Miss PA-C

Please ask questions! I had to reapply and love to help people with their journey :) Full time OB/GYN PA, former ER scribe, huge fan of napping, baking, reading and Netflix.

[mamakay93-deactivated20190129]

Just an FYI for those in the US with insurance issues

[teratomarty]

Important information! Insurance coverage decisions are made by medically ignorant bean-counters. Until we can dismantle the whole shitty system, know how to scare them into submission.

[nerdgasrnz]

This is like that procedure Mr. Incredible told that old lady

[help-my-ocs-breached-containmen]

Reblogging for visibility

[populationpensive]

I’ll have to have a patient do this next time a procedure is denied.

[only-tiktoks]

[north-of-annwn]

Ok so I'm not going to do this anonymously because i don't fear getting chastised for my own ignorance but there are other alternatives to abortion aren't there? I mean i honestly don't understand this bill nonsense but it mostly at least to me sounds like it's just to keep children alive. I mean there are adoption centers and people who will actually pay women who are pregnant to act as surrogates. Why is anti abortion so bad? And how is this a woman's autonomy probpem. Please educate me

First, I want to thank you for acknowledging that your perspective on this may be informed from a place of systemic oppression of AFAB people, and for seeking out information. When people add on to this post with the purpose to educate, I implore you all to remember this person is seeking information. Please avoid shaming them or ridiculing them.

Let’s first address your questions:

1) “There are other alternatives to abortion aren’t there?”

Let’s first define abortion. “In medicine, an abortion is the premature exit of the products of conception (the fetus, fetal membranes, and placenta) from the uterus. It is the loss of a pregnancy and does not refer to why that pregnancy was lost. A spontaneous abortion is the same as a miscarriage. The miscarriage of three or more consecutive pregnancies is termed habitual abortion or recurrent pregnancy loss”  (Shiel MD, MedicineNet).

¼ womxn will have abortions in their lifetime. Abortion is a medical procedure that can be requested or required for a lot of different reasons:

The pregnant person may not be able to carry an embryo to term safely.

The pregnant person may not have the financial support to pay for the medical bills that pregnancy costs in the US (prenatal and delivery alone can cost around $18k).  

I also want to add that people in this country are not given any kind of financial support for the time taken off for prenatal or postnatal care. Being out of work for this time could mean entering extreme poverty.

The pregnant person may not have the financial support or stability of lifestyle to support a child.

The pregnant person may not be physically up to the task of carrying a child to term and delivering. Not all womb-having people are up to what childbirth does to the body. Childbirth is one of the most dangerous things that a body can be put through.  In the US we’re just under 20 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, which is the highest in the developed world. Some undeveloped countries have better stats than we do

Abortion may be required as an emergency life-saving procedure for the pregnant person. And waiting for approval by a committee could mean the death of that person.

Medical interference can also be needed if the embryo has already been determined unviable (basically will not ever have life) because having dead tissue remain in the womb will kill the person. Wombs don’t always do what they’re supposed to and often they will still act as if the pregnancy is going along normally when the embryo stopped growing and forming.

Abortion as a medical procedure is part of basic reproductive healthcare. Denying it is like denying the use of a c-section or blood transfusions.

I also want to add that many of these GOP states are seeking to classify any and all contraceptives as “abortion” as well. This isn’t included in this bill specifically but it’s been named as part of their agendas.

2) “I mean I honestly don’t understand this bill nonsense but it mostly at least to me sounds like it’s just to keep children alive.”According to the CDC, 91.1% of abortions are performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation. At this time, this is an embryo and fetal tissue. It’s not a child. Pro-life people are placing the eventual *possible* life of a being that isn’t even formed yet above the autonomy and rights of a living human being (the pregnant person). A zygote without a brain or the ability to survive outside the womb is not a person, and therefore not a child. We have determined that something without brain activity is not alive. People with wombs are not incubators. This is not the sum of our existence.

Right now you cannot force a person to give blood or organs in life-saving situations. Why should it be okay to force a person to donate their entire body as an incubator if they don’t want to, which has health complications, and long-lasting effects on the body? We even afford humans that are DEAD more rights than womb-having people in this country. It is illegal to take organs or tissue from dead bodies with no brain activity without consent, but it’s legal to force a living person to act as an incubator for tissue and chromosomes that aren’t even formed to make a person yet?

