Rural Emergency Medicine

Welcome to the new face of IVLine and a Happy New Year to everyone. 

During my short break I’ve made some changes to the design that I think will allow people to more easily find resources on this site. Part of the reasoning for changing design is that the ‘medical aid’ aspect of the blog has faded to become a minor component. My own project is over, however I’m still supporting the efforts of TIME which run various aid initiatives both locally and internationally.

As before I’ll continue to cover a wide range of topics related to the field of medicine, with the odd tech piece as well. Stayed tuned for more clinical examination tutorials, iOS app reviews and some of my experiences of medical education.

So if while I’ve been away you been disconnected from the world as well, here are somethings you shouldn’t miss or alternatively definitely checkout.

HealthMap is a relatively new iPhone App which provides real-time information on disease outbreaks across the world. The app provides a locality and some information about the disease, with links to published resources (e.g. newspaper articles) This one is useful for both health professionals and also travellers. It can still be a little buggy at times, but it’s definitely worth a look at.

Google Body is Google Earth for the human body. Only recently released as a side-project by a group of Google Engineers, Google Body literally takes you right into the guts of the human body. The anatomy is well labeled and the graphics are detailed. Google Body requires a browser that suppports WebGL (e.g. the latest Chrome, Firefox or Webkit browser) to operate.

IphonECG invented by Dr. David Albert is a low powered case which is able to transmit a basic ECG trace. The case utilises two electrodes to produce a trace. The video below provides a demonstration of the iPhone accessory in use.


The exact usefulness to clinicians will only be made clear following subsequent testing, however the creator also points out that it is also a useful tool for patients, who simply need a general idea of whether their heart is at a stable state.

New Australian Resuscitation Guidelines
The new Australian Resus Guidelines are out which have been adapted from the International Committee to suit the Australian and New Zealand environments (ILCOR). This also means I’ll probably get round to updating the Basic Life Support presentation at some stage. These guidelines are available online for free here.
For more exciting resources on Resuscitation Medicine checkout Chris Nickson’s post at Lifeinthefastlane.com.

Flood Appeal
Finally as many Australian’s are aware, vast areas of Australia are suffering from flood damage. Queensland has been one of the worst hit states with many lives being changed both temporarily and forever as a result of these floods. If you feel like extending a hand to these Australians in need, donations can be made here.

That’s all for now. I’m about to start university again in two days, so I’m sure I’ll start churning out some more medical knowledge as opposed to technology posts, sometime in the near future.

No comments:

Post a Comment