Episode 104 – A Pseudo- truth?

Why do we worry about Pseudomonas in diabetic foot infections? One of the age-old challenges of medicine is deciding which infections to suspect in which patients based on which risk factors. Everything from whether a patient has an artificial joint to if their cat recently scratched them can be meaningful when making a diagnosis. SomeContinue reading “Episode 104 – A Pseudo- truth?”

Episode 103 – Oral Argument

Why don’t we administer insulin orally? In inpatient medicine, a phrase one often hears is “transition to PO.” Medications that start out as injections or infusions – antibiotics, steroids, anticoagulants – are switched to an oral equivalent as soon as possible. There’s one drug, though, which we never talk about taking in pill form. InsulinContinue reading “Episode 103 – Oral Argument”

Episode 102 – Long Lives the Lobster

Why do lobsters age more slowly than we do? We want to tell you a story about George … the lobster. George was caught off the coast of Newfoundland in 2009, weighing a whopping 20lbs (for comparison, most of the lobsters you’d eat in a restaurant weight between 1-5lbs). He ended up in the tankContinue reading “Episode 102 – Long Lives the Lobster”

Episode 101 – Automatic ABO

Why do we make antibodies to ABO blood groups even without exposure? There’s a reason many patients admitted to the hospital get a Type and Screen (T&S) to determine their ABO blood group. If that patient needed a transfusion and got an incompatible blood type, they could become severely ill or even die from anContinue reading “Episode 101 – Automatic ABO”