Medical transcription is a very specialized profession and today we have skilled people who even specialize in emergency room transcription. How is an emergency report transcription prepared? And what are the challenges faced during the process? Quite often the emergency reports are scribbled and illegible. One of the most important skills a good transcription professional should have is to read and understand these scribbled notes by doctors. It is always useful to properly identify the doctor who has attended the patient as every doctor also has his unique styles.
The next process for the emergency room transcriptionist is to read the description written by the doctor and find out as to what ever caused the patient to visit the emergency room. Usually the medical forms in an emergency room are not very extended and have only limited space. Thus the transcription professional has to make detailed notes of the following:
Time /Date
Time of the onset of illness
Symptoms of the illness
Details of the incident
Accident description
Add more details if required
Find out if all other requirement of patient is met
What is the immediate attention required?
How is the medication to be given (oral/ injection etc)
Has the patient to be referred to other specialist?
Details of physical injury etc if anyQuite often the emergency room has to handle the accident victims who come with various bruises, cuts and injuries. All the specific details of the appearance of the wound etc has to be mentioned in the transcript as it can be of great use if the transcript has to be used as a legal document to be produced in a court of law.

Providing affordable and accessible healthcare for every citizen of USA will be a challenge in the future, keeping in view the rising costs. The various cost drivers in the healthcare include the expenses of new technologies and treatments, rising costs of drug prescription and skyrocketing hospital charges. As it is evident, there is no control on the driving healthcare costs which are out of common man's reach, some initiatives need to be addressed in an effort to streamline and reduce the soaring costs of healthcare.
As consumers, we bear a larger share of healthcare costs and should demand more quality. Ironically, the percentage of people who are uninsured in America is rising. The fact is that healthcare and insurance premiums in the United States are expensive and to effectively control the costs, long-term solutions are to be planned. One such solution is to provide affordable healthcare to consumers with all amenities within their reach. Most of the insurance companies are looking for their own profits and no initiative has been taken to monitor the rising costs.
As a part of the initiative, to provide affordable healthcare, some insurance companies have started 'discount plans' that provide huge discount on the costs incurred towards the healthcare. One such company that offers discount plans is Ameriplan.
Ameriplan offers a number of affordable plans that allows one to save up to 80% on expenses. As one of the nation's fastest growing healthcare industry, Ameriplan offers healthcare benefits to everyone, at an affordable price with no restrictions. Ameriplan provides services such as dental care, vision care, chiropractic care and prescription drugs, which benefits the people to reduce their costs to a large extent.
Ameriplan also extends its healthcare plans to both elderly and younger Americans by creating an effective framework for controlling medical costs and improving health outcomes to provide quality care to all. Ameriplan also guarantees lower costs and better care for everyone.