Also, this bill has SO much more nuanced support for the oppression of women than just keeping “children” alive. This affords the state the right to investigate any suspicion of “intentional abortion.” This means, if a person miscarries, they may be subject to invasive investigation and murder charges on top of grieving for their loss and recovering medically. This bill also in no certain terms basically considers all womb-having people in their state to be the property of the state by allowing people to be extradited and charged if they have a LEGAL abortion procedure in another state.

3) “I mean there are adoption centers and people who will actually pay women who are pregnant to act as surrogates. Why is anti-abortion so bad?” We currently have 108,000 foster children up for adoption right this second in the US. This doesn’t even include unwanted pregnancies being given to private adoption agencies. Adopt one if you want to save a child, but forcing people to enter crippling debt, put their body through the abuse of childbirth, and possible forced poverty because of lack of childcare or compensation for missing work isn’t okay.

Additionally, anti-abortion really only seems to be concerned with one thing - popping out children. There is ZERO concern for the health, wellbeing, or survival of that child OR the parent afterward. This is oppressive and forced childbirth expectations. And again, reduces womb-having people as nothing more than a means to an end. Their life and wellbeing aren’t considered - they’re incubators.

4) “How is this a woman’s autonomy problem.”All of the above. The entire idea of denying women normal reproductive medical procedures or criminalize a natural thing that our bodies DO is inherently oppressive. Deciding that a womb-having person is just supposed to do their best to carry to term an embryo regardless of danger to their life, medical needs, e, inability to care for the child, inability to pay medical bills, or the abuse that childbirth puts on the body… and possibly condemning them to death, poverty, or life-long debt removes the ability for a person to choose what is done or what is done TO their body. It’s inherently oppressive.

Make no mistake, these bills have very little to do with saving the lives of children, and everything to do with keeping women impoverished, oppressed, and without any control over their own bodies and lives. These bills are also written and signed without ANY input or oversight primarily by the people they affect. This is not a choice that womb-having people made… these are oppressive laws being forced upon them.

Some final personal notes from me: I am currently in a place where I would suffer greatly from these laws if they were to be implemented in my state. First of all, if I were to get pregnant, mine would be a high-risk pregnancy. It is likely that I could lose the pregnancy anytime within the first two trimesters, which would require an abortive procedure to remove the remaining tissue. If I’m to get pregnant, I need to know that modern medical procedures that are agreed to be the most effective best practices would be available to me by a doctor without the threat of criminalization or debating on whether it’s necessary/legal. This affects all people who may ever become pregnant. This is a clear and present fear for us. It’s not just anti-abortion. If that’s all it was… the answer would be simple, don’t have one. If you need one to save your life, you can choose to say no. But it’s not. This is about controlling womxn, denying us healthcare, and we are afraid. We are all desperately terrified of this becoming the new normal across our country. ONE in FOUR pregnancies ends in the need for abortion. And if you need one, you get one. This is about whether or not we have access to SAFE and MEDICALLY sanctioned abortions. 

I really encourage you to do some additional research and reading from educational sites. Be wary of both FOX News, CNN, major news networks, and any journalists with a religious agenda. Further reading: https://prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/downloads-resources/https://iwhc.org/2018/09/abortion-normal-and-vital/https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/issue/abortion-access/I’d really appreciate if any followers could tack on additional resources, statistics, and personal stories. This is SO important. 

[jupitermarz]

First i want to say: this is by far the best, most informational, most well written piece on abortions I’ve read in awhile that actually relies on facts and not “gotch ya” style slogans.

Right now im taking spironolactone a hormonal acne medication. The one major rule when taking any acne medication is DO NOT GET PREGNANT. This medication is know to create LIFE THREATENING birth defects. I would need an abortion as quickly as possible if I were to become pregnant. This bill would put huge barriers in that process, OR I might even have to wait until my life is in JEOPARDY before the legal system would allow it, OR in many cases doctors would have to let me die in front of them because otherwise they go to prison for performing an abortion. (This actually happens.)

