Well, WHO gives a report?!

Perspectives on the World Health Report.
Woohoo.

Working in the ER (but I'm sure it doesn't really matter) I hear a lot of disparaging remarks toward "Obamacare" and "Socialized Medicine." Usually it's from some WASP with a postive Cheetos' sign requesting pain medication because their stomach hurts after a night of binge-drinking.

Later when they're demanding to know how they're supposed to fill their prescriptions I smile sweetly and say, "How were you planning on filling your prescriptions?"

I find myself incredulous that we here in 'Merica are the only industrialized nation that doesn't offer a national health care plan. We're also pretty dang bad at taking care of people.
In 2000 we ranked 24th compared to similar countries.
Dang.

Sara Bennett at Johns Hopkins, and left the WHO in 2008, does a good job of pointing out the facts and gaps in the World Report.
Essentially, the WHO found that Health Care sucks. It sucks less if it's government run.
What I mean by sucks is poor care and high prices.
Similar to how I feel about McDonald's right now. (Seriously, you want to charge me $6 for that?)
But, as is pointed out, there's no magic bullet. It will take time.
Also, read the second blue box. It contains a lot of good questions Dr. Bennett doesn't think the WHO did a good job of addressing.

I find it painful that 20-40% of health care resources are wasted. That's a large percentage.
Here's another ouch from Wikipedia

Spending on administration in Finland is 2.1% of all health care costs, and in the UK the figure is 3.3% whereas the U.S spends 7.3% of all expenditures on administration.

I'm not a fan of administration. How is it that the UK administrators can get by with half of what US administration costs. So much damn red tape.

Sigh. I used to hold my breath in college when I didn't have great health care that, somehow, within those years I would find out that I had somekind of disorder, or disease or disability and would then spend the rest of my life denied coverage for something that genetically I couldn't help.

If we were all living in the middle of nowhere this would be ok. But no. We are an advanced sort of animal. One that can form societies to aid and assist each other for the benefit of all. Atom, Molecule, Cell, Tissue, Organ, Organ system, Organism, Society.

That's what I have to say about that.

So much to say. Part Two-Skepticon rant

What a FANTASTIC WEEKEND!!!

I drove home this weekend in support of my good friend JT and Skepticon.
Awesome, awesome weekend.

Sadly, I missed all the lectures on Friday. John didn't get out of school until 6, then we had a 4.5 hour drive. So we rolled in a bit late. However, much fun was had by all. Super Smash Bros on an N-64 at my "sister's" house made up for any of the missed information.

There was a bit of a debate about the message of Skepticon this year and I think the surrounding media did a terrible job of reporting what Skepticon is.
Most of the "reporting" I saw done titled it as an ATHEIST meeting. (Those godless, amoral, baby-eating atheists)
No, no, no amateurs.
I think by looking at the title you can kinda get the hint this was a SKEPTICs meeting.

Skepticism is an approach to accepting, rejecting, or suspending judgment on new information that requires the new information to be well supported by evidence. (wikipedia)

If you just so happen to feel that there's not enough evidence for the existence of certain gods... Well, then, so be it, but being a Skeptic does not automatically make one an Atheist or Agnostic or a jelly-filled doughnut.
Its like algebra. All A's are B's but does that make all B's A's? Maybe, maybe not.
Actually, no. Definitely not.
(Uh-oh, the rant-train is heating up!)
I will admit, looking at the published schedule you get the feeling this is a gods bashing event.
Presentations like, "Are Christians Delusional?", and "The Evaporating Jesus."
There are also things like, "Confrontation vs. Accommodation", and "Coming out Skeptical"
One of my favorites (Not submitted in time for publication in the schedule) was "How to ruin Christmas for everyone" it talked about Santa and other Christmas myths. (Like Krampus. You crazy Germans.)