Emphasis is of use of new diagnostics tools leads more specific & best possible cardiac treatment .
Cardiologist in India emphasis is on use of new diagnostic tools in conjunction with the physical examination. Hospitals in India has an international reputation in all aspects of diagnosis and treatment; of patients of all age groups with heart problems from fetal life, through infancy and childhood to adolescence and adulthood.
Hospitals in India for cardiology well equipped with Diagnostics tools such as " Cardiac cauterizations " Echocardiography " Electrocardiography Sophisticated nuclear techniques are used to monitor blood flow to the heart. Nuclear studies performed after exercise or chemical stress continue to be an expanding area of diagnosis.
Nuclear Cardiology in India :
The Nuclear Cardiology Laboratory evaluates cardiac blood flow and function through the use of small amounts of radioactive materials. Nuclear cardiology can help identify patients who might benefit from angioplasty or bypass surgery after a heart attack. Images of the heart provided by special cameras detect the presence and function severity of heart disease, especially coronary artery disease. Many nuclear imaging procedures are performed in conjunction with exercise or pharmacological stress testing.
Electrophysiology:
The Electrophysiology Laboratory studies the electrical system of the heart by examining disturbances of heart rhythm under controlled circumstances, using small catheters that are inserted through blood vessels into the heart.
Echocardiography:
The Echocardiography Laboratory offers a variety of noninvasive ultrasound and sonogram techniques to image cardiac structures and function, including blood-flow through cardiac chambers. An echocardiogram can help diagnose heart valve problems and determine their severity. Echo techniques provide information about conditions such as heart muscle contraction, valve motion, blood clots in heart chambers, and scar tissue from heart attacks.
Myocardial contrast echocardiography is a quick and convenient diagnostic tool using microbubbles and ultrasound to measure blood flow to the heart muscle. It can detect coronary artery disease in its earliest stages, as well as assess the presence or healthy tissue in congestive heart failure and evaluate various techniques used in bypass surgery
EECP (Enhanced External Counterpulsation)
EECP is a noninvasive mechanical method to deliver extra blood to the heart. This method can help to reduce or eliminate angina -- chest pains caused by coronary artery disease and has been approved for use in patients with congestive heart failure. EECP uses compressed air to inflate three sets of cuffs that wrapped around the patient's calves, lower thighs and upper thighs while they lie on the treatment table. The cuffs are inflated in a sequence. Treatment sessions are for one hour, five days per week for seven weeks, on average.
Blood Tests:
Blood tests measure different components in your bloodstream to show your healthcare provider how healthy your blood and heart are.
o C-Reactive Protein Test : can help predict cardiovascular risk over and above that of major risk factors. An hs-CRP of more than .20mg/dL predicts high risk for stroke and heart attack. C-reative protein is a substance in the blood that occurs when inflammation occurs. Physicians have found that atherosclerosis (fatty buildup in artery walls) also produces an inflammatory process, so it registers on this test. o Lipid Profile measures your LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol and triglycerides. o Blood sugar (glucose) detects the presence of diabetes and glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic). Both are significant heart and vascular disease risks. o Complete blood count, thyroid studies, arterial blood gases, and other tests help diagnose other conditions that may be the cause of your symptoms.
Angiography:
Angiography involves inserting a long, thin tube (catheter) through your arm or leg artery to your heart. A dye is then sent through the catheter into your coronary arteries. An angiogram can show the movement of the dye through your heart and blood vessels, showing the exact location and severity of any blockages.
Multi-detector CT calcium scoring:
Also known as calcium screening or a calcium-scoring scan, this test is used to detect calcium deposits found in atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries. The more coronary calcium means more coronary atherosclerosis, or the greater amount of plaque buildup within vessels in the coronary system. In large patient groups, patients with very high calcium scores have more frequent cardiovascular events, including heart attack. However, this test is not absolute in predicting an individual's risk for cardiovascular disease problems.
Cardiac MRI :
Cardiac MRI evaluates the anatomy and function of chest structures, including the heart, lungs, major vessels, and pericardium (the outside lining of the heart). MRI uses large magnets and radio-frequency waves to produce pictures of these structures, such as the heart; no X-ray exposure is involved. This technology gathers information about the heart as it is beating, creating moving images of the heart throughout its pumping cycle. It can be used to measure heart size and function, localize heart damage from a heart attack, and look for areas that are not receiving adequate blood flow.
Vascular:
The Vascular Laboratory tests determine the adequacy of blood flow in arteries and veins throughout the body. Ultrasound and pressure measurements are used to identify blockages and reduced flow, and to assist in the diagnosis of peripheral vascular, abdominal and carotid artery disease (referred to as carotid intimal medial thickness study).
Vascular Reactivity Study (referred to as brachial artery reactivity) :
This test uses a blood pressure cuff to measure your blood vessels' ability to dilate after the blood flow is stopped for five minutes. The diameter of a healthy blood vessel is able to expand 25 percent above baseline, but blood vessels with fatty buildup may not expand at all.
All these diagnostics tools in India are more advanced and make ease to the Cardiologist to gets right diagnosis leads to specific cardiac treatment. with high success rate .

