Padma Awardee Dr Balram Bhargava has been appointed the new DG ICMR and Secretary of the Department of Health Research.

Patients often record their visits on their smart phones. Ten percent patients recorded their visit, with or without permission, according to research from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy. Its been said that often doctors speak fast but patients listen slow, often failing to comprehend and retain important information. Patients cant always remember all the crucial instructions being conveyed to them. They believe that recording will help. However, recordings could be used against doctors in malpractice suits, or can be made public on social media.

The US FDA has taken a big step in encouraging drug companies to include pregnant women in clinical trials, issuing a draft guidance outlining how to do so safely and ethically.

To tackle jetleg even the choice of your plane matters. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350 XWB are the first commercial aircraft to be built using carbon fiber reinforced polymer, a lighter, composite material which reduces fuel consumption and also jetlag associated major symptoms.

Prior to initiation of antimicrobial therapy in adults, at least two, preferably three, sets of blood cultures taken from separate venipuncture sites should be obtained. The technique, number of cultures, and volume of blood are more important factors for detection of bacteremia than timing of culture collection.

Do you know that arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy is a rare cause of a dilated cardiomyopathy resulting from prolonged periods of rapid ventricular heart rates. It often improves or resolves following treatment and is associated with a good prognosis in most patients.

In the field of defensive medicine failure to follow a surgeons advice in the postoperative period may be deemed comparative or contributory negligence and may offset the monetary worth of the surgeons negligence [Ostrowski v. Azzara, 545 A.2d 148, 154-56 (N.J. 1988).

Also, if a surgeon discusses a problematic case with an unhappy patient or family prior to the filing of a suit, the substance of the conversation should be included in a chart note, dated and timed contemporaneously with the conversation. The surgeons language should reflect sympathy but not admit liability. Do not forget to name those who were party to the conversation.

Regarding weather high humidity will remain continue over most parts of the country, heat wave conditions would not occur over most part of the country during next 4-5 days, however it may prevail over one or two pockets of West Rajasthan on day 4 & 5.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

Vice President CMAAO

President HCFI