scubadoc Ten Foot Stop

January 31, 2007

Virtual Reality Training in Scuba Diving — Inoculation from Panic-Stress

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 9:21 am

The following is an interesting letter from Dr. David Colvard. Reply to him.

I have spent part of this morning talking with Ken Graap, President &
CEO, and Emilio Coirini, Jr., Director, Business Development of Virtually
Better http://www.virtuallybetter.com/  in Decatur, Georgia, about using
their virtual reality system in scuba diving, especially in new diver training
and panic-stress inoculation.  This approach has already been shown to be
the best treatment approach to help people overcome flying phobias and other
settings.

Thank you for your support of my research in the past.  Do you think
there would be any interest in developing or testing virtual reality in the
scuba diving setting?

David F Colvard MD

www.drcolvard.com

www.divepsych.com

Raleigh NC USA

919-781-3141

January 26, 2007

Mountain & Marine Medicine Announces 3rd Annual CME Meeting

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 8:12 pm

Mountain & Marine Medicine is pleased to announce our
3rd annual CME meeting on diving medicine. The Marine
and Diving Medicine Course will take place in Bonaire,
May 20-25, 2007. As he did for our last course in
Kona, Michael Strauss MD, author of “Diving Science”,
will provide an expert’s perspective on hyperbaric
medicine and diving physiology. In addition to new
travel medicine topics, we will present lectures on
drowning, mammalian adaptations to diving, and
controversies in diving medicine. All this at a
location that should be on every scuba enthusiast’s
“must dive” list. The link for the course is here:
http://www.mountainandmarinemedicine.com/Bonaire2007.html
We invite you to join us!

Warm regards,

Joe Alcock MD
mail@MMMedicine.com

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January 25, 2007

UHMS LATEST NEWS _ DON CHANDLER

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 2:37 pm
To all–
In this mass email to all UHMS members you will find information that deals with the following matters:
1. More on the UHM Specialty Board Exam.
2. Law Mandates Warning of CO Poisoning on Portable Electric Generators.
3. Associates Offer a Scholarship to Attend the UHMS Annual Meeting.
4. The UHMS 40th Anniversary Meeting in Maui.
5. Next Medical Assessment for Fitness to Dive Course to be in Florence, Italy.
————————————————-

1. More on the UHM Specialty Board Exam.  After sending my last mass email to our members I got several responses about the Specialty Board Exam in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine.  Here’s what I found out:

a.  Dr. Ian Grover of UCSD pointed out that while their fellowship is ACGME certified and they do fall under the Department of Emergency Medicine, their fellows do not have to be Emergency Medicine trained.  They have two fellows so far that were Family Medicine trained.  Dr. Brian Snyder added that if the fellow is EM trained then he/she would also carry a half-time EM faculty position, but fellows not trained in EM would not be eligible for such a position and may need to supplement income through outside activities (they currently provide one such setting).
b.  There are only three ACGME certified fellowship programs, not four, as I reported.  The fellowship programs at UCSD and UPENN are approved through the ABEM and the Duke University program is approved through the ABPM.
c.  As of last week the ABEM website still listed the practice pathway as one of two pathways available in order to qualify to take the specialty board exam…while their narrative on the practice pathway clearly stated it expired at the end of the application period of 2005.  Some of our members were confused by this, as was I.  I spoke with an ABEM representative and was told that having the practice pathway listed as an option was an oversight and would be corrected.
d.  I learned that National Baromedical Services, Dick Clarke’s company, tried to apply for ACGME certification but could not do so because there was not enough undersea and hyperbaric medicine boarded faculty…this is an important point to consider for those of you who may be applying for a ACGME certified fellowship. 
e.  I also learned that the program at Mayo Clinic is going through the initial steps to apply for ACGME certification, but they are not there yet (I thought they had been approved).
f.  Dr. Heather Murphy-Lavoie spoke to Dr. John McCabe, a UHMS member, who sits on the ABMS committee that will decide whether or not to approve an extension for the unapproved fellowship track, and he seemed optimistic that a three year extension would be approved.  They will be voting on this in March.

2. Law Mandates Warning Label to be Placed on Portable Electric Generators.  You may have heard this good news on a national news program, as I did, but what you may not have heard is that our Past President, Dr. Neil Hampson was influential in making this happen.  Congratulations Neil…from all of us!  This warning alone may save many lives in future years.  The after affect of every heavy storm produces CO poisoning…sometimes in alarming numbers.  After the wind storm that blew through the Seattle environs and put a half million people without electric power, the CO poisoning cases began to mount.  The last time I talked with Dr. Hampson was during the days immediately following the storm and the number of CO poisoning cases he and his staff had treated as of that time was in the high 60’s and the cases were still coming in.

3. Associates Offer a Scholarship to Attend the UHMS Annual Meeting.  Our Associates would like you to look around your staff for a worthy person who you would like to send to the UHMS annual meeting.  They will underwrite the expense of a person to be selected from nominees with a $2,000 scholarship.  The deadline for getting nominations in to the Associates is February 13, 2007.  All of the rules for nominating someone can be found by going to the UHMS website at www.uhms.org and clicking on “Associates” from the menu to the left of the opening page.  This will link you to the Associates website and you can find all about this very generous opportunity there.