[mizstorge]

According to the March of Dimes, as many as half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, often before a woman misses a menstrual period or even knows she is pregnant. More than 80% of miscarriages occur within the first three months of pregnancy. Though it may sound wild, anti-abortion laws have already been used to investigate miscarriages on the suspicion that the pregnant person may have done something to potentially endanger a fetus. (X)

The Ohio anti-abortion bill mandates that in the case of an ectopic pregnancy (when a fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tubes outside the uterus) the egg must be reimplanted into the pregnant woman’s uterus. This is unscientific; there is no medical procedure to reimplant an ectopic egg. A ruptured ectopic pregnancy is a medical emergency that can cause internal bleeding. The egg must be surgically removed to save the mother’s life. (X)

These laws are all about imposing conservative Christian beliefs on every woman in this country.

[lokeanrampant]

READ ALL OF THIS.

[honorthegods]

This is part of the Project Blitz agenda. They also want to impose Christian education in public schools, and “biblical values concerning marriage and sexuality”, such as “establishing public policy favoring adoption by intact heterosexual, marriage-based families” and “establishing public policy favoring intimate sexual relations only between married, heterosexual couples”. 

We need to stand together to oppose this: pagans, polytheists, witches, Satanists, humanists, atheists, and LGBTQA+ people, along with those of good will from the more mainstream religions. All together, there’s more of us than there are Christian nationalists.

[populationpensive]

Great points made above. Truly an inspired, well written explanation. The big points to put out there strictly from a medical standpoint:

“We have determined that something without brain activity is not alive”

“It is illegal to take organs or tissue from dead bodies with no brain activity without consent, but it’s legal to force a living person to act as an incubator for tissue and chromosomes that aren’t even formed to make a person yet?”

It’s a strange form of cognitive dissonance for me that, as a society, we accept the aforementioned statements but cannot apply them to pregnancy.

I deal with both of these concepts all the time in the ICU. Most people can conceptualize that patients who’ve experienced horrific neurological injury to the point that they are cognitively unaware of their surroundings and cannot interact with those surroundings are dead. Patient families routinely tell me the things about life that their loved ones value and easily correlate the brain injury with an inability to do those things and therefore not truly have “a life” or be “alive”. And mind you, this is in the context of a formerly living, breathing, conceptualized human with a personality, a career, a family, hobbies, etc. Trying to apply this to a potential human who has not experienced the things we all consider to be “living” just doesn’t sit well. Additionally, my brain dead patients (or nearly brain dead patients) have inherent rights to their organs still. If they weren’t an organ donor, I can’t just get the donor network people involved. It is illegal.

The thing I find the most frustrating about the “pro-life” movement is that it disregards the lives of people who ACTUALLY exist. To me, if you’re truly “pro-life”, you value the life of the mother. The father. The baby after it is born. Its siblings. And you do that by making sure maternity/paternity leave are integral parts of every health care plan. You do that by making sure everyone who can bear a child has access to good, affordable prenatal care. You do it by supporting the schools that the baby you cared so much about bringing into existence will attend later in life. You do it by supporting social equity initiatives.

There are a lot of assumptions the “pro-life” movement makes. Like all the pregnancies are unwanted. People were irresponsible. Carrying a baby to term isn’t a big deal. The issue is far more complex than that. It’d be like if I looked at someone with type II diabetes and assumed they were unhealthy and lazy when really they may have a genetic predisposition. A family history. A life where they didn’t have access to nutritious food or health care.

Assumptions are useful to completely obliterate the inherent grey of complex situations to make them black and white. Few things regarding someone’s health can be described that way.

*End Rant*

Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.

[mymedlife]

The ED right now.

Please get your flu shot.

And remember, there is no magic cure for the flu. Just rest, Tylenol, and ibuprofen. If you do choose to come to the ED please don’t yell at the providers that you could have done that at home.

[macgyvermedical]

I truly hate to tell you all this, but the reason needle sizes are numbered that way (smaller numbers = bigger needles) is BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLE HAD A 1-INCH DIAMETER CYLINDER AND LABELED HIS NEEDLES' SIZES BY HOW MANY NEEDLES HE COULD SHOVE IN THERE.

Like, 24 24-gauge needles can fit in a 1-inch cylinder. 18 18-gauge needles can fit in a 1-inch cylinder. Wrong and horrible. The worst possible way to measure a needle. Good night.

[cranquis]

[pharmdup]

THANK YOU for finally making this make sense to me!!!!

[funnytwittertweets]

[misspa-c]

Suspect in fatal Methodist Dallas shooting on parole, at the hospital for birth of a child

A man facing a capital murder charge in the shooting at Methodist Dallas Medical Center that left two dead over the weekend is a parolee who

Another hospital shooting. Is it just me or does it feel like this is happening more and more?

