I always come up with ideas about how something could be done better, faster or cheaper (yes, that is a NASA slogan). Rather than let them sit in my head, I’m going to start writing them down here. Maybe someone will find them interesting.
Problem: DVTs. These things are bad, and frequently lead to pulmonary embolism before we ever even notice them.
Potential Solution: Some easy, cheap way to continually monitor the veins affected so that a clot would be immediately detected. This would also eliminate the need for ultrasounds of the legs of patients when DVT is suspected. This would have lots of clinical utility.
Problem: Nosocomial Infections…they spread fast, take time to diagnose and we’re not really sure what drugs will treat them since they tend to be resistent to so many.
Potential Solution: A means of rapidly isolating the pathogen (without culturing it, or by only culturing it for a short time), and then rapidly sequencing its DNA. All automated, of course. Once we sequence the DNA of a pathogen, we will know exactly what drugs it is resistent to. There are other ways one could go about this, such as computer recognition of images garnered through an electron microscope. That would be a huge and complicated process, but if it were possible it could put a huge smack down on nosocomial infections.
Problem: PEs (not the class in highschool). Treating them is an uber bitch. People die rapidly from these things.
Potential Solution: Well, I don’t really have one. It needs to be non-invasive, non-pharmacological (because high dose rapid hemolytics carry risks), and very rapid. Ideally it would be coupled with an easy diagnostic tool or would carry no significant risk if it were used on someone without a PE. Perhaps this could be administered by emergency crews.
And I just thought of something else, and it is not an original idea by any means. Nanosurgery is awesome. What if, when a patient has an MI, the paramedics could put the surgeon into the patient (i.e. a mini robot controlled remotely) while the patient is on the way to the ED? The surgeon could be at the hospital, in some sort of virtual reality suite, waiting for the patient to get prepped and come in. By then, he’s got a pretty good idea of what is going on, and he may have been able to clear a clot or put in a temporary stint or something.
I just thought about that. I love these ideas. They seem so awesome; thinking about these things helps keep me going through the horrors of med school.
