an interesting move from the opinion leader who traditionally has only used text - although he has posted videos on his site in the past from other medically related content providers.

I think this is a good thing and shows the trend of content creation moving beyond the text format into other areas like video, audio, and live streaming. I hope that other opinion leaders in this space try out video, audio, and other platforms. Continuing to explore other means of social media communication is what I like to see!

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Concussions in School Sports


Earlier this week, a study that was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics stating that "The number of sport-related concussions is highest in high-school aged athletes, but the number in younger athletes is significant and on the rise." Why is this? Many believe that this is from better recognition of the symptoms and the need to be medically evaluated.

I did a couple of interviews with local TV news to talk about the subject (Video 1 and Video 2). In my research on this subject, I found an article from the Dayton Daily News stating that the Ohio High School Athletic Association passed a policy in May 2010:
Any athlete who exhibits signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion (such as loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion or balance problems) shall be immediately removed from the contest and shall not return to play until cleared with written authorization by an appropriate health care professional.
In addition, on the OHSAA website, there is an entire section devoted to concussions and head injuries. I have also read that other states have taken similar steps - especially with high school and younger athletes. If you find the videos in this post helpful, I encourage you to see my other interviews on health related topics at MikeSevilla.TV