[johnnyjoestarrelatable]

when you’re a 14 month old french infant in a military hospital in the late 18th century and that weird hungry guy comes into your room

[foreveriallyzombified]

cant stop thinking about this post. i dont think any “that face you make when” type posts has prompted over 20 minutes of research in me before

[atiredhedgehog]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrare

[never-forget-viva-la-pluto]

JESUS CHRIST

[mamoru]

I keep telling myself to stop making posts about FDA activities...but there are so many products hurting people

[mamoru]

fuck it

ice cream listeria outbreak. again. did you know that illness due to listeria has a 20-30% mortality rate?

family dollar recalling a bunch of drugs and supplements because they stored them wrong

lucky charms and cheerios continue to make children and adults sick, the cause is still under investigation, and no recall has been issued. terrifying. that means it is almost definitely not one of the common causes like salmonella...

daily harvest said tara flour made customers sick. FDA is mad they announced that because the exact cause has still not been found. daily harvest products have given people liver damage so bad they needed to have their gallbladders removed. while the current FDA investigation only involves the leek + lentil crumbles, there are many reports of other daily harvest foods like the flatbreads also harming people. if you have been affected by daily harvest's bullshit, there is now a subreddit for it.

revive superfoods also pulling products with tara flour, for also giving people severe liver damage

several honey products are being recalled for having undisclosed, get this...VIAGRA in them. and cialis. sildenafil and tadalafil.

CVS is recalling lemon flavored magnesium-based laxatives due to contamination with gluconacetobacter liquefaciens, which can cause life-threatening infections in immunodeficient people.

[mamoru]

some more from july 2022. everything in this post is VERY recent.

the FDA is the US food & drug administration. I am not tracking recalls in other countries.

unsafe levels of fucking lead in natierra organic freeze dried blueberries which were sold across the country. these were labeled incorrectly on the FDA website which is why I missed them

organic amaranth grain being recalled across the country due to salmonella

the CVS recall of potentially life-threatening contaminated laxatives applies to over 30 different lemon flavored laxative products, this one manufacturer is responsible for the bulk of the supply

over a dozen different enjoy life & trader joe's soft baked cookies and chewy bars are being recalled because they may contain shards of plastic. enjoy life cookies are advertised as "free from 14 allergens" and as non-GMO and gluten free. the amazon variety pack is included. trader joe's recall is limited to snickerdoodle.

no FDA link for this one but apparently factor 75 meal delivery service is recalling some of their rice products for containing shards of GLASS. emails are being sent out to affected customers

the family dollar recall affects HUNDREDS of different products to the point you have to click a PDF to see them all. this includes products like: midol, toothpaste, sunscreen, lidocaine, soap, deodorant, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, benadryl, nyquil, pepcid, pepto bismol, medication for children, zyrtec, lib balm, cough drops, rash ointment, baby products, prilosec, advil, epsom salt, imodium, miralax, claritin, mouthwash, eye drops, dish soap, and MORE. if you have shopped at family dollar recently, you are going to want to check this HUGE FUCKING LIST (scroll down to "list of recalled products")

[mamoru]

august 11, 2022. all listings are either recent (past few months) or ongoing since the previous post unless otherwise dated. some of these recalls are now worldwide. if you want to link this information off of tumblr, then use the provided FDA links rather than the post itself. I am not the FDA, this is not official FDA communication, this is not a comprehensive list of regulatory activities (there are WAY more than what I posted), this is not a comprehensive summary of all links. my goal is to encourage you to keep up to date with recalls and share regulatory activities from their official sources, which I have provided.

there might be mistakes because I probably have food poisoning right now. go figure.

food:

dozens of nutritional shakes, plant-based drinks, oat milk, almond milk, coconut milk, dairy-based drinks, and coffees have been recalled due to contamination with invasive illness-causing microbes. infants, the elderly, and people with reduced immune function are more likely to be severely impacted. affected product brands include lyons ready care, pirq, glucerna, aloha, intelligentsia, kate farms, oatly, premier protein, MRE, stumptown, and imperial. these products were sold online and in stores nationwide.

