Daral Chapman, sRN 62 posts 0 comments

Congestive heart failure (CHF), otherwise known simply as heart failure (HF) is the medical term that describes the heart's inability to pump sufficiently to maintain blood flow and meet the body's metabolic needs. This ineffective pumping leads to congestion of the venous circuit on both the pulmonary and systemic sides, leading to poor tissue perfusion and fluid overload. Congestive heart failure results from changes in either the left or right side of the heart. This could be for example; the right side of the…

Anyone who's ever had a long commute to work knows the feeling of driving along the highway while drifting into your own thoughts. You're contemplating life and what's been troubling you lately, thinking of god knows what. Then, suddenly, you've arrived at your destination with no recollection of how you got there. This phenomenon is colloquially known as White Line Fever, or otherwise, Highway Hypnosis, first coined in 1963 by G. W. Wiliams (Williams, 1963). It is described as a mental state in which a person can…

So I came across this list about the fifteen interesting facts relating to the human body, and thought I would take a look and research them myself. Unsurprisingly, some of them turned out to be inaccurate. I've done some research into the claims and compiled a list of articles to explain the realities of the claims. 1: Your nose can remember more than 50,000 different scents. This claim is inaccurate as it vastly underestimates the abilities of the human nose, which is in reality comparable to a dog's…

A UK-based artist by the name of William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1995 and he chronicled his own mental demise over his years of living with the disease. Unfortunately, Utermohlen died in 2007, but he drew a self-portrait every year until he was no longer able to before his death. The artworks offer a unique glimpse into the mind of an Alzheimer's patient, and how their mind deteriorates over time. Strikingly, we can see slow decay until 1999, where we can no longer distinguish any facial…

An inguinal hernia is a protrusion of the abdominal contents through the inguinal canal, often into the groin or scrotum. They are a very common problem and patients may complain of pain or discomfort when coughing, exercising or during bowel movements. Inguinal hernias are so common, they are often one of the first surgical procedures postgraduate surgical residents are trained in​​. The protrusion may not be visible, particularly in overweight patients, however, a bulging area may occur in the area of the hernia, and may…

If you are trying to lose weight and otherwise improve your health, you may already be mindful about what you eat during the day. You might skip breakfast. At lunch, you may opt for a salad with lots of veggies, no croutons and low-fat dressing — on the side, of course.

A recent surgical breakthrough in the treatment of stroke victims has been shown to give some patients a healthy and independent life, even up to 24 hours after the stroke has occurred. A team of Melbourne researchers conducted a clinical trial looking at extending the surgical window for stroke victims from 6 hours, to 24 hours after the CVA event. Following a stroke (CVA), it was believed the medical team had only 6 hours to prepare and conduct a thrombectomy to remove the blood clot from the brain and salvage…

Managing and otherwise minimising pain and suffering of patients is a core responsibility of providing nursing care. Minimising pain makes life significantly more comfortable for the patient, and allows them to recover faster, and with a positive experience. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, and when nurses fail to read the signs of pain and do not provide remedial action, the patients are the ones that suffer greatly. The complexity of a patients condition and comorbidities can obscure significant problems in the…

Hand hygiene is a vital part of any infection control practice. Nurses are constantly disinfecting their hands hundreds, if not thousands of times per day (or at least they should be) but this mentality has spread to the greater public, with antibacterial soaps becoming more readily available, and to some, a necessity. You would expect this to be good news, but it's not. Recently emerging evidence has shown that this over-use of antibacterial soaps outside of the healthcare setting may actually be doing more damage…

Traditionally, western medicine has been centred around the biomedical model and its underpinning philosophies to best determine a person’s health status. The biomedical model has allowed medicine to advance in leaps and bounds over recent decades, improving our understanding of the human body while also maintaining a superior standard of care through the evidence-based practice approach. Through this approach, we were able to isolate body systems and understand disease processes and how they impacted upon the individual…