Emergency Medical Care Courses in All Medical Colleges
11-Jan-2012

To improve services at the emergency wings (casualty) of Government Hospitals, courses in Emergency Medical Treatment (EMT) will be introduced in all medical colleges in the State.

The Hindu - Emergency Medical Care Courses in All Medical Colleges

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Policy Change in Healthcare and Medical Institutions
08-Jan-2012

The Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, after recognition of post-graduate medical degrees of five English speaking countries (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) for teaching as visiting faculty in India, India is now considering to facilitate overseas citizens of India with foreign medical qualifications to both practice and teach in India.

Times of India - Policy Change in Healthcare and Medical Institutions: Azad Good Article!




Thumbs up to our Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad! (See his earlier quote on PPP)





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State of Government and Private Hospitals in India
18-Dec-2011
Editors Desk

Yesterday late afternoon, a young emergency physician we know, updated his facebook status,

PROUD TO BE AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN
Door to ECG 1 Min
Door to ANTIPLATLETS 2 Min
Door to STATIN 2 Min
Door to BALLOON INFLATION / Primary PTCA 37 Minutes ... in peripheral centre.
For a ACS patient with ACUTE EXTENSIVE ANTERIOR WALL MI ...
am proud be an Emergency physician, with the patient from ECG to BALLOON INFLATION, supported him, has seen pain in his face at first and thanking smile at the end ..vat else you want.

He worked at a small 6 bed emergency department of a private hospital in India. The good feeling that quality emergency care is finally here was, however, short lived. Times of India carried special reports today on the state of hospitals in India. Its worth a casual reading to get your bearings right before this year ends.

- EmergencyMedicine.in
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On December 9, a shortcircuit caused a fire in the basement of the super-specialty AMRI Hospital in Dhakuria, a suburb of Kolkata. A series of acts of omission and commission led to an indescribable tragedy - 93 people, 86 of them patients, died of suffocation...
Times of India - ON LIFE SUPPORT

In case you are unaware of this fire incident,
Kolkota - 89 killed in AMRI hospital fire, six board members arrested - NDTV
Kolkota hospital fire - What went wrong? - NDTV
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Experts say staff shortage is endemic in public hospitals. Corruption and apathy make matters worse. In contrast, private hospitals maintain a good doctor-patient ratio and a certain quality of treatment.
Times of India - Wait up to two years for a bed
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Sighting a doctor is rarer still, say villagers. Forget emergency services, they are hardly able to run the OPD regularly.
Times of India - No pills, no doc & no pharmacist
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Forget about sophisticated equipment, my department does not even have a basic nasal endoscope . We function under such primitive conditions in an age where medical science has advanced so much. It is frustrating but we are helpless.
Times of India - Need X-ray? It will take months
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But here was this man who thought waiting for another vehicle was better than taking his father to a government hospital.
Times of India - Hospital out of anesthesia, surgeries on hold
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Davids Textbook of Emergency Medicine Released at EMCON 2011
27-Nov-2011
Editors Desk
In June 2009, EmergencyMedicine.in publicized that work was underway for a comprehensive textbook in emergency medicine which will focus on EM from the Indian perspective. (Click here to read previous article)

This completed text was finally released at the 13th National Conference of Emergency Medicine (EMCON 2011) hosted by the Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMI) at Kolkata, India, last week.

Davids Textbook of Emergency Medicine comprises of 2380 pages spread over two volumes. With 291 authors contributing to its 262 chapters, this is the largest comprehensive textbook of emergency medicine in the world.

The Chief Editor, Dr. Suresh David, Professor & Head of Dept of Accident & Emergency Medicine, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, India, is the senior most emergency physician in India with more than 18 years of EM experience and one of the pioneers for the development of emergency medicine in India. He is an honorary recipient of the Fellowship of Australian College of Emergency Medicine (FACEM) in 2006.

Dr. David said, Most of our emergency medicine textbooks come from the USA. From an EM academic standpoint the world is divided into the West and the East. We are currently modifying and adapting from the West. So we created a book predominantly for the Eastern hemisphere. This book is a One-Stop-Shop for EM students, EMS personnel, EM postgraduates and ED administrators. He also said that the literature came from authors who were experts in their field. For example, the chapter on Diving Medicine was written by David Greene who is an Ex-Navy SEAL. The chapters on Frostbite and High Altitude Illness were written by Ken Zafren who has experience from Alaska and Himalayas.

Dr. Judith Tintinalli, in the foreword, mentioned that this textbook matches practices to the resources and cultures of the region, and makes clear that EM is a tangible specialty in India and South-East Asia.

We went through this textbook and found that 42% of the authors were from India. Singapore contributed 13% and USA 14%. Australia and UK contributed 8% and 6% respectively. The rest of the authors were from China, South Africa, Nepal, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, France, Italy, Oman, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Canada, Sweden and Germany.

Reading the textbook definitely gave a very local feel, due to its content which was relevant to developing nations. We highly recommend this to all the emergency departments in India and other countries.