and then the nutrition shake recall was expanded again to include fucking pediatric, lactation, and tube feeding formulations. ensure harvest, pediasure, sweetie pie organics, rejuvenate, sated, tone it up, uproot, cafe grumpy, multiple types of barista products, optimum nutrition, pediasure harvest, and more. if you drink any kind of meal replacement, protein shake, plant-based 'milk' drink, or nutritional beverage, check this recall. these products tested positive for clostridium botulinum, which causes -> BOTULISM <-. botulism has a 40%-50% mortality rate when untreated. IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE BOTULISM, GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

revive superfoods is now being investigated by the FDA as a part of the daily harvest investigation (#1076) for ingredients that caused severe liver damage and emergency gallbladder removal.

everything else is under a cut because this got really fucking LONG. below contains information about drugs, warnings, sunscreen containing cancer-causing ingredients, worldwide recalls of laxatives, cancer medication being pulled from the market, pulse oximeters not working on darker skin, UV disinfectant wands containing unsafe levels of radiation, updates on previously posted investigations, products causing neck injuries in babies, and a lot more.

categories listed below the cut:

dietary supplements,

drugs

warnings, communications, shortages, and more

updates

misc

resources

dietary supplements:

more dietary supplements (usually advertised for sexual health) have been recalled for containing undeclared prescription drugs. at least one of these recalls affects products sold in canada. you should probably make a habit of searching "[supplement name] site:fda.gov". maybe slightly a funny, one of them was called "launch sequence"...as in...for your pocket rocket.

dietary supplements, including ones sold in stores such as vitamin supplements, are not approved or inspected by the FDA before sale and are not regulated the same way as food and drugs. the FDA tells dietary supplement companies to investigate themselves before selling any given product, which inevitably often contain undeclared allergens, undeclared ingredients, undeclared drug ingredients, undeclared prescription ingredients, contamination, and even lie about the potency of their supplements. and this is only when these companies get CAUGHT by the FDA, which can be years after a product launches on the market. these issues are not exclusive to aphrodisiacs sold on aliexpress, and even apply to over the counter vitamin C.

biotin (vitamin b7) can make you false negative covid-19 tests, and can make many other medical tests inaccurate.

drugs:

banana boat 30spf spray-on sunscreen has been recalled due to testing positive benzene, a cancer-causing substance

the recall of magnesium citrate based laxatives due to contamination with dangerous bacteria has expanded beyond just lemon flavors. there have been multiple reports of severe illness. this bacteria usually only harms those with reduced immune function.

even more magnesium citrate laxative recalls, and this recall is WORLDWIDE. repeating again, the magnesium citrate laxative recall is worldwide

plakiston healthcare expands june recall of milk of magnesia, magnesium hydroxide, aluminum hydroxide, simethicone oral suspension due to microbial contamination.

june 6: lymphoma medicine ukoniq (umbralisib) had its FDA approval removed and has been taken off the market due to being unsafe, after several months of investigating reports of increased risk of death.

back in april a nationwide recall was issued due to injections for testosterone, tacrolimus, cyclosporine, gonadorelin, and gonadoraline acetate from APS pharmacy/drug depot llc due to not being sterile. these recalls affected both human and animal supplies.

warnings, communications, shortages, and more:

june 21: FDA announces a committee meeting later this year to address how pulse oximeters (usually finger clamps) are WAY less accurate on darker skin due to not being calibrated for darker skin. incorrect pulse oximeter readings continue to prevent patients from receiving adequate and sometimes life-saving care, because the devices claimed the patients were doing better than they actually were. the racial bias in these devices is very dangerous.

june 30: FDA issued a warning that cancer drug copiktra (duvelisib) can cause severe side effects, including death.

FDA issued a medical device safety communication about UV disinfectant wands having unsafe levels of radiation and do not abide by safety regulations. these are sold nationwide and potentially worldwide, in stores and online. they can cause injury within a few seconds. one familiar included brand is sharper image.

stop using neck floats on babies. "Neck floats are inflatable plastic rings that can be worn around a baby’s neck and allow babies to float freely in water. Some neck floats are marketed for babies as young as two weeks old or premature babies and are designed to cradle a baby's head while their body moves freely in the water." these can decapitate your baby

when testing for monkeypox, use swabs from the skin lesions (boils, cuts, etc). do not use tests taken from saliva, blood, or anywhere other than the skin. there is not enough data showing that tests swabs from places other than lesions are accurate.

april 2022 but still important: FDA has found a link between pediatric iodine contrast exposure and hypothyroidism.