One day, while visiting in a bad rehab and care center, I saw a woman in a wheelchair. She was complaining to someone (Staff) that she was missing clothing. As usual, staff said that she had to wait (because they were busy), and then they would have to go downstairs to see where her clothing was.

The woman waited, in fact, the woman stated that her clothing had been missing for more than one week, so figure that must be enough waiting, correct? Anyway, time passed and passed and the woman again came back to staff and complained about her clothing but bottom line is that no one went downstairs to get her clothing.

I have a theory here that is probably an explanation of why everyone must wait for clothing and why so much clothing is lost in BAD rehab and care centers. It is a vicious cycle. The staff loses the clothing or it is not returned from the laundry area. Since the clothing is lost, the residents are not dressed properly to go to therapy. Once they are not dressed for therapy, the staff refuses to let them attend therapy-even though it is staff's fault that no clothing is there.

Once they say they can 't go to therapy , the staff marks this down and they mark down that the patient is uncooperative. They mark down that the patient refuses therapy. BUT

HOWEVER, they neglect to mention that staff has taken all clothing out of their room and they cannot attend therapy due to lack of clothing.

It is a cycle that harms patients and staff, because as the staff is permitted to do this, they gain bad reputations. Do you live or temporarily reside in a rehabilitation and care center or nursing home that keeps losing your clothes? DO they leave the clothing out of your room so that you cannot get dressed if you wanted to? You need to write to us and we will do our best to find out whom to complain to and how to get your clothing back.

I saw more than four or five people who were missing clothing, and in fact, one resident was wearing my relative's clothing. If you look around, you will see the residents wearing each others' clothing.

The day that I arrived to find a relative in diapers and no clothing, the staff scrambled to find clothing for the relative and the only clothing they found belonged to someone else.

Missing clothing (lots of it, and many patients missing clothing) is a LARGE RED FLAG! What I have noticed is that in the worst nursing homes and rehabilitation and care centers, they can not keep track of clothing (or people). If your place is losing all your clothing it is for one or two reasons and here they are:

1. IF the staff has an agenda to keep residents and patients in their rooms, instead of allowing them out of their rooms for therapy and other events, the staff will "lose" the residents' clothing. For example, in one place, the staff member wanted the patient to remain in diapers instead of using the bathroom, so the staff LOST all the person's pants (conveniently-not the tops but just the pants). What this does is it makes the patient worried about wetting a pair of pants --since their pants are LOST, and it makes them compliant when the staff politely demands that they wear diapers. In some places, some staff members want the patients in diapers even when some do not medically need diapers. The way they get the patients to comply with their diaper demand is by losing the patient's pants. If you see that your relatives' pants are always missing, you need to put it in writing to the attention of an Administrator or your lawyer--either one might work.

2. If clothing is missing (because staff claims that other residents are stealing it), then this is a LARGE RED FLAG, because what is says is , hey, the staff does not know where their residents are all the time. How can residents be missing in other residents' rooms to steal other people's clothing? If staff claims that other residents are stealing the clothing, you should bring it to their attention that if the staff is permitting other residents to STEAL, then what happens when those thieves become violent? In other words, if a resident is left Unattended long enough to steal, then can't that resident become violent while they are missing long enough to steal? So if residents are stealing from other residents, then this nursing home or rehabilitation and care center is NOT a good place for your relatives to live or temporarily reside.

Think those two things over and you will realize those are plain simple facts.

I was reading an article in Business Week and I got very excited about the future of medicine in the United States. I am a proponent of universal health care and the article gave me hope that our country is heading in that direction.

Medical Cost

The health care problem in America is worsening. A large percentage of our country's GDP is spent on health care and this percentage is increasing annually.

These rising medical costs represent the worsening health of our country. Our poor health is weakening America physically as well as economically.

Health care costs are eroding the profit margins of all American companies. These eroding profit margins are making it difficult for American companies to compete in a global market place.

