Below is an interesting infographic from Lumin Consulting that explains the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). Thanks to Cathy Davidson for sharing this on Facebook!
Children in the UK were asked to create self-portraits for a special arts project designed to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. The self-portraits were digitized and transformed to create a media facade that was projected on Buckingham Palace. This example of digital art for public viewing was shared on a number of large screen displays in public spaces around the UK.
This project was part of Face Britain. All children in the UK were invited to submit a self-portrait in an attempt to create the largest on-line gallery of self-portraits in the world.
According to a fact sheet from the Global Sepsis Alliance, sepsis "remains the primary cause of death from infection despite advances in modern medicine, including vaccines, antibiotics, and intensive care. Sepsis, which is often misunderstood by the public as "blood-poisoning", is one of the leading cause of death around the world. Sepsis arises when the body's response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death, especially if not recognized early and treated promptly. Between on third and one half of patients with sepsis die...
...Rapid initiation of simple, timely interventions, including antimicrobials and intravenous fluids can halve the risk of dying. Patients with suspected sepsis should be referred immediately to an appropriate facility...Unfortunately, sepsis is still mostly overlooked and recognized too late"
SEPTRIS, a game about sepsis, was developed by a team of people from Stanford University. The following article, written by Sara Wykes (Stanford School of Medicine), provides an in-depth account of the story behind the development of a game designed to teach medical professionals about sepsis: Game on: Stanford develops new tool for teaching doctors to treat sepsis.
Credit: "Dr. Septris"; Septris Screen Shot: Stanford University
Anyone can play Septris for free. The link is optimize to run nicely on an iPad, iPhone, or Android, but can be accessed on a desktop through Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browsers. If you are a medical professional and need CME credits, the fee for the certificate of completionis $20.00. The fee was waived for the first 100 users.
Note: Sepsis Awareness is now one of my "causes". The first World Sepsis Day is September 13, 2012 and I plan to share information about this global health concern from time-to-time, and related to technology in some way.
Below is a picture of my 24-year-old daughter, her husband, and son on Friday, March 31, 2012. At the time this picture was taken, she felt fine and had just walked about a mile and a half or so on a family stroll. She was in perfect health. She woke up in the wee hours of April 1st with the signs of an infection, took something for her aches and pains, and went back to bed.
The next day, things were much worse. She didn't know it at the time, but her blood pressure was falling and the signs of sepsis were appearing. Time was wasted going to an urgent care clinic. Fortunately she was referred to the E.R, where her her symptoms were identified. She received excellent treatment at Matthews Presbyterian Hospital. It took several days until she was stable, and she was hospitalized for one week. Unlike many people who experience sepsis, she did not suffer tissue damage or shutdown of her organs. Her treatment was initiated early enough to prevent this from happening.
Below is a picture of my daughter as she was beginning to recover.
UPDATE 7/15/12 My daughter is doing much better, but she experienced a great deal of fatigue for several weeks following her hospitalization
I recently came across an article written in the New York Times, by Jim Dwyer, about Rory Staunton, a 12-year-old boy who died from a strep infection that resulted in a sepsis crisis that went untreated. Unlike my daughter, Rory was discharged from the ER instead of being admitted for the intensive treatment that my daughter received. When his parents took him back to the hospital, it was too late. He died on April 1, 2012. My daughter battling sepsis in the hospital in North Carolina on the very same day.
Although I am not a physician, I am sure that Rory's death could have been prevented, based on information in the article as well as information shared by Rory's parents on their website.
To learn more about Rory's story, read the New York Time's article and a few of the comments. At the time of this update, over 1500 comments were listed on the NYT's website.
Rory Staunton (Website created by Rory's parents) Rory's sepsis crisis was the result of toxic shock from a Strep A infection. Sepsis can also be the result of other types of infections. The main thing to know that is that once sepsis sets in, the patient requires immediate and intensive treatment, guided by an infectious disease specialist.
As some of my readers know, my perfectly healthy daughter was recently hospitalized with sepsis. For that reason, I've taken a temporary detour to gather information and data about sepsis. This summer, I'm considering working on a public awareness information visualization about this topic.
The following video is a rap created to promote awareness about sepsis and the treatment of sepsis among health care providers. Although the first patient in the video is an elderly man, know that it can strike any age group.
I am happy to say that daughter is now doing well. She was treated relatively early, and unlike many others, she suffered no tissue or organ damage. She survived.
Some of the symptoms of sepsis include fever, hypothermia, a high heart rate (over 90 beats per minute), a fast respiratory rate, low/falling blood pressure, swelling, light headedness, etc. Skip urgent care if you have the signs of sepsis and go immediately to the E.R, tell them your symptoms, especially your blood pressure, heart rate, temp, and any type of infection you might have. Say that you suspect you have sepsis. The sooner you get treatment, the better your chance of survival.
More children die of sepsis than from cancer in the United States, and about 40% of all patients diagnosed with severe sepsis do not survive.*