FDA's website lists over 120 drugs currently experiencing shortages, many of them due to increased demand. the FDA website is also experiencing technical difficulties.

there are also shortages of medical devices, equipment, and protective gear for reasons such as increased demand and products being discontinued

updates:

the investigation into cheerios and lucky charms is still open, active, and ongoing. no cause has been found yet. it is unclear how many products have been affected and no products have been recalled. reports of illness continue. investigation #1064

if you did not get sick from cheerios or lucky charms, congratulations, you just found out that not everyone gets sick from many types of food poisoning. the investigation is still ongoing and active with no indication of how many products are affected, or what they are affected with.

the FDA has not issued an updated statement on why daily harvest or revive superfoods are giving people liver problems to the point of needing surgery.

I am never fucking shopping at family dollar again unless I feel like consuming dead rat juice. it is absolutely repulsive how many times they get caught doing unsafe and potentially deadly things with their products.

misc

covid-19 tests have a significant chance of false negative, sometimes ABOVE 50%. yes, even PCR tests can tell you that you do not have covid-19 when you actually do, which is what a false negative is. a positive result means you probably have covid-19. negative result on a covid-19 test means you probably have a nose. at home tests (rapid antigen testing, aka RATs) cannot detect the majority of asymptomatic covid-19 cases. over a 60% false negative rate what the absolute shitting fuck. false negatives will increase as covid-19 continues to mutate.

30% of covid-19 survivors, including those which are asymptomatic and vaccinated, get long covid. link is from dysautonomia international, which is a worldwide leader in researching, treating, and educating about causes and triggers of autonomic dysfunction like coronaviruses. they recently wrapped up an international medical conference with a heavy focus on the many long-term effects of covid-19 and how to diagnose and treat them. I attended this conference, and I will post when the dysautonomia international presentations become available to the public.

my tag for food and drugs is #fo&dr. I keep forgetting to add things to it, though.

resources:

report and track local cases of food poisoning: iwaspoisoned

report unsafe practices, adverse effects, food poisoning: FDA

subscribe to alerts for recalls

safe food handling

food information by topic

USDA foodkeeper app

not directly related to FDA stuff, but if you are feeling overwhelmed, I curated a reading list to learn about stationery.

whew! this took a long time to write.

if you want to toss me a coin for compiling this information, please only do so if you are financially stable, comfortable, and will not otherwise be negatively impacted by giving me money. food poisoning has played a big role in my health being eviscerated, so I am glad just to know I have been able to help others.

thank you to everyone who has helped affirm the need for posts like this or has reached out to let me know I was able to help you, and I hope I have convinced you to keep up to date with FDA activities!

[mdrambles]

Top 5 things I wish my patient(s’ parents) would do before coming to see us in the emergency department

In case you were living blissfully on another planet for the past 2 years, we have been in the thick of a global pandemic, and my country is now seeing its ✨SEVENTH WAVE✨. I am, like many of my MD and allied health colleagues, completely freaking burnt-out and so over COVID I cannot even begin to describe how demoralizing it is sometimes to work in healthcare.

If you are a parent and you happen to be reading this and you happen to care even a little bit about how broken the North American healthcare system is (or even if you just want to avoid a long unnecessary wait in the ED), PLEASE consider the following before you mosey over to see us:

Throw out your forehead thermometer and get an axillary one instead. Literally anyone can do an armpit temp on any age of child, from the teeny-weeny neonates to your grumpy adolescent. Kiddos do NOT need to sit still while an axillary thermometer reads their temp, so long as you trap the thermometer firmly in their armpit as they wiggle around. As a side bonus, so long as you keep the thermometer clean, most will work accurately if used for taking oral temperatures in older cooperative children, too.

Seriously, never use a forehead thermometer. We hate them. They can be 2-3 degrees off in some cases, which means reading a fever when there isn’t one, and usually more dangerously, missing a fever when there IS one.

