Emedinews:Inspiration:The Never Ending Night

A man walked all through the night, searching for himself. He looked up to the sky asking the Lord, "What should I do?" The Lord replied, "My beautiful child, it is not me you need to find, it is yourself".

This frustrated the man; he looked to the ground and kept walking. His feet were sore and swollen and he was very tired, but he walked on. He came upon a huge canyon he wanted to cross, but there was no bridge.
He looked to the sky again, asking the Lord, "How am I supposed to cross this canyon?" The Lord replied, "My dear, dear son; I know your feet are sore. I also know you're tired. But if you want to cross this canyon, you will have to walk to the bottom and up the other side."

This really frustrated the man. He cursed the Lord for not helping him. The Lord replied, "Son, it is men like you that have no courage or will to walk. You expect me to carry you. Well, my son, I will walk with you not carry you. I will guide you, not take you, for it is you who has to find yourself, so take my hand and walk on."
The man walked all through the night with no strength at all, but now he had courage. The man looked to the Lord and said, "Lord, it has been many nights, but I now see the sun. It is now that I am at peace with myself."
The Lord replied, "My beautiful child, you have faced many challenges on your journey and overcame each of them. You have found what you are looking for; be free and sound, stay within yourself."

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Taking someone else's medicine is also a kind of misuse

• People who take someone else's medicine may be harmed if they take the wrong dose or take a medicine that is not meant for treating their condition.
• Women who take medicine to try to end a pregnancy are misusing the medicine, and may poison themselves.
• Poisoning accidents can occur when safety warnings are ignored and chemicals are used in the wrong way. For example, there is usually a warning on a bleach container that bleach should not be mixed with any other cleaner. If people ignore the warning and use bleach with another household cleaner, they may be poisoned by the gases emitted.
• Another example of misuse of a product is when insecticides that are meant to be used on plants or buildings are used to kill insects living on people, in their hair or on their bodies.
• Sometimes people poison themselves by misusing medicines. They may take more than the doctor prescribed because they think, wrongly, that a larger dose will make them better more quickly.
• Taking someone else's medicine is also a kind of misuse.

Emedinews:Makesure:A patient on binasal oxygen developed nasal mucosal damage.

Situation: A patient on binasal oxygen developed nasal mucosal damage.
Reaction: Oh my God! Why was the oxygen given at 4 liter per minute?
Lesson: Make sure that oxygen via nasal catheter, is not given at a rate of more than 3 liter per minute.

Emedinews:Inspiration:The Lesson of the Homeless

It was a cold winter's day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked in the church.

As I got closer I saw a man leaned up against the wall outside the church. He was almost lying down as if he was asleep. He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face. He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet, with holes all over them, his toes stuck out.

I assumed this man was homeless, and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church. We all fellowshipped for a few minutes, and someone brought up the man lying outside. People snickered and gossiped but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me.

A few moments later church began. We all waited for the Preacher to take his place and to give us the Word, when the doors to the church opened.

In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down. People gasped and whispered and made faces. He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit where he took off his hat and coat. My heart sank.

There stood our preacher...he was the "homeless man." No one said a word. The preacher took his Bible and laid it on his stand.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues

• Plasma can be donated much more frequently than whole blood donation even up to twice a week. This is because the red blood cells, which take so much time to replace, are separated from the plasma and injected back into the plasma donor in saline solution.
• Whole blood refers to blood that contains all its components, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and so on. "Plasma" can refer either to the yellowish fluid of blood in which the cells are suspended, or to the blood after RBCs have been removed.
• In cases of Donor and Recipient mismatch, the plasma can be given to a recipient with an incompatible group much more safely than RBCs, since the antibodies in the plasma are quickly diluted when transfused into circulatory system
• In case of trauma/serious injuries resulting in massive ongoing blood loss, the plasma can be transfused to restore the volume of the recipient's blood and to stop bleeding because of its high concentration of clotting factors. Hemophiliacs, who don't clot well, are frequent recipients of plasma.
• Whole blood is rarely used and medically required for transfusions. Rare exceptions are for sickle cell disease and heart surgery, in which the blood loss can be several units.
• RBCs have blood group antigens that cause illness and even death has been known to occur on several occasions when types are mismatched. Plasma contains antibodies for the antigens proteins in red blood cells that trigger an immune response.

(Dr Sudhir Gupta, Additional Prof, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS)

Emedinews:Makesure:A patient with 106 degree fever with dry axillae died.

Situation: A patient with 106 degree fever with dry axillae died.
Reaction: Oh my God! Why was aggressive management not given?
Lesson: Make sure that patients with high fever with dry axillae are treated on the lines of heat stroke.

Emedinews:Inspiration:The Monkeys and the moon

Once, in the distant past, there was a band of monkeys. They lived in a forest, and in the forest was a well. One night, the leader of the band of monkeys peered into the well, and seeing the reflection of the moon in the water, said: "Look! The moon has fallen into the well; we ought to get it out or our world will be without a moon." The other monkeys looked into the well and saw that it was indeed so. "Yes," they agreed. "We should certainly get the moon out of the well."

So the monkeys formed a chain, each holding onto the tail of the one before, while the monkey at the top of the chain held onto a branch to support them. The branch began to bend under the weight of the monkeys as they lowered themselves into the well, and soon began to crack. The water was disturbed and the reflection of the moon disappeared, the branch broke, and the monkeys tumbled headlong into the well.

When the unwise have an unwise leader they are all led to ruin.