4. The UHMS 40th Anniversary Meeting in Maui.  Now that we have turned the corner on the calendar year (e.g. we are now on the downward slope toward June), it is time to turn thoughts to our annual meeting in Maui.  June 13 will be a pre-course, followed by three days of scientific meeting, and we are considering a post-course.  Your 2007 Scientific Meeting Planning Committee will be meeting this coming weekend to make some final plans and do a lot of tweaking of the schedule of events.  I will be in touch with you soon about those changes so you will know exactly what will be going on at our 40th Anniversary Meeting.  Stay tuned.  By the way, you can register now by going to our website, you know.

5. Next Medical Assessment for Fitness to Dive Course to be in Florence, Italy.  That’s right, Florence, Italy will be the next location of this very popular course.  We selected Florence in order to do a course in Europe where the members of the European committees that certify such courses could attend if they choose to do so.  You see, we have applied for ratification through two of the European committees and the review should be completed by the time our course is held in Florence (April 15-18, 2007).  If you are interested in looking at the venue we are currently negotiating to use for the course, please go to their website at http://www.villadeibosconi.it/eng/default.asp and you can browse around through some beautiful pictures and glean information about the place.  I will be communicating more about this as time wears on toward April.  We would love to see you there.  If you are interested, you can get an application and other information from our website.

January 2, 2007

JANUARY HUMOR

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 3:41 pm

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DON’T FART IN BED

This is a story about a couple who had been happily married for years. The only friction in there marriage was the husband’s habit of farting loudly every morning when he awoke. The noise would wake his wife and the smell would make her eyes water and make her gasp for air. Every morning she would plead with him to stop ripping them off because it was making her sick.

He told her he couldn’t stop it and that it was perfectly natural.

She told him to see a doctor; she was concerned that one day he would blow
his guts out.

The years went by and he continued to rip them out! Then one Thanksgiving morning as she was preparing the turkey for dinner and he was upstairs sound asleep, she looked at the bowl where she had put the turkey innards and neck, gizzard, liver and all the spare parts and a malicious thought came to her. She took the bowl and went upstairs where her husband was sound asleep and, gently pulling back the bed covers, she pulled back the elastic waistband of his underpants and emptied the bowl of turkey guts into his shorts. Some time later she heard her husband waken with his usual trumpeting which was followed by a blood curdling scream and the sound of frantic footsteps as he ran into the bathroom.

The wife could hardly control herself as she rolled on the floor laughing, tears in her eyes! After years of torture she reckoned she had got him back pretty good.
About twenty minutes later, her husband came downstairs in his blood stained underpants with a look of horror on his face. She bit her lip as she asked him what was the matter.

He said, “Honey, you were right. All these years you have warned me and I didn’t listen to you.”
“What do you mean?” asked his wife.
“Well, you always told me that one day I would end up farting my guts out, and today it finally happened. But by the grace of God, some Vaseline, and two fingers, I think I got most of them back in.”

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Where y’all from

A drunken cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh Amarillo Theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy,”Sorry, sir, but you’re only allowed one seat.”

The cowboy groaned but didn’t budge. The usher became more impatient: “Sir, if you don’t get up from there I’m going to have to call the manager.”

Once again, the cowboy just groaned. The usher marched briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success.

Finally they summoned the police. The Texas Ranger surveyed the situation briefly then asked, “All right buddy what’s your name?”

“Sam,” the cowboy moaned.

“Where y’all from, Sam?” asked the Ranger.

With terrible pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle,

Sam replied,” The balcony.”

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Advanced Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Training Program for physicians. Program approved for NBDHMT for DMT’s and CHT’s.

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 3:31 pm
Advanced Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Training Program for physicians 40 CME’s.  Program approved for NBDHMT for DMT’s and CHT’s.  Program conducted at Hyperbarics International, Inc. in Key Largo, Florida. Contact Dick Rutowski: 305.451.2551.  See below for 2007 program dates.  
Come and enjoy the beautiful weather and the Florida Keys!

2007 Dates:

Jan 8-12

May 21-25

Sept 3-7

Feb 5-9

Jun 4-8

Oct 8-12

Mar 12-16

Jul 9-13

Nov 12-16

Apr 16-20

Aug 6-10

Dec 10-14

Director(s): 

Dick Rutkowski, James Loewenherz, M.D.  , Robert Price, M.D., and Jeff Bertsch, DMT, CHT

Site:  

Key Largo, Florida  

CME Credits: 

 

 

40 hours, AMA Category 1 for physicians

40 CEU’s for all allied medical personnel

This course is approved for the, NBDHMT for DMT, CHT and CHRN personnel and includes Transcutaneous Oximetry for CHT Module 16.

Contact:

 

Dick Rutkowski

Hyperbarics International, Inc.

