Do you like watching the intense scenes of medical drama on TV shows like ER or Gray’s Anatomy? Have you ever wondered what a heart transplant procedure really looks like?  If so, you might want to explore MedlinePlus’s surgical procedure webcasts (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/surgeryvideos.html).  There are hundreds of surgeries available to watch online, ranging from a caesarean birth to total knee replacement.  Note to sensitive viewers: these hour-long webcasts can be very graphic, since they depict actual surgeries.  If you are really interested in the steps taken during the procedures, you can download a transcript of the webcast as a PDF.

Many hospitals and clinics have similar surgical videos available online.  For example, Allina Hospital & Clinics (based in Minnesota) has several webcasts available online (http://www.allina.com/ahs/news.nsf/page/orlive). 

Happy viewing and learning!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (http://www.dhhs.gov/) contains 11 different agencies, including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  Its mission is “To improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.” 

AHRQ’s web site is filled with excellent resources for a range of audiences. Some of my favorite picks include:

-Effective Health Care Program (http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm). This section of the AHRQ web site contains information for consumers about a range of health conditions and procedures.  I reviewed the summary guide about treating prostate cancer, and found it full of helpful and easy to understand information.  Many of the summary guides are available as audio files, too.  There is also a useful glossary of medical and statistical terms.

-Technology Assessments (http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/techix.htm) and Evidence-Based Practice reports (http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epc/epcseries.htm).  These documents represent massive literature reviews, and they often contain tables with detailed descriptions of related literature.  It’s worth browsing through the lists of reports to see if there are any available on topics of interest to you. 

The AHRQ’s web site is rich and deep.  These are just a few of my favorite spots–please feel free to let me know if there other areas that I might like to explore.

The U.S. Drug and Food Administration, The Centers for Disease Control, along with the Minnesota and Connecticut Departments of Health recently confirmed that it was indeed salmonella causing the nationwide food illness scare. The source was contaminated peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant.

For more information please visit the following websites:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/Salmonellatyph.html

http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/

http://pbrecallblog.hhs.gov/

Hear advice from FDA’s Dr. Stephen Sundlof on what to eat during the peanut butter scare:

FDA Dos and Donts During the Peanut Butter Scare