The debate over health care reform is proving to be a no-holds barred battle but, as New York Times' David Pogue reports, electronic records have already provided one big change.
Actor Dennis Quaid ("I'm not really a doctor. I don't even play one on TV!") is a believer that computerized health systems save lives.
In 2007, his newborn twins were victims of a terrible medical mistake.
"About a week after we brought them home from the hospital, they started to develop what turned out to be a staph infection," he said. "They were supposed to receive a 10-unit dose of heparin. And the nurse had the wrong bottle and gave them a 10,000 unit dose each of the drug. And they were in real danger of dying."
Watch thisCBS video.
An information blog bringing together great minds, adding to research, testing ideas, providing intelligence, debating policies and enabling best practices in the design and delivery of health care.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Unlearning. A book by Dr. Alejandro R. Jadad
Reposted from Monday, October 13, 2008
Dr. Alejandro R. Jadad writes:
"I just published my first non-medical book, entitled "Unlearning", which I am using to explore the impact of combining online publishing, social networking and the notion of "Freeconomics".
The book can be downloaded for free or purchased at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/4132419
I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share it with anyone you think might find this interesting.
------------------------------------
Here is an excerpt:
------------------------------------
I still remember my maternal grandfather quoting
[Benjamin] Franklin’s words:
“For Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points
to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in
which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in
some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it.”
Many years later, when I was in my late teens and already
a medical student, my grandfather’s image and Franklin’s
words came to me suddenly, while I was playing as the
captain and goalkeeper of my university in-door soccer team.
I could see the entire field from under the goalposts and was
shouting instructions to my teammates. I suddenly felt like
the King on a Chessboard, being the target of the opposing
team, unable to move from my box and hoping that my
teammates would follow my commands. I also realized that, at
the same time, in my life outside the pitch, I was a
dispensable pawn at the hospital where I was training as an
intern, with little control over my future. It was my superiors,
not me, who would decide where and when I would work, and
what role I would play in the war against diseases. I replayed
the words from Franklin’s essay and realized that I could
easily replace the word Chess for game, making his
statements even more prescient:
“Life is a kind of game, in which we have points to gain,
and competitors or adversaries to contend with, in which there
is a variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the
effects of prudence or the want of it”.
At that moment, feeling like a piece on a board, I started
to suspect that not just Chess, but all games in general, are
much more than enactments of life. They may be signaling to
us, constantly, that life itself is a game.
This thought set me on a path that proved to be much
more challenging and exciting than I could have ever
anticipated.
Perhaps, I wondered, by looking at the nature and
structure of games, I could gain valuable insights about my
own life and how to live it.
Dr. Alejandro R. Jadad writes:
"I just published my first non-medical book, entitled "Unlearning", which I am using to explore the impact of combining online publishing, social networking and the notion of "Freeconomics".
The book can be downloaded for free or purchased at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/4132419
I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share it with anyone you think might find this interesting.
------------------------------------
Here is an excerpt:
------------------------------------
I still remember my maternal grandfather quoting
[Benjamin] Franklin’s words:
“For Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points
to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in
which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in
some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it.”
Many years later, when I was in my late teens and already
a medical student, my grandfather’s image and Franklin’s
words came to me suddenly, while I was playing as the
captain and goalkeeper of my university in-door soccer team.
I could see the entire field from under the goalposts and was
shouting instructions to my teammates. I suddenly felt like
the King on a Chessboard, being the target of the opposing
team, unable to move from my box and hoping that my
teammates would follow my commands. I also realized that, at
the same time, in my life outside the pitch, I was a
dispensable pawn at the hospital where I was training as an
intern, with little control over my future. It was my superiors,
not me, who would decide where and when I would work, and
what role I would play in the war against diseases. I replayed
the words from Franklin’s essay and realized that I could
easily replace the word Chess for game, making his
statements even more prescient:
“Life is a kind of game, in which we have points to gain,
and competitors or adversaries to contend with, in which there
is a variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the
effects of prudence or the want of it”.
At that moment, feeling like a piece on a board, I started
to suspect that not just Chess, but all games in general, are
much more than enactments of life. They may be signaling to
us, constantly, that life itself is a game.
This thought set me on a path that proved to be much
more challenging and exciting than I could have ever
anticipated.
Perhaps, I wondered, by looking at the nature and
structure of games, I could gain valuable insights about my
own life and how to live it.