Friday, October 29, 2010

The Future of Medicine

I am proud to write about My Brother David Gerdt whom I have always admired.
Lately he has been working on a very cool device that I have to share with my audience.
So share this if and when you like it. If you don't understand what a big deal this is,
then you do not have my roster of experiences.

Do not read on if you are squeamish or do not like icky subjects. Fair warning.

As a hospital RN, one of my early lessons on nights was what a coworker/friend taught me:
"Night ears". This means you learned to listen to the patients. 27 of them. You listened for falls, restlessness, pain, and death. You had no cameras, no monitors, no close proximity. They were down the long hallway.
You had to listen for changes, anticipate falls, know when someone was bleeding to death, or having a stroke or heart attack. Needless to say, you did not always hear everything. Later, working in the ICU, I used to hate all the lines in people, the monitors, the ways for people to get infected, bleed, get tangled, be uncomfortable.I have found a few people dead. Some were cold. I have found people pulling out their arterial lines and blood goes everywhere. My Mom had a blood pressure cuff on her arm for 3 days and the cuff left bruises, macerated sweaty skin. She would wince when she heard the pump of the cuff. Somehow that hit me harder than my own patients.
So I really appreciate my brother's work on the CareTaker.
I am proud he has innovated a new way of looking at monitoring.
This is the future of Medicine and a welcome component in true health care reform.
Thanks David!

4 comments:

  1. I too did not like all the tubes n' stuff.... not natural most times but other times it does save.

    Kudos to your brother!

    ReplyDelete
  2. He is a great thinker. The natural monitoring allows for more accurate measurement and least obnoxious. Thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great concept. Is it not yet available in the US?
    Judy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Judy, It is on the way, I believe. Here is his website:
    http://www.empiricaltechnologies.com/

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to leave comments. Have a great day in the Universe!