When doing CPR, the last thing you're thinking of is music, really, but maybe you should be, and specifically the Bee Gees song Stayin' Alive.

According to the American Heart Association, at 103 beats per minute the Stayin' Alive song almost perfectly matches the rhythm needed to jump start the heart (100 beats per minute). And, apparently, the American Heart Association has been using the song as a training tip for CPR instructors for about two years.

This article on the CNN website is worth a read.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/16/disco.song.health.ap/index.html#cnn...

A 68 year old female presented to the ER with complaints of abdominal pain and vomiting for three days. Past medical history was significant for end stage renal disease on hemodialysis, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol.

Her past surgical history was significant for bilateral below the knee amputations (BKA), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and amputations of two fingers on her left hand.

I am starting to develop a list of custom syndromes for the varying patient presentations I see in the ED. Recently I have been dealing a lot with the multiple complaint syndrome, which I am positive most of you who work in the medical field will be able to instantly identify.

During quieter nights and when there's not much going on, the charge nurse will sometimes let me do the triage thing. Even though I am not yet at a point where I can be the triage nurse, it's a great experience for me because it helps me practice on how to get triage information, patient histories, and all that. Usually, the charge nurse or someone more experienced will be there with me initially to make sure the patient is stable enough to hang out with me in the triage room for a short time.

A couple of weeks ago I lost my first patients. Since I started working as an ER nurse I have seen patients die, and been part of that event, as in the case of The Vigil, but this was the first time that the patients I lost my were my own.

Two nights ago we had a patient pass away in our ER. There's nothing unusual about this. What made this case worth mentioning is the manner in which the events transpired and the lessons about human frailty that are embedded in it.

The patient was 56 year old female in the terminal stages of pancreatic cancer. She had been diagnosed 3 months prior and her family had made the decision in the last month to place her on hospice. She had home hospice nurses who would come to see her, and the family knew the end was near.

One of the things that I've observed so far working in the ER is that there are very few truly unique stories. Sometimes it feels like we're dealing with the same old suspects again and again in varying shapes and forms. If this is indeed true, then it seems to me that there should be a way to reduce the number of ED and hospital visits and improve general health by using preventative measures or by some form of public health initiative.

... walks like a duck, and quacks liks a duck, it may not be a duck.

A 56 year old male patient, moderately overweight, presented to the ED with all the classic symptoms of an acute MI (myocardial infarction, AKA a heart attack). He was diaphoretic, short of breath, hypertensive, tachycardic, and complaining of chest pain which felt like "someone was sitting on his chest". The pain was radiating to his jaw and down his arm.