Sonographers getting Old

I have a funny.  I have met a few people that said "what is an old ultrasound machine".  Here you have an ancient Hewwlett-Packard cardiac machine which saved many lives.  Hewlett Packard was the best echocardiography machine at the time. I wonder how many echocardiographers remember this machine?  The diagnostics on this machine allowed many cardiologists to take care of patients with heart issues.  I used this wonderful machine for many years.  I also visited the place where these machines were manufactured.  I gave a lecture there.  Massachusetts  Nice place, great food.  HP has been consumed by other companies.  Sad.  TJW

Ultrasound Probes

Happy New Year all.  Here is a tip for all Sonographers.  Keep your probes clean, and do not drop them.  The ultrasound probe (transducer) is the most important element on your machine. Sonographers treat the probe like a sacred instrument the doctors do not understand.  The doctors
 that order echos, and OB examinations have no idea what we do to give them vital information for the proper care of a  patient.  Final note before the link?
Keep the probe clean.

The life expectancy of today's sophisticated ultrasound probes is literally "in the hands" of the sonographers and echocardiographers who use them every day in the course of providing patient care. Given that upwards of 70 percent of all ultrasound service calls are probe related, it pays to consider ways preventable probe damage can be reduced in order to minimize patient risks.

Here is the link.  Thank You Sonoworld

 http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/24980

Small Hospitals Are Dyying Under Obama-Care

Yes, that is a praying mantis.  Ugly and hateful.  To be proper, here is the WIKI definition of the mantis:

Mantodea (or mantises, mantes) is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 species and about 430 genera^[1] in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae.

I post this because I have had a bad year.  Many of you have also had a bad year.  This post is long coming and spiteful towards people who believe in proper and caring health care.  I hope people realize they have a voice in health care.  Many medical institutions who profit from medical imaging are fat guppies.  Hospitals are seeing profits soar because of the over use of CT scans and MRI's.  Most small hospitals are in self defense mode.  The bulk of the profits are from medical imaging.  The current president wants to remove the the genitals of rural hospitals.  Our country hospitals are dying.  Many doctors and nurses and sonographers are losing jobs because of big hospitals metastasizing into small communities to make a profit.  We love our small communities.  We love our patients that come in to small hospitals to get a shot, or a breathing treatment, or just a hug.

Our hospital system is a great place for acute and chronic disease.  People think small hospitals are nursing homes.  I hate this.  I reminds me of a revolting film starring Chuck Heston.  Our small hospitals are not a parking place for re-cycle machines.  They are a place of dignity.  The reference to the mantis is one of a species of insects that recycles it's own.  Very nasty, and totally-false for humans.

Let's support the hospitals in the small communities.  A small hospital is very much capable of providing care that is effective, efficient, and with human caring.  Please support your small hospital.  They are a place of dignity, respect, and humans who LOVE others.  Happy New Year.

Gizz

Clot Buster Machine Is Coming!

I have blogged about the use of ultrasound and medications before.  I am happy to report some new tech is in the testing phase.  You saw it first here on SB.  We will use a combination of clot busting medications, and ultrasound to break up clots in the brain before a stroke can disable a person.  We all know that we hate to see a loved one go comatose.  Perhaps this will be a new tool to prevent the long term effects of stroke to manifest.  I am hopeful.


They say that with a stroke, “time lost is brain lost” – so when a stroke happens, each second counts to stave off further brain damage. Seattle-area startup Cerevast Therapeutics is developing a device that emits ultrasound waves meant to quickly dislodge stroke-causing blood clots in the brain.
And company just raised $10 million, according to a regulatory filing.
The company’s head-worn device, called the ClotBust ER, is made up of a number of ultrasound transducers that are placed in regions where the majority of vessel occlusions in the brain are known to occur, Cerevast says.

Credit:  Med city news    http://medcitynews.com/2014/12/using-ultrasound-treat-stroke-cerevast-therapeutics-raises-10m/