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Thompson Returns as Interim SHO to Right Wrongs
For the second time in just 15 years, home-grown and nationally respected public health physician Ed Thompson agreed to another dance as interim State Health Officer (SHO).
His initial interim post started in December 1992 upon the retirement of Dr. Alton B. Cobb, who at the time was one of the nation’s longest-serving public health executives.
NKS WESSMAN |
NMMC Helps Train Nurse Anesthetists to Meet Demand
Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) are some of the most highly sought-after health professionals and, therefore, some of the most difficult to recruit.
North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) is helping meet this challenge by “growing” their own.
“We realized how difficult it was to recruit CRNAs to Tupelo, and affiliating with a training program was one way to do this,” said Dr. Kevin Hitt, a board-certified anesthesiologist who serves as clinical site coordinator, noting that when Mississippi’s only CRNA training program closed in the 1980s, the shortage became even more acute.
LYNNE JETER |
Twiss and Currier Collaborate on Valuable UMC Memoir
The history of a life or the history of an institution can be obliterated in an instant. When the last person who remembers is gone, their experiences are lost — unless, of course, that person thinks to record them.
Maurine Twiss, the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s first public information officer from 1955 until 1978, was in a key administrative position during the formative period of the institution and during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s.
JANIS QUINN |
Focus on Hedge Funds
A hedge fund is like a regular mutual fund with some key differences.
Hedge funds (a) pay an incentive fee to the manager based on the fund’s performance and (b) only accept a limited number of “accredited” (i.e., wealthy) investors in order to be exempt from Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) regulations.
ROGER MUNS |
Gamma Knife Upgrade Seeks New Level of Precision in Tumor Treatment
When Central Mississippi Medical Center (CMMC) found it was time to reload the radiation supply in its Leksell Gamma Knife®, the timing was right to take advantage of the company’s latest model.
As of this fall, CMMC will become one of the first hospitals in the country to provide the Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ to patients.
LUCY SCHULTZE |
Grand Rounds August
KDMC Opens Doors to New Services with Public Event
BROOKHAVEN – King’s Daughters Medical Center hosted a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Open House to demonstrate two new health and wellness services now available at the hospital.
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Harnessing Ultrasound Key to More Accurate Pain Management
The technology itself may be half a century old — but a fresh application for it is changing the experience of applying local anesthetic for both surgical patients and their physicians.
Ultrasound-guided regional anesthetic blocks are a welcome shift in technique from the standard “blind” placement, say leaders in the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Department of Anesthesiology.
LUCY SCHULTZE |
Information Enhancements Developing Across State
Non-terrestrial wireless communications systems, push-to-talk radio, satellite telephones, enhanced antenna, the electronic validating and registering of medical providers before assigning them to work, high-tech incident training, and new field hospitals are just some of the state’s improved implementations utilizing information technology if another disaster strikes.
GLORIA BUTLER BALDWIN |
Physician Spotlight: Dr. Patrick Weldon
Jackson neurologist Dr. Patrick Weldon had long been a reliable volunteer coach for the Special Olympics.
But when the organization happened to call him less than 24 hours after the birth of his youngest child, he had to decline the task of coaching a Down Syndrome basketball team.
LUCY SCHULTZE |
The EMTALA ER Call Coverage Obligation
In 1986, the patient anti-dumping law commonly known as EMTALA brought fundamental change to hospital emergency departments. Most of those changes have long since become standard operating procedure. Screening exam, emergency medical condition (EMC), stabilizing treatment, and appropriate transfer are all EMTALA terms that are part of the vernacular of every ER today.
R. MARK HODGES |
The IQH Role in Electronic Health Records
The focus on moving from paper to an electronic system in healthcare began for Information & Quality Healthcare (IQH) in 2005. IQH, as the Mississippi Medicare quality improvement organization or QIO, started work on the Doctor’s Office Quality Information Technology healthcare project through its contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
DR. JAMES S. MCILWAIN |
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