Speaking of Vesalius’s Historiated Initials at the New York Academy of Medicine
Click here for a downloadable PDF containing all historiated initials from the Fabrica. The medical profession has a long and fascinating history, and if you are interested in learning more don’t miss this upcoming event at the New York Academy of Medicine. The...
NPUAP Introduces New Clinical Practice Guideline for Pressure Ulcers
We’ve come a long way since the first version of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pressure Ulcers was put together by the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) and released by the Agency for Health Policy and Research (AHCPR) in 1992. This resource became...
Jeffrey Levine becomes NPUAP Board Member
I am thrilled to announce that I have been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, also known as NPUAP. My three year term begins this month. Joining me as a new Board Member is Sarah Holden-Mount PT, CWS, FACCWS who is Vice...
Insights into Geriatrics from Cartoonist Roz Chast
I've never posted a book review but will make an exception for this amazing new graphic memoir. Roz Chast, a beloved and well known cartoonist for the New Yorker, has written a brilliant book that should be required reading for the geriatric curriculum. It is...
New Government Report on Dying in America has Implications for Wound Care
A recently released report on Dying in America has important implications for the standard of care for persons with chronic wounds who are approaching life's end. It was published by the prestigious Institute of Medicine and written by a panel of recognized experts on...
The Enigma of the Historiated “V” in Vesalius’s Fabrica
This post continues to mark the 500th birthday of the great anatomist Andreas Vesalius, whose masterpiece tome, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, skillfully combined art and medicine. Today I will discuss the enigma of the historiated V that was introduced in the 1555...
Pressure Ulcer Care in Hospitals: What We Can Learn from the Texas Ebola Debacle
A simple lapse in communication in a Texas hospital resulted in a patient with a deadly contagious disease being discharged home. The information regarding the patient’s travel history was recorded into the electronic medical record (EMR) by a nurse but not...
The Old Man of Lake Titicaca
In 2010 the closing of St. Vincents Hospital in Manhattan gifted me with time to indulge my wanderlust, and so I went to Lake Titicaca in the Bolivian highlands of South America to celebrate the winter solstice with the shamans. On this trip I discovered a ceramic...
Jewish History in Vesalius’s Fabrica
This is another post to mark the 500th birthday of Andreas Vesalius, author of the great anatomy text entitled De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) – the lavishly illustrated masterpiece that combined art and medicine. The Fabrica will be 472...
Arion Triumphant
This post is written in honor of the 500th birthday of the great anatomist, Andreas Vesalius, who combined art and medicine in his landmark masterpiece, De Humani Corporis Fabrica. I am a lifelong fan of Vesalius and currently collaborating with the physician-scholar...
Pressure Ulcer as “Never Event”: Fact or Myth?
The term “never event” is commonly applied to pressure ulcers, giving the impression that they are always associated with medical error. As such, it lends this outcome an emotional charge that can lead to misplaced patient dissatisfaction and unnecessary accusations...
The Story Behind the AGS Annual Meeting Program Cover
I was thrilled when the American Geriatrics Society contacted me seeking images for the program cover of next year’s annual meeting. I spent hours flipping through my portfolio and found several suitable shots. Gradually I realized that to represent aging in America I...