Remember that children are allowed to have fevers. There are extremely few instances wherein an isolated fever is a medical emergency that needs to be seen right away, and those instances are pretty much babies <1 month of age and children with specific health issues that make them susceptible to severe infection (e.g. sickle cell anemia, immunosuppressed transplant or chemotherapy patients, and children with other immunocompromising disorders/therapies including indwelling/implanted medical devices). Otherwise, you can stay home so long as your feverish bean is still drinking well, peeing at least 3-4 times within 24h, and has not developed any “symptoms of concern” like difficulty breathing, severe belly pain, neck stiffness with rash that looks like little red/purple dots, or change in level of consciousness. Of course, if your kiddo has symptoms that make you really worried, we are more than happy to check them out; if it’s just fever alone that’s concerning you, then you can give them some antipyretics at home and watch them. If they’re having a persistent fever for >3d, they should see a doctor.

Remember that children get a lot of fevers. If your kid seems to get fever every week or so once they start daycare, that’s normal. Get more suspicious about something concerning if those fevers are unusually long in duration, your kid gets particularly sick very frequently (i.e. they are admitted to hospital multiple times in the same year for really bad infections), or if the repetitive fevers persist for >24 months in total or after your kiddo turns 4yo. If the fevers otherwise last <3-5d each time and your kid is totally fine in between, there is no problem with their immune system, it’s just… working. Doing what it’s supposed to do.

Only use the Emergency Department for emergencies! Unfortunately for little beans, yes this includes stuff they have tucked away into their ears/noses, lacerations and other traumatic injuries, and being sick. Things that are NOT emergencies: seeking a 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th…) opinion; something that has been around for >2 weeks and has not changed; waiting for a referral; waiting for an appointment; waiting for your PCP to call you back about a result (trust me, we are extremely unlikely to have it if your PCP doesn’t have it!); “just [not liking your] PCP” (because what am I supposed to do about this?!); you want somebody who went to medical school to tell your kid something you don’t want to tell them yourself, like the fact that they need to sleep on school nights… don’t get me wrong, we’ll still see you, but you WILL wait. And you will wait the longest out of everyone else in the department, since we will see those emergencies first. So if you come for one of those non-emergencies, wait a long time, get upset you’re waiting, and then yell at us for making you wait, we will have absolutely zero tolerance for that and you will be actively contributing to burning down this crumbling system even faster. We’re already overworked, understaffed, and generally exhausted. Most of us are continuing to work through our own illnesses despite COVID rules simply because we are so short-staffed. We have been showing up for you throughout this pandemic and all the strain it has put on us and this system; we’d really appreciate it if you took a bit of ownership of what you can do from home, or at least take ownership of your own decision to wait if you are coming to the emergency department with a non-emergency.

[cranquis]

ok go ahead and replace “Emergency Department” with “Urgent Care” and you’ve got my pediatric-fever-feels all summarized

[dailycupofcreativitea]

(Was digging through old messages on Slack and found these pics I sent to myself 2 years ago).

Please enjoy my collection of “overly honest methods” in science that were supposedly curated from a Twitter hashtag ;D

[mysharona1987]

[mymedlife]

[obiwan]

Both were exceptional people. Who bore an exceptional daughter.  — OBI WAN KENOBI - EPISODE VI

[valtsv]

the true universal healthcare system is people who offer you an ibuprofen when you say your head hurts

[purpleiris05]

We don’t schlump like this 🚶🏻‍♀️

[whatevergreen]

1,000+ Scientists Worldwide Engaged in Civil Disobedience for Climate Action

Scientists chained themselves to the White House fence, blocked bridges and occupied buildings. Dozens were arrested.

"... “I’m taking action because I feel desperate,” said U.S. climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who along with several others locked himself to the front door of a JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles. A recent report found that the financial giant is the biggest private funder of oil and gas initiatives in the world.

“It’s the 11th hour in terms of Earth breakdown, and I feel terrified for my kids, and terrified for humanity,” Kalmus continued. “World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane. The science clearly indicates that everything we hold dear is at risk, including even civilization itself and the wonderful, beautiful, cosmically precious life on this planet. I actually don’t get how any scientist who understands this could possibly stay on the sidelines at this point.” ..."

[liberalsarecool]

Corporate media will not cover the climate crisis.

[asongofcaffeineandinsomnia]

More media outlets are starting to cover this:

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/06/climate-scientists-are-desperate-were-crying-begging-and-getting-arrested

Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-risk-arrest-in-global-climate-protests-2022-4

Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/uk-police-arrest-83-climate-activists-blockade-oil-terminals-2022-04-02/

Bloomburg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-03/more-than-200-arrests-made-at-climate-change-protests

These are just a few examples all to say it's not hopeless. They are getting some attention!