[url]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123060332638041525.html[/url]

People are policy. And now that President-elect Barack Obama has fielded his team of Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services and Melody Barnes as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, we can predict both the strategy and substance of the new administration's health-care reform.

The prognosis is not good for patients, physicians or taxpayers. If Mr. Daschle meant what he wrote ...

This fellow is going broke because of his wife's devestating medical condition...and she hasn't even been treated yet.

Strange; I thought it was only Americans who were one illness away from medical bankruptcy because of our semi-privatized system.

[url]http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hbWRf-ivmQ4cBXEayjF0MO-XRYFg[/url]

"Unless he gets some financial help, Ken MacKay says his savings will soon dry up, forcing his wife ...

Turns out that someone was also reusing finger-stick lancets...the same one for over a YEAR!

[url]http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hBQU-oAGiLTlxNBUXqdTrWr0Q7Jw[/url]

"WINNIPEG — Manitoba's largest health authority launched an internal investigation Thursday after 17 patients may have been exposed to blood-borne infections while having their blood-sugar levels tested.

Health officials say they are looking into how a nurse ...

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/11/12/air-ambulance.html[/url]

36 year old Newfoundland resident was transported to Halifax by air ambulance for lifesaving surgery. After several weeks in the ICU, her physician cleared her to return home...but the government refused to dispatch an ambulance.

I found the "comments" to this article to be just as interesting as the story; apparently this woman was supposed to be transferred back to another health care ...

Another entry in the ongoing saga of the cost-saving maneuver of reusing syringes in Canadian Health Care facilities.

See previous blog entries here; [url]http://forums.nurse.com/blog.php?b=98[/url], here [url]http://forums.nurse.com/blog.php?b=95[/url], and here [url]http://forums.nurse.com/blog.php?b=85[/url]

Now the latest from Candian news.

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/11/13/syringes-re-used.html[/url]

Originally it was ...

I just ran across this article today on the cost of healthcare for Canadians in 2008.

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/11/13/health-spending.html[/url]

It says,

"Health care spending in Canada is expected to outpace inflation to reach $171.9 billion in 2008, up more $10.3 billion from last year's estimate, according to a report released Thursday."

(Here is another link to another Canadian news source; the previous link ...

[url]http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/25358/urinating-jersey-city-councilman-politically-alive-now[/url]

New Jersey Democrat smiles at crowd below while whizzing off the balcony onto a crowd of concertgoers below.

I wonder if this has moved him up the list to be Obama's Press Secretary?

[url]http://www.amherstdaily.com/index.cfm?sid=188321&sc=510[/url]

Despite expanding political attention and an increase in gov't funding, rates of MRSA have doubled, and VRE infection rates have increased 77% in Canadian Hospitals with 80 or more beds.

Are we ready to invite this kind of 'oversight' into our hospitals?

I just had an interesting discussion with one of our NM's this evening...about universal health care.

In Hospital A is a baby #1 who is slowly recovering from an extensive surgery and several related complications. This child's 'home' is about 100 miles away, and was sent to Hospital A to receive specialized services.

This child has a sibling (baby #2) who needed less-complicated surgery at the same time, and was able to receive that surgery at Hospital M near home, ...

I guess universal coverage isn't so universal.

People constantly complain about what insurance companies won't cover, apparently failing to realize that gov't payors don't cover everything as well...which is why the gov't is being petitioned to pay for lymphedema compression bandages for cancer survivors.

[url]http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/local/article/137403[/url]

[url]http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=6219c084-1ede-4da9-843a-208585259a4c[/url]

"Babies and toddlers are waiting twice as long for hernia surgery than is considered safe, increasing the risk they will need urgent bowel surgery and may suffer damage to a testicle or ovary, a new study has concluded."

"They found the median waiting time was 35 days from the time of diagnosis to surgery."

"Children who waited ...

[url]http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-BLfRdE0k8_xMNPrJlj09o4Q8mQ[/url]

[url]http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=253af01f-bf02-4335-ad63-f4660b7b3d86[/url]

Just reuse other medical supplies and save whatever drug is left over in the syringe to use on the next patient.

It seems that every few days we find another Canadian facility that has been reusing syringes on multiple patients. This, however, is the first I've read ...

It's because if they don't have 24 hour emergency departments, then they aren't really hospitals.

The case of mistaken identity is blamed on the consumers; "During his remarks Tuesday, Dr. Kitts said there was a misconception with Niagara public that there are six hospitals in the region. He said there is in fact one hospital, spread over six sites."

[url]http://www.niagarathisweek.com/news/article/216721[/url]

An anonymous physician is opening up about the practice of reusing syringes on multiple patients in Canadian healthcare facilities.

[url]http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=02de54d1-fb8b-4cd0-bb17-e0742dc29eda[/url]

See my previous blog entry here; [url]http://forums.nurse.com/blog.php?b=85[/url]

Not only are they risking the transfer of infectious diseases, they are also risking the administration of residual medication that may have ...

So much for their waiting list for surgeries.

[url]http://www.barrieadvance.com/barrieadvance/article/120822[/url]

Today, Canada's national blood supply is just under two day's worth.

But I don't know why this is a problem; when Canada get's low on neonatal ICU beds, they just use American neonatal ICU beds. When they get put on a Canadian waiting list for surgery or an MRI or CT scan, they just come to the US and get it here. Makes me wonder why the ...