Here's the part where I draw a giant target on my back and let you take aim.
I, unlike everyone else in the world, like to be right. I like to be right all of the time. I attempt to live an evidence-based life. I like to formulate hypothesis, collect data, and test things before I make a decision. I try to do this as often as reasonably possible. This is how I run, why I eat what I do, buy certain devices and electronics, arrange my furniture, the list can go on. However, I know that I am not stagnate, homeostasis is a fluid continuum. What is considered "correct" one day might have a better understanding in a few years. (See, solar system)

Side rant:
Ever hear how something was "scientifically proved"? I HATE this phrase. Hate it with a mad, burning passion. Someone who uses this phrase, has a very poor understanding of what science is. (It is a verb too, btw.) Science doesn't PROVE anything. Science shows correlation, science gives reasonable assumptions, science allows for positive extrapolations. It doesn't PROVE things.
Math PROVES things. (That's why science has theories and math has proofs.)
End rant.

So, there were several talks about religion at this "skeptics" meeting. There were also talks about UFOs, Haunted Houses, Evolution, Moral values. But, you're right. If you want to get down to the basis of everything. It was about beliefs. Because beliefs matter. They're the only reason anyone decides anything. Because they either believe it or they don't.

Why do skeptics obsess over religion the way they do? Because it permeates our society in ways that are simply unbelievable. People will reject obvious data in favor of religious beliefs. (Blood transfusion anyone?) I don't mean to play the emotion card but children die with simple medical conditions because of their parents beliefs. We are at war because of religious beliefs.
Augh, I cannot express my frustrations accurately enough.
If you have proof as to why you act a certain way then great, lets have it. If you don't, go find some. If you don't want to find any then don't expect me to believe you. I'm not going to stop you from whatever it is you want to do, but you can't control me without good evidence. I don't live my life without good evidence.

So why have I said all this? So the people who love me and might end up crying/having a fit because I attended an ATHEIST convention will realize, beliefs matter and they should be tested so you can know if you're right.

If you're wrong, you can change it.

Ps. I also saw James Randi. It was epic.

So much to say. Part One-Work News

I really should post more often. If time allowed I would.
I have so many great things to talk about I'm not sure where to begin or what to leave out.

Sigh.

The last time I updated was a week ago.
A WEEK.
Way too much happens in the course of a week.
I think I'll break it up.

Boring bits are I worked. Three in a row always sets my blogging back. There's just not enough time for it all. Running, cleaning, blogging then out the door for work. I had been getting very aggravated at work. I was feeling very stagnate. Communication sucked, no one was getting along. Etc, etc. I knew I had three days and a meeting separating me from the weekend.
I really didn't want to go to that meeting.
I almost skipped. I'm allowed to miss 2.
Well, supposedly, I'm the secretary so me not being there would be very bad.
I was a good person and I went.
Amazingly, it was a great meeting, we voted on things, passed new ideas around, fixed our scheduling to match the patient census (moved nurses to where there were patients.) I left feeling like things were headed in a good direction. Woohoo.

There was an EVIDENCE BASED decision made. Yay!
Someone collected data about staffing vs. patient ratios and showed the need for a new position. We discussed, voted and viola! Moved the nurses to match the patient needs. I was so happy. Data makes me smile.

Since that meeting I have received several "invites" to be a part of an interview panel for a new ER director.

What? ME?
I'm one of nine people on a panel to interview the candidates. The HR director, our interim manager, our business manager, four charge nurses, and our trauma nurses' assistant. Then me. I'm so confused. I'm a 22 year old with a BSN that's only been a nurse 1.5 years and in this department maybe 4 months. What's going on here?

Oh well. I'll do it.

More on the nursing front. I took a general english/math test and wrote a timed admissions essay for my Master's program.
I began the math portion in a bit of a daze. I had not done basic algebra since Junior year of High School. I had questions on percentages and orders of operations. It had been such a long time... Funny how basic stuff like that can stump you if you haven't done it in a while. I had to think about whether to multiply first or divide. Silly me.

The essay had to be between 200-500 words and it was TIMED. Gasp. I was supposed to write a bit about something I've done that required determination and perseverance. I scribbled a bit about marathon training. Sounded pretty good.

I passed. Thank goodness. I knew I would do fine. It took about 2 hours for the entire thing.
Now I have to wait for my second phone interview next week.
Baby steps.
I will have my MSN.

I am an amazing person.

Just thought that would make a great opening line.