522A Caribbean Drive  

Key Largo, FL 33037  

1-888-451-2551

FAX (305) 451-5765  

Website: http://www.hyperbaricsinternational.com

Description:          This program is designed to teach physicians, allied medical personnel, dive supervisors, rescue personnel, military and commercial divers and all chamber personnel to medically evaluate and treat all dive accidents.  This program includes introduction, evaluation and treatment of the fourteen approved hyperbaric clinical indicators, including Transcutaneous Oximetry and hands on chamber operation for both mono-place and multi-place chambers. 

===============================================================================

Winter Symposium Update

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 3:28 pm

Winter Symposium Update
December 29, 2006
Dear UHMS Members:
Things are looking good for the Winter Symposium.  There are still rooms available at excellent discount prices.  Be sure to book your flights early for great rates.  We have lots of snow but Denver Airport is handling it all well this go around… so chances are slim of another shutdown.
The conference program will have a wound care emphasis and I think you will find it of interest.  Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge is a great spot for the conference and recreational activities (even if you don’t ski). 
Please check out the website for updates and contact me at hbodoctor@yahoo.com with any questions.  Hope to see you there.
Jim Holm, MD
2007 Winter Symposium on Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Management
Beaver Run Resort, Breckenridge, CO
January 28th - 30th, 2007
Sponsored by Memorial Hospital, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Course Directors:  James Holm, MD & Takkin Lo, MD
We are pleased to announce the program for this year’s Winter Symposium.  It will be held at Beaver Run Resort, Breckenridge, CO, from January 28th to 30th, 2007.  Approximately 16 hours of credits for physicians, nurses and CHTs will be available.
This year’s conference will focus on wound care in addition to selected topics in hyperbaric oxygen therapy.  We will have a “hands on” workshop in wound care issues including, Total Contact Casting/Offloading, Wound Debridement, Wound Dressings, and Negative Pressure Wound Therapy.  Click here for Conference Flier
Flights to Denver are very reasonable and we have negotiated hotel room rates starting at $127 per night at this slope side resort.  Click here for Hotel Info.
More information is available at the conference website at www.hbodoctor.com or thru the links below.
Hope to see you there.  For more information please feel free to contact Dr. Jim Holm at hbodoctor@yahoo.com or Brandy Swennes (Memorial CME) at brandy.swennes@memorialhealthsystem.com

SOME VALUABLE INFORMATION FROM OMAR SANCHEZ, MD

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 3:25 pm
Now available online: the BSAC NDC Diving Incidents Report 2006.
Happy 2007!!!
From Buenos Aires, Omar Sanchez, Wetdoc.

32nd Annual Spring Meeting - INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AQUATIC MEDICINE

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 3:21 pm

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AQUATIC MEDICINE
Executive Office • 6240 Turtle Hall Drive • Wilmington, NC 28409
(910) 452-1452 • FAX: (910) 799-5209
E-Mail: DivingDocs@aol.com • Web Address: www.DivingDocs.org

32nd Annual Spring Meeting
Osprey Beach Resort and Oasis Diver
60 Divers • 30 Hours Category 1 CME for Physicians • 32.4 Contact Hours for Nurses
ONLY 27 BEACH FRONT ROOMS - RESERVE EARLY!

Get more information here:http://scuba-doc.com/grandturkflyer11-06.doc.pdf 

January 1, 2007

Interesting Articles From The Medical Journal of Australia

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 9:50 am

Letters

Treatment of jellyfish stings
John G Taylor.
Med J Aust 2007; 186 (1): 43.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/186_01_010107/tay11043_letter_fm.html

Bites and Stings

Animal and human bite injuries in Victoria, 1998-2004
Catherine E MacBean, David McD Taylor and Karen Ashby.
Med J Aust 2007; 186 (1): 38-40.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/186_01_010107/mac10709_fm.html

Spotted black snake (Pseudechis guttatus) envenoming
Melanie Jansen, Monique McLeod, Julian White and Geoffrey K Isbister.
Med J Aust 2007; 186 (1): 41-42.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/186_01_010107/jan10788_fm.html

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U2 PILOT WITH DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS LANDS SAFELY

Filed under: Interesting News — scubadoc @ 9:36 am
In a three part series, the Chico News writer, Roger Aylworth, describes the decompression illness that almost downed the pilot, Lt. Col. Kevin Henry.

He forgot how to fly: Unfathomable crisis springs from tiny bubbles (18%)

11/05/06…brought a stricken U-2 pilot safely home. Kevin…can result. For a U-2 pilot, the process is the…For the high-altitude pilot, the condition is called…

ROGER H. AYLWORTH - Staff Writer

He Forgot How to Fly: Friend’s words and saber-dancing fighters guide stricken U-2 pilot safely back… (29%)

11/06/06…part series describing how U-2 pilot Lt. Col. Kevin Henry survived a…panicked about that,” said the pilot. As Henry’s plane approached the…

He forgot how to fly: Pilot’s survival depended on added miracles (30%)

11/07/06…amazing tale of a U-2 pilot’s brush with death…plane, the veteran pilot managed to make a picture-perfe…exercise! Say we’ve got a pilot coming in with the…

Reactivated and Maintained by Centrum Nurkowe Aquanaut Diving