Bike Trips to Annapolis: 2 Emily: 1

With "little" going on next week I decided to take today as a personal day and see if I could finally find the trail from Baltimore to Annapolis (sadly I had failed miserably twice last fall - once because of a thunder and lightening storm and another due to poorly labeled trails). 

Either they had put up some new signs or I was actually paying attention this time because I had little trouble finding the B&A trail.  I soon realized that despite the fairly smooth terrain, the combination of wind (and no one to draft off) and having lost 2 pints of red blood cells it would be rougher than normal.  For reference that is like losing two containers of Ben and Jerry's.  It was going to be a plug and chug ride, but the weather was super nice so no complaints here.

One of the things I loved about last summer was the fact that you always had someone to talk with on the road.  Maybe that is why I have not done any major riding since the trip - no company. 

A couple miles into the B&A trail I noticed the planet walk instillation.  There is a giant sun sculpture at the beginning and each of the planet is placed proportionally far away.  The first few planets came pretty quickly, but I actually forgot about the instillation until I saw Saturn WAY, WAY WAY down the trail (it is nice to see that Pluto is still included).  If you want to get an idea of just how much riding you would have to do, check out this awesome Bill Nye video Susan, a fellow SUS'ian sent us a few weeks ago.  Bill and I can clearly be BFFs because I have the same Bianchi (or one very similar) in my basement. 

With so much time on my hand my head of course went to all things nursing.  As I was huffing puffing away I started to come up with some nursing diagnoses which correlated to my current situation:

• Impaired gas exchange related to altered oxygen-carrying capacity of blood as evident by dyspnea upon exertion
• Fluid volume deficit related to increased fluid loss as evident by dry mucous membrane
• Ineffective airway clearance related to decreased energy/fatigue as evident by changes in depth/ rate of respiration and expiratory wheezing

The was definitely worth it once I headed over the Naval Academy Bridge and saw the familiar town (we used to use Annapolis as day getaway in undergrad because of its proximity to DC).  Seeing the male military cadets walking around in their dress uniforms doesn't hurt either.  

I was all set to lock up my bike, grab a sandwich at my favorite sandwich place and walk around for a while, but realized that while brought my heavy duty U-lock, I forgot my key.  TYPICAL.  I did, however, find a couple of colonials who very nicely kept an eye on my bike as they were greeting visitors and I ran to get lunch. 

With about 10 miles to go until I got back within city limits, I came across two bikers who clearly had a flat and no tube.  After work/this summer I am a wiz at changing them and within no time had the guy patched up and he was good to go.  On a side note, if a rider stops in the middle of the ghetto, gives you a new tube/eats a Cliff bar and gives you the wrapper so you don't blow another tire and then changes said tire at least offer to reimburse the person for the tube.  No such dice here.

New Unit, New Scrubs

Yesterday was a day filled with simulations and practicing skills we have not used since sign offs in December which meant that today was the first day on our Adult Health 1 rotation.  Seven other nursing students and I headed over to the infectious disease unit, which specializes in HIV, early this morning. Because we are over at JHH the nursing students wear white scrub tops - nothing could be worse than one of us being mistaken for a RN.  Our preceptor is great, the nurses are great, the patients are great so this should be a FANTASTIC 7 weeks!!

Stoop Storytelling

  "Everyone has a story.  What is yours?"

The Stoop Storytelling Series is a local Baltimore project which allows "7 people 7 minutes each to tell a true, personal tale on a shared theme in front of a live audience."  Since its founding in 2006, people from all over the city have come to listen to more than 450 Baltimorians share their stories.  Tonight's theme was Hopkins: A World Inside a City, III.  Six individuals, one was sick, described to the audience what life is like in the monolith on the hill.  Check out some pictures and clips from the show!!

Give Me the Quick and Dirty!

I LOVE INFOGRAPHICS!!!

I guess because it gives you a lot of really good information in simple to understand sentences and pictures.  Basically everything you need wrapped up into a nice package (hello easy health education handouts).  National Public Health Week had an infographic competition and I am proud to say that the national winner was from my alma mater (well close - it was GW's online MPH program). 
In keeping with the ROI theme, here is there infographic on the cost of obesity.  Click here to check out the whole thing!!

I Am A Bad MPH'er

Well apparently this week is National Public Health Week!

• Monday, April 1: Ensuring a Safe, Healthy Home for Your Family: Health and safety begin at home. Make prevention a fun family tradition.
  
• Tuesday, April 2: Providing a Safe Environment for Children at School: Schools are the perfect setting for improving child health. Plus, children's health is a rallying point few can ignore.
  
• Wednesday, April 3: Creating a Healthy Workplace: Wellness and safety in the workplace are good for health and for business. Let's make prevention work for us.
  
• Thursday, April 4: Protecting You While You're on the Move: Safety on the go is often in our own hands, but it's also tied to community design. Together, we can turn our streets into roads to better health.
  
• Friday, April 5: Empowering a Healthy Community: Support public health efforts that create healthy opportunities for all. Good health is a community affair.
  

Methylprednisolone

So many, many weeks ago Kelsey, a fellow reader/PGH Health Corps Alumni who gets a shout out every now and then for fun articles, posted an article describing how drugs actually get their names.  Frequently I create place holders on my blog for interesting articles I want to share, but either have no time to type them up or there are other "more pressing" things.  When I was creating the title for this post I started looking for long medication names and felt that Methylprednisolone looked pretty good.  I can report that when I pulled up this post today I knew, without hesitating, that it is a common corticosteroid drug which goes by the brand name Medrol and Solu-Medrol.  I guess some of that pharm stuff is sticking.  

Now back to the the original post topic - how drugs are named.  While you should definitely read the article, I pulled out a few interesting points:

• Companies can spend $250,000 to $2.5 million just to come up with a medicine’s name
• Drug companies strive for their drug names to be:
• A name consumers will find inspiring, comforting, authoritative, fast-acting, or personable
• Tell doctors and patients something about the drug—to evoke a mechanism of action or an emotional state or lifestyle
• Allows doctors and pharmacists to say it and write it without confusion (MAS IMPORTANTE!!!)
• Be recognized in any language around the world

Drugs will have three names:

1. chemical name: 7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one
2. A Generic name: Diazepam
3. A brand name: Valium

You probably will not see “h,” “j,” “w,” “k” and “th” in drug names any time soon because languages other than English have a hard time pronouncing them.

It is also interesting to note that the US and New Zealand the only countries IN THE WORLD which allow direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.  If you have some time on your hands, or having a hard time falling asleep, this article gives the pros and cons to both sides of the argument.

Bon Poisson D'avril!!

A.K.A. Happy April Fish!!

Today in the US we celebrate April Fools Day, but across the pond many countries celebrate their own version of Poisson D'Avril.  In France, people try to hook a cardboard fish on the back of an unsuspecting friend/stranger (better than being smacked in the face with a fish which is how the tradition started).  While this holiday has been around for centuries, no one knows for sure how it started.  Some say it is linked to Jesus who is often represented as a fish in early Christian times while other say that it is related to the sign of Pisces.