 

I do things in runs. A few days ago (as I'm sure you've heard) I when on a run of breaking things.

the Wii, the garbage disposal, the dishwasher, the vacuum cleaner, the coffee pot. Wow. That was a good time.

 

Today my run is locking myself out of things.

I woke up and, as is my habit on Mondays went to the gym to workout and lift weights, after this I needed to fill, up on gas. So I dropped over to the gas station and pumped a few in. Upon completion I turn to see my keys sitting on the front seat of my LOCKED car.

It was approx 45 degrees and I was in shorts, laying on the pavement of the Shell station trying to find my hide-a-key. No luck. So I had to call John to leave class and come unlock my car. Thanks to both John and Sarah for understanding I am a dork.

 

Next up at work.

My PIN number and my assigned work password are 2 digits off from each other. I can never remember what two are different (ps. had this problem at the gas pump as well and ended up using my credit card instead) Well, at work I flubbed it up enough times to get locked out and had to call IT.

Thumbs up again.

 

Then I had a brief spell of getting stuck in the bathroom.

 

Just now I forgot my iPhone password and it has disabled itself.

 

 

My car, my work computer, the bathroom, my phone.

 

When I get on a roll I am amazing.

Tetris and PTSD?!?!

 

Wow.

John and Sarah have been playing Tetris a LOT recently to help relax after school. Now there's THIS to supplement their obsession.

 

It seems that the pathways for playing Tetris are very similar to the pathways that ingrain disturbing memories. (Maybe this is why russians are heartless...) So, this study showed that playing Tetris within 4 hours after an exposure to a disturbing movie resulted in fewer flashbacks compared to a group that played a quiz sort of program.

Here's the study with the control group that did nothing post "disturbing movie"

Again, Tetris helped reduce reported flashbacks.

 

My questions,

 

How old were these people?

(18-47 mean=23, all male) There's a big surprise. All males wanting to paticipate in a study involving video games and traumatic images?

 

Do you think that the fact that these were 23 year old males made a difference on whether or not they would be affected at all?

Maybe not, the control group was effected by the videos reporting intrusions a week after.

 

What if by playing Tetris they simply "forgot" the videos?

Nope, they tested for that. Both groups were about the same.

 

Playing Tetris can help you forget the bad, but remember the event. Wow.

 

So watch that scary movie, then grab an NES so you don't have nightmares.

 

Yesterday's post....

 

Receieved this in my inbox.
Science Based Medicine's Steven Novella reviews the recent publication of a meta-analysis of the use of vitamin E and it's effect on stroke. 
 
(Wow, look at my use of hyperlinks!)
 
A meta-analysis is basically a review of all the research done on a particular topic that is then put into a table for easy assesment of data.
This showed that taking vitamin e supplements increase the risk of hemorragic stroke. That's the bleeding kind. The (in my highly valued opinion) the worse kind. An ischemic stoke is the kind where a clot is the cause of the problem. A clot is lodged in the brain and cuts off oxygen and kills the tissue. With these, you can receive "clot busting" medications and restore blood flow and oxygen and life gets all kinds of better. With hemmorragic stroke you bust through the blood vessel and blood rushes into the brain, distroying tissue and life sucks.
 
Vitamin E has antioxident properties and has been recommended for people with cardiac problems. However, here's the cavat. Read the last sentence. Don't take pills, eat your veggies.
 
Ok everyone, back on my soap-box.
EAT YOUR VEGGIES!
 
Phew, got that out of the way.

Tired of titles.

Wow,
Thanks for all the responses. I really was starting to think that I was just posting into the void. Hard to tell who, if anyone reads this. Now I know!
Thanks a lot!

Now I have the motivation to actually put forth effort (when time allows.)

Here's the news bits as far as my mind complicates it.

I picked up the book "Blind Faith." by Richard P. Sloan. It's a look at the current (2006 publication) blending of religion and medicine.
Hmmm, I'm sure you're all aware I'm currently working for the Catholic's at St. Vincents. One of my greatest aggravations is when I have to either wait or yell over the twice daily recited prayer or when people credit miracles for the hard work and training that the health care team puts forth. Anecdotal evidence of the effects of prayer on medical conditions is way overthrown by the research that debunks it.
It also deals with the emerging "science" neurotheology. I'm wondering how this will work itself out as "god of the gaps" has the tendency to get smaller and smaller as scientific research expands.
ANYWAY.
This pseudo-ties-in to this article.