Davids Textbook of Emergency Medicine is due to become widely available in all major bookstores by next month. For the benefit of our Indian readers, this textbook is available through a distributor - Medicare Books House, Kolkata (+91-33-22656594, 22265435). Cost is 7000/- INR (Approx 140 USD)

- EmergencyMedicine.in

Disclaimer - The administrator of EmergencyMedicine.in is one of the authors for the textbook.


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Update July 2012 ! - Textbook now available in online stores

Click here to buy this book from Amazon





Click here to buy this book from Amazon.co.uk





Click here to buy this book from Infibeam




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Copyright ©2011 EmergencyMedicine.in All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the administrator.
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Robot Joins Emergency Department at Apollo Hyderabad!
30-Oct-2011
Editors Desk

Has the War Against the Machines entered into our emergency departments?! Read on!

Yesterday, Apollo Health City Hyderabad announced the launch of a Stroke Care Robot, technically known as RP-7 Remote Presence Robot. This machine is a mobile robotic platform that enables a physician to remotely monitor and guide treatment.

The launch of this state-of-the-art technology was announced by Dr. Prathap Reddy, Chairman - Apollo Hospitals Group at a press conference on Saturday afternoon at Apollo Health City Hyderabad. This launch was aligned with the World Stroke Day.

The RP-7 leverages wireless, internet and robotics technology to enable a physician to reach a the bedside of a patient, from a remote location. The robot removes time and distance barriers and effectively extends the physicians reach across countries. The RP-7, which is the first and only FDA cleared remote presence device, allows direct connection to medical devices such as electronic stethoscopes, ultrasound, etc, to transmit data to the remote physician. Under direct control of a remote physician seated at a control station, the RP-7 can move un-tethered allowing the physician to freely interact with the patient, family members, observe patient behaviour, check bedside monitors & ventilator settings, and pass treatment instructions to the doctors & nurses present.

The stroke robot we are launching today will help us in reducing the neurologist response times for stroke victims. Earlier, better and more efficient care during the golden hour reduces morbidity and mortality in stroke. We believe that this technology will make a significant difference for stroke victims in the country, said Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman - Apollo Hospitals Group.


Image 1 - Dr. Sateesh, an emergency physician playing the role of a patient, shares a jovial moment with Dr. Rahul Khandelwal, Group Service Line Manager for Neurosciences, visible in the robot LCD.


Image 2 & 3 - The Stroke Robot engages in a conversation with the simulated patient as the emergency department staff watch.


Image 4 - The Stroke Robot looking at the CT scan films of the patient. Image 5 - The remote neurologist talking to the patient in a demo session.

Apollo Health City Hyderabad happens to be the first and only hospital in India to receive the Clinical Care Program Certification for Acute Stroke by the Joint Commission International (Go to JCI website). This certification, developed in collaboration with the American Stroke Association, recognizes centers that make exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care. Apollo Hyderabad was certified in 2006 and recertified in 2009. Apollo stroke care clinical pathway closely involves ambulance drivers, EMTs, call center staff, emergency physicians & nurses, radiologists, neurologists & neurosurgeons, ICU staff and rehabilitation services, as well as, stroke clinical & administrative coordinators.

The RP-7 also seems to be an exceptional machine. We watched it closely on how it was interacting with the simulated patients. It moved slowly and purposefully around the emergency department without disturbing other patients. It was being controlled via a laptop & joystick from another room away from the ED. Its machinery was completely silent. We also noticed that it had some kind of collision sensors all around it. The video on the LCD screen was quite clear. The most impressive was its audio system. It's directional microphone could hear the patient from a distance of 6 feet and its speaker was clearly heard by the patient. Both the patients got engaged in conversation with the remote neurologist within seconds, and forgot that they were actually talking to a robot. The neurologist managed to do a stroke assessment on them quite quickly.

Apollo is planning to place this robot in one of its lower level hospitals where access to a neurologist is unavailable. Since this stroke robot is most likely to hang around in the emergency department waiting for stroke patients, we see its utility across the entire clinical emergency medicine field. A remotely located emergency physician can review seriously ill patients through the robot and guide their resuscitation/treatment plans. Bedside teaching of junior doctors & nurses will be a breeze. Counselling, conflict resolutions, etc, are all very much possible.

How much does it cost? Well, its quite affordable and you can buy it for a cool 75 lakh! (150,000 USD)

Anyway, we will try to keep track of this robot and let you know what its upto. Maybe it will enroll itself for an EM residency training program! If the robot decides to replace all the neurologists of the hospital, then it is definitely War Against the Machines!

- EmergencyMedicine.in

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Other news on this event
RP-7 launched in city hospital - Times of India
Apollo Hospitals launch robot for stroke treatment - IBN Live
Apollo Neurosciences Facebook Page

More Reading about RP-7
RP-7 system for distance patient monitoring
Long distance surgical training with RP-7 robot

Has robotics become popular in healthcare?
Take a look at the 2010 brochure on Miami Robotics Symposium
Download brochure (450Kb)

Copyright ©2011 EmergencyMedicine.in All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the administrator
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