Fixing The Problem

We can decrease the costs in this country by:

* Encouraging disease prevention and screening

* Encouraging weight loss in the two-thirds of Americans who are overweight

* Eliminating the inefficiencies in hospital care and health information technology

* Providing a universal plan to all Americans funded by tax payer

Universal Health Care

A universal plan would eliminate the problem of the uninsured. There are 43 million Americans without health insurance.

Their lack of health insurance increases the costs for all Americans. The uninsured are less likely to get the prevention education and disease screening they need. This leads to chronic diseases, emergency room visits, and decreased productivity.

A universal plan with wellness incentive programs would spread the costs burden to all Americans and encourage healthier lifestyles.

Use A large Search Engine to Find the Results and Truth:

After reading some of the search engine's news alerts on one or two particular topics, I feel a little ill. I read in horror. I read in disbelief. But only for about three minutes do I remain unbelieving because I think back to when I visited one of the rehabilitation and care centers, one that boasted of a completely closed in solarium, and I remember the horrible things that I saw inside of that one. Just having that short memory was enough to make me a believer as I read through the hundreds and hundreds of news alerts that regarded the topics of nursing homes and rehabilitation and care centers.

What kinds of things do I read that make me feel ill? For example, I read one news alert that clearly stated that one nursing home resident was found with maggots in his eyes and on his body. Meanwhile for days or weeks before, no staff member noticed that he was developing maggots? What does it take to develop maggots to begin with? I am guessing that wetness or dampness and dirt, and bacteria are good starts for a maggot infestation. Perhaps a dirty , wet diaper might have triggered the maggots if the resident was on a filthy bedspread or sheet? Perhaps. Only we can guess at these things. But we can also, besides guessing, remember what we saw in some nursing homes and put two and two together . Then , indeed our guesses might be pretty close to reality , correct?

Maggots in Eyes! Horror and more Horror!

How does a grown man develop maggots in his eyes? Anyone care to answer that? Another resident of another nursing home was found dead after being thrown or jumped from the sixth floor window. Was this person thrown or did they jump? The first news reports claim it was a suicide. But I would like to know how they came to that conclusion. After all, did anyone find a suicide note? No note was mentioned in the news article. Did anyone have a reason why this person would want to kill themselves? No one mentioned any reasons. So how did the news or the police come to the conclusion that this was indeed a suicide. Is that the easiest guess? Or is that the answer that does not require an investigation and some expense of money that must be distributed in order to do an investigation. Wouldn't you think that an investigation is necessary when a resident, who was not even missing, was found dead on the ground outdoors from a nursing home? I am still waiting to hear what the investigation found out --IF there was an investigation.

I read other horror stories too in the news alerts. I read stories that there was one nursing home that was closed down because they found another resident outdoors and they dragged the body indoors so that no one would know the person died outdoors. This person, too, was not even missed by the staff until they found the body.

Rehabilitation and Care Center Resident FOUND near Staten Island Ferry (and She Was Not Even Noticed Missing)!

Are you getting ill hearing these stories? Are you thinking they cannot be true? Are you thinking this must be happening somewhere else, but not in America? Think again. Most of those incidents happened in the USA. In fact, one , this one, where a lady was not even noticed missing, was found at or near the Staten Island Ferry. AFTER that incident, the rehabilitation and care center implemented new rules. AFTER this lady was found, they began issuing passes to the visitors,seemingly so this could be prevented. How about just being more careful? Instead of regulating visitors, how about just making sure that the staff does their job? How is it possible that a resident should be missing so long that they can make it all the way to the Staten Island Ferry? Granted, this nursing home , pardon me, this rehabilitation and care center is not far from the water, but still, the staff did not even notice that she was missing.

How do these horrible things happen and how do they remain covered up? And who are these higher-ups who cover these things up? You would think that this Staten Island incident should have made the front pages of the newspapers but it did not. Thank God this woman was found in time, meaning , was found alive. Shortly after that they transferred her to another facility or hospital.

Horror, horror and more horror and it happens every single day right here in America.