The President announced the "early career" recognition award for some 85 scientists. Waahoo.
How does this tie-in? The beginning of this book deals with an issue very near and dear to my heart.
Science education.
Essentially, how the science education in our country sucks. Science education took a magnificent upswing after Sputnik was launched. This incident of fear was compared to the 9/11 attacks.
Sputnik was launched and all of a sudden America wasn't the best at everything. We were still earthbound. So money was put into science education and, bam, we got much better.
Funny how after 9/11 we got worse at science education back to the point that we're again arguing whether or not to teach ID. I sigh.


My speculation. Sputnik was more of an attack on our ideology of being smart. We were proven wrong because the Soviet Union beat us to space. 9/11 was an attack on our religion. So instead of turning to science we turned to prayer (National day of Prayer, what would our founding fathers say? Seriously?)

Maybe if we had more lighthouses...

Questions, comments, outbursts?

Posting less and less.
Doing less and less.
Caring less and less
Receiving comments less and less.

You see, I am not like a sea monkey. I need more than light and water to survive. Replies, comments, and engaging in conversation about posts made, would be more than way appreciated. It would probably even remind me that people do tend to read this.
Unless they don't. Then, sigh.

I ran 8 miles. 8 MILES yesterday. That's fantastic for me! I only had a bit o' the asthma after and I think that's because getting home it was so dadgum cold.

Had a great weekend. Sarah stayed with us and we did... um... nothing. We played MarioKart, watched TV, and movies, ate lasagna and gave ourselves bedsores because we never got off the couch. Had a good refresher on Goldeneye 64. I used to play that all the time with Scott. This means when I go home I'm going to have to bring it and kick his ass like I used to. (Slappers only in the caves! Jk.)

Ps. If you need something quick and delightfully funny to watch I recommend The IT Crowd. Holy crap. It's on NetFlicks and, how do you say. Near perfect? It's British humor for one (big bonus in my book), about geeks (that's a second bonus with modifier), and only 20 minutes long (fantastic!) The one downside. There are only 3 seasons out and they only have 6 episodes a season. I was watching it thinking, Man if only I had a job where I got to sit in a basement with geeks all day. It'd be like highschool all over again, but I'd get PAID!

Wow, I wrote this at 8 this morning and NOW I'm posting it...

Nov 5

Funny isn't it? On my days off, when I have all the time I could possibly imagine, I rarely get on to make a post. Now, a day that I'm working. I squeeze and hurry my minutes so I can get on my computer to write a little rant and rave.

Not that I ever have much to say.
Had a bad time of the blahs descend on my house this week. John had a test and he and Sarah were very lethargic pre and post test. They kinda sat and stared at each other mostly. They were stares of "I don't want to live any more..." We did go to a Halloween party. Sarah and I got incredibly giggly then we all fell asleep. I know how to have a good time.

To get over the blahs I decided I would work on this "going back to school" project of mine. I gave me a funny feeling. I'm excited and nervous and can hardly wait. Except, I'm unsure of how to pay for it. When I went to college I didn't have to worry about payments. I had a scholarship. Now I've got to figure out all this when to pay who at what time and how much.
Arg.
Spent a great deal of time talking to my "sister" Kelly about all this mess. Then I spent a great deal of time talking to Spencer (I've never had someone go from vague acquaintance to best friend in under 3 days, but he did it.) This is actually remarkable. I have a phobia of phones. I don't think I've had a phone conversation that lasted more than 5 minutes since high school.
There's this constant feeling like I'm keeping the other person from doing something important. So it was nice to get to talk to these wonderful people. (Even though I kept Kelly from eating.)

As far as news goes, I finished my Zombie class and started a Cooking class from the Art Institute. Chop, chop.

Uhoh. Didn't give myself enough time.
Gotta run.