4th of July Firework Safety Tips

I would hope that common sense would prevail on July 4th but I gaurantee you will read or hear about firework injuries that occurred due to recklessness, drunkenness, or plain old stupidity.

Share these tips from The National Council on Fireworks Safety with your family and friends.

Use fireworks outdoors only.

Obey local laws. If fireworks are not legal where you live, do not use them.

Always have water handy. (A hose or bucket).

Only use fireworks as intended. Don't try to alter them or combine them.

Never relight a "dud" firework. Wait 20 minutes and then soak it in a bucket of water.

Use common sense. Spectators should keep a safe distance from the shooter and the shooter should wear safety glasses.

Alcohol and fireworks do not mix. Have a "designated shooter."

Only persons over the age of 12 should be allowed to handle sparklers of any type.

Do not ever use homemade fireworks of illegal explosives: They can kill you! Report illegal explosives to the fire or police department in your community.

Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July

God Bless America.


Frank Ille

five simple processes for better managing test results:

We all put so much trust and faith in our doctors and something that is as important as your test results often falls through the cracks. I made a short reference to this yesterday and wanted to add more on this topic today.

Very few physician practices studied have explicit rules for managing test results, according to Lawrence Casalino, M.D., chief of the division of outcomes and effectiveness research in the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell. In many practices, each physician devised his or her own method, he noted.

The study suggests five simple processes for better managing test results:

* all test results are routed to the responsible physician;

* the physician signs off on all results;

* the practice informs patients of all results whether normal or abnormal;

* the practice documents that the patient has been informed; and* patients are told to call after a certain time interval if they have not been notified.

YOU are responsible to be an active participant in your health care. Be an empowered patient and take responsibility for managing your health care including test results.

Ask your doctor to make all of your medical records available online and if he or she declines find one that will.

Text of the article, Frequency of Failure to Inform Patients of Clinically Significant Outpatient Test Results, is available at:

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/169/12/1123.

Random living healthier fact of the day; smiling actually lowers your blood pressure : o )

Have a great day and share your smile with the world.

Frank Ille

Bad test results and Health Data Rights

The first study of its kind finds doctors failed to inform patients of abnormal cancer screenings and other test results 1 out of 14 times. The failure rate was higher at some doctors' offices, as high as 26 percent at one office. The findings are published in the June 22nd Archives of Internal Medicine.

With technology so pervasive in every other industry why is the health care industry lagging so far behind? Seamless access to your medical records for you and any doctor that treats you should be a basic right.

A Declaration of Health Data Rights
http://www.healthdatarights.org/

In an era when technology is allowing personal health information to be more easily stored, updated, accessed and exchanged, the following rights should be self-evident and inalienable. We the people:

• Have the right to our own health data


• Have the right to know the source of each health data element


• Have the right to take possession of a complete copy of our individual health data, without delay, at minimal or no cost; if data exist in computable form, they must be made available in that form


• Have the right to share our health data with others as we see fit

These principles express basic human rights as well as essential elements of health care that is participatory, appropriate and in the interests of each patient. No law or policy should abridge these rights.

Most medical practices will charge you for a copy of your medical records and in some cases the prices are structured to discourage you from asking. In Texas they can charge $37 for the first ten pages.

It is YOUR health information, you paid for it and therefore you own it.

Have a happy and healthy day.

Frank Ille