Comments on: From the Trenches – 4/29 and 4/30 http://distractible.org/2009/04/30/from-the-trenches-429-and-430/ Thoughts of a moderately strange (yet not harmful) primary care physician. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:22:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: emcpherson http://distractible.org/2009/04/30/from-the-trenches-429-and-430/comment-page-1/#comment-4029 emcpherson Fri, 08 May 2009 01:37:28 +0000 http://distractible.org/?p=2410#comment-4029 Our office was unprepared for an epidemic and honestly I think I was the only one worrying about it. I scored the web and found the most helpful sites to be the new york city dept of health (they have a virtual medical community) and the CA DOH (wonderful illustration of nose swabbing technique.) the other great site was pandemicflu.gov which has a checklist for procedures we should have in place for this type of thing. The CDC site was done so very well with the possibility of getting email updates. It points out to e the difficulty of being in a small unafffiliated practice. The practices owned by hospitals had many procedures in place as did very large practices. I can tell you that I am going to start participating in disaster preparedness if possible in the future so at least I will be familiar with all the players. If there was a power outage and no web available it would have been more difficult. Our office was unprepared for an epidemic and honestly I think I was the only one worrying about it. I scored the web and found the most helpful sites to be the new york city dept of health (they have a virtual medical community) and the CA DOH (wonderful illustration of nose swabbing technique.) the other great site was pandemicflu.gov which has a checklist for procedures we should have in place for this type of thing. The CDC site was done so very well with the possibility of getting email updates. It points out to e the difficulty of being in a small unafffiliated practice. The practices owned by hospitals had many procedures in place as did very large practices. I can tell you that I am going to start participating in disaster preparedness if possible in the future so at least I will be familiar with all the players. If there was a power outage and no web available it would have been more difficult.

]]> By: Martha http://distractible.org/2009/04/30/from-the-trenches-429-and-430/comment-page-1/#comment-4003 Martha Fri, 01 May 2009 17:27:52 +0000 http://distractible.org/?p=2410#comment-4003 Not knowing you well (or within the scope of adulthood) I am not quite sure whether you are serious, semi serious, or totally sarcastic in your evaluation of the present "pandemic". It all seems rather blown out of proportion to me at the present moment. Maybe they are just practicing for the big one, hoping for the big one, or testing our gullability, I don't really know. So far all I do know is the cases I've heard of, outside of Mexico, are all "suspected" or "light" or "recovering". At any rate, since my husband is a wood worker, we are blessed with an ample supply of masks should the neighbors start dropping like flies. Not knowing you well (or within the scope of adulthood) I am not quite sure whether you are serious, semi serious, or totally sarcastic in your evaluation of the present “pandemic”. It all seems rather blown out of proportion to me at the present moment. Maybe they are just practicing for the big one, hoping for the big one, or testing our gullability, I don’t really know. So far all I do know is the cases I’ve heard of, outside of Mexico, are all “suspected” or “light” or “recovering”. At any rate, since my husband is a wood worker, we are blessed with an ample supply of masks should the neighbors start dropping like flies.

]]> By: Ken O http://distractible.org/2009/04/30/from-the-trenches-429-and-430/comment-page-1/#comment-4002 Ken O Fri, 01 May 2009 09:29:26 +0000 http://distractible.org/?p=2410#comment-4002 I can see why this is a possible concern, but aren't blogs like this the place to discuss the actual risks etc? I know about the pandemic alert level, but does that actually mean there is a high risk of widespread infection, particularly since the last report I heard from Mexico suggested that they only had 9 confirmed deaths rather than 130 or so? In any event, is there much wrong with a high infection rate, as long as there is a low associated mortality rate? I can see why this is a possible concern, but aren’t blogs like this the place to discuss the actual risks etc?

I know about the pandemic alert level, but does that actually mean there is a high risk of widespread infection, particularly since the last report I heard from Mexico suggested that they only had 9 confirmed deaths rather than 130 or so?

In any event, is there much wrong with a high infection rate, as long as there is a low associated mortality rate?

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