15 January 2015

MCEM (UK ) all three parts Cleared .

Another great milestone for the department !This time by one of our residents- Dr Rahul Bansal ,Final year MEM resident has successfully  cleared all three parts of MCEM (UK ) exam and is now a recognized Emergency Physician by MCI and world wide .
 Dr Rahul Bansal is from Chandigarh , and joined MEM on 2012 and setup his goals from his foundation years to excel in his field of interest ie Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine . This passing of MCEM (UK ) is according to Dr Bansal is his first step towards excellence .

Presently Dr Rahul Bansal has been flooded with job offers from UK , Australia , Europe and the Middle East ..needless to say he has several handsome offers from India as well.

Dr Rahul Bansal attributed his success in MCEM (UK) to Dr Indraneel Das Gupta  -Clinical Director , Department of Emergency Medicine , Peerless Hospital .


7 August 2014

Placement News -First batch of MEM Peerless

The first batch of MEM (2011-2014) of Peerless Hospital  passed out in July 2014 . Even before completing their post graduation all of our residents had multiple job offers  . One of the most important aspects of any professional course is its placement record  and our residents did exceptionally well (three job offers per candidate ) in this aspect .
Prior to completion of their course six of our residents were offered placement offers in UK (MTI scheme ) .
As of now the following of our residents have already joined the respective prestigious Hospitals - all of them have been offered the designation of Emergency Consultant with a handsome package .








Dr Sajid Nomani
AMRI Hospitals- Bhubeneshwar , Orissa - Emergency Incharge .











Dr Amit Bhowmik
Peerless Hospital and BK Roy Research Center










Dr Indranil Mitra
Peerless Hospital and BK Roy Research Center




Dr Subhendu Das
Peerless Hospital and BK Roy Research Center









Dr Arun Chander
Fortis Hospital , Chennai










Dr. Syed Muddassir Hassan
Continental Hospital - Hyderabad

Dr K Sreedhar
SAIL Hospital, Visakhapatnam












Dr Mahesh M
Narayana Hriduyalaya (Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Health City , Bangalore)









Dr Vivek Goyal
AMRI Hospital - Bhubeneshwar










Dr Prerit Sharma
MAX health care -Saket , Delhi











N.B. the information provided here in are as per information conveyed to us and might change if the candidates choose any other job later on .
The status of  the  rest will be updated shortly as we come in touch with them .

2 August 2014

List of selected students for MEM 2014-2017 batch

Dr.AJAI  BABU(ANDHRA PRADESH)

Dr BHAVIKA RAVI(GUJRAT)

Dr. CHAITALI KUNDU(WEST BENGAL)

Dr. GOVARDHAN DESAI(ANDHRA PRADESH)

Dr. JOYITA DAS(WEST BENGAL)

Dr.MADHULIPI TALUKDAR(ASSAM)

Dr. MANZOOR AHMED PARA(J&K)

Dr.RANGA RAI(ANDHRA PRADESH)

Dr.SAYANI BANERJEE(WET BENGAL)

Dr.SHIVSHANKAR K.(TAMIL NADU)

Dr.RUDRANEEL KUMAR(WEST BENGAL)

Dr WRITUPARNA (WEST BENGAL)

(The list is arranged in alphabetical order )


24 June 2014

MCEM success story continues

The success story continues.... This time two of our residents have cleared the MCEM exam -
Dr Vidya Manchala and Dr Mahesh M .
We take upon this opportunity to congratulate both of them.

Dr Vidya deserves special mention for having cleared the exam on her first year of residency in her first attempt.

MCEM is the membership exam for college of Emergency Medicine , UK .
Its an internationally renowned membership exam to the prestigious college. Its also recognized by the Medical Council of India .
Till date 8 of our residents have cleared the exam .
One of the main reasons for such a high success rate of of our graduates is the academic atmosphere of Peerless Hospital as well as expert guidance of Dr Indraneel Dasgupta - who is himself one of the earliest MCEMs of India

Dr Mahesh M.
Dr Vidya Manchala.

10 April 2014

Top 5 Android Apps for Indian Doctors



When I bought my first Smart Phone three years back and started using the popular Medical App Epocrates most of my seniors and colleagues disapproved its use . Though most of them have never used it  but as it happens with anything new  they were sceptic about these Medical Apps  which looked too interesting to be reliable when compared with Classic (and often  Boring and confusing  ) Text Books.

Though these apps may never supplement text books but they have a place of their own when it comes to utility . Moreover  with the Information revolution things are changing very fast !
I take this opportunity to present my  Top 5 medical apps  in my three years experience with Android .
You can download all these app for free in Google /Android Play Store


Have a look at this Apps and suggest some other interesting App you use in the comments section.

The Rank List 
1 Epocrates
2 Healthkart Plus
3 BurnCare Burn Calculator
4 QxMD Calculate
5 Speed Anatomy (game)
and AIIMS Poison Information Centre Number.





What is it :
 Its arguably the Most popular Medical App in USA .



It has sections like
Drug Information:   here  you can find drug dose , adverse effect , indications etc 
Doc alert : This section updates new medical news , guidelines, studies etc
Interaction Checker :  here you can check drug to drug interactions between all the drugs you are delivering to your patient
Disease Reference : This is the best thing I like about Epocrates . its gives objective and practical information about a disease condition , its also gives treatment guide as per the Clinical Situation
Tables : contains ACLS /BLS PALS ATLS and other Important algorithms
The app also includes a pill identifier, lab test section , medical calculator (for BMI, MAP ,  APACHE2 etc ) and many other must have features

Pros :
1 Information provided is practical, objective , clinics oriented  and is the physicians best friend for day to day use . Its a MUST HAVE app for any Medico with a Smartphone
2 You can access all the information offline

Cons :
The free version is a trial version for one month , after one month some feature (most notably Disease Reference) is gone  !  - however there is a simple trick to keep it going with full features – all you need to do is to uninstall it and reinstall it after one month with a different email  address (they don’t verify the email address) – this extra effort is worth doing for such a useful app.

Installing Instruction : 
The installing though simple is sometimes  troublesome for new users , follow these steps
1 download from Google play for free
2 Register  following the instruction in the page but remember 2 vital things
      A The password should contain one capital Letter (upper case ) one small letter (lower case ) and a number
     B  When they ask you for profession don’t  choose “ Physician “ choose a non clinical profession  like Research Associate etc , this is because once you choose Physician they will prompt you to verify your status – though they give an option for skipping verification at times the program hangs
3 Choose the  Epocrates Essential  free option
 After this the program will download clinical content – this step will take some time – 15 mins to 30 mins depending on your connection
4 After download process is complete a screen will come prompting you to re register – don’t do anything just wait – after 1  minute with no response from you the app will start by its own .

The popularity of epocrates has prompted many other similar apps like Medscape , Web MD etc But  till date none has been as specific and objective as Epocrates .





What is it ?
 Its an online alternative to Drug books  like Drug today , Rx News etc
This simple Indian App gives you information about the cost of almost any  drug in India , along with the price of other brands with the same composition . There is also an option of Buy the drug online from your local distributor .The prices are far less than general pharmacy shops

Pros : Free  Simple , Fast and Useful
Cons : You need to be online to use this App,

























What is it : Are you always confident of Using the Rule of Nines to accurately  estimate the body surface area in a burn patent ? if Not this is the app for you:
Simply enter patient details like age sex height , Use  your finger in the touch screen to show the area burned   - the app will automatically calculate the Body surface area , use Parkland and other burn formulas to give you the amount of fluid you need to Transfuse !!( both adult and Peadiatric)
-          A very Innovative and useful app – