Monday, March 11, 2013
A Medicare database shows how hospitals across the Twin Cities—and the nation—compare for care.
If you go to the Fairview Southdale emergency department, it’ll take nearly an hour on average before you’re seen by a health care professional. On the other hand, those who go to North Memorial will be seen in less than 15 minutes. Those results can be seen in a new tool called Hospital Compare that lets people examine key measures of efficiency for 4,000 Medicare hospitals across the country. “With precious little fanfare, Uncle Sam last month rolled out a big, fat database with seven measures comparing a service that many people—healthcare providers and patients alike—consider the most critical any hospital can provide,” Cheryl Clark, senior quality editor for HealthLeaders Media, wrote Thursday. Data collected in 2011 and early 2012 …
Thursday, June 9, 2011
From flying bounce houses to escaped animals at the zoo, how do you ignore the hype while keeping your child safe?
If you're like me, you probably watched the video above of a two-story red, white and blue bounce house soaring into the air at a youth soccer tournament this past weekend. Two other "moonwalks" flew off the ground, causing youngsters to suffer bumps and bruises and critically injuring a mother who had an inflatable crash-land on her. As I watched the video and the shots of alarmed adults running after their children I realized it could have been any one of us in their position. I can only imagine the nightmares both the parents and children may be suffering since that horrifying afternoon. It seems like we're hearing stories like these all the time. Every maternal nerve in my body reacted when I learned that a fox escaped from the …
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Most teams don't have medical staff nearby, so how do you care for your injured child? Join the discussion.
Editor's Note: This week's Parents Talk is meant to foster discussion about sports injuries. It should not replace advice from your doctor or a health professional. The summer months are full of outdoor sports, horseplay and anything that includes children moving quickly. My children never walk anywhere. They run. All of this movement increases risk of injury. So when is a taking a tumble worth ice and when is it time to go to the doctor? It is tough to know in a crisis and tougher still if you are not able to count on back up from a coach or someone on-site with medical training. I found that one of the soccer programs that my son attended existed because of parent volunteers. There was literally no coach. I stayed for the …
Fabuladico
5:03 pm on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
This last year I visited two emergency rooms, one at Methodist, and one at HCMC. I went to both for the same problem within days of each other. At Methodist I was in a treatment room inside of ten minutes, and saw a doctor only a couple of minutes later. My previous visit a year earlier had much the same stats. On the other hand, my visit to HCMC was truly horrible. I waited more than an hour … more ›