Well the ACEP Scientific Assembly is coming up in October. You had better hurry and register now, Seattle is a fun city and everyone wants to be there, especially after the New Orleans convention last year. It is a chance to recharge your emergency medicine batteries, see old and new friends and have a great time.  It is a time to elect new board members. This year I think Mike Gerardi from New Jersey is the right man for that job. He brings an energy for our specialty that is hard to find. 

It is also a time to think about making a donation to the Emergency Medicine Foundation.  This is a nonprofit group founded by emergency physician to raise money and garnish grants for research solely in our specialty. 

So see you in October.

Indonesia confirms two more bird flu deaths

Jakarta (VNA) - The Indonesian Health Ministry on August 13 confirmed the deaths of a woman and her daughter in Bali as a results of bird flu, bringing the country's total death toll from the disease to 83.

These were the first human deaths from bird flu on the resort island, where the H5N1 virus was identified more than a year ago.

The 29-year-old woman died on August 12 and her five-year-old daughter on August 3, Bayu Krisnamurti, head of the national commission for bird flu, said.

Laboratory tests provided by the Eikman Institute and the Health Ministry confirmed the presence of H5N1 in both cases, Bayu told reporters.

Most docs have recognized the ridiculous science behind the Quality rules requiring antibiotics in Community Aquired Pneumonia within 4 hours of arrival at the hospital. Finally, there is a study from our home NJ Medical School in Newark, NJ that reveals that giving antibiotics in the first 24 hours has little effect on survival.  The study found that despite increasing the number of patients that received the antibiotic in 4 hours over 3 years there was no change in survival.

While it intuitively makes sense that we should give antibiotics in a timely manner for pneumonia, the science behind the quality of measuring it is flawed and should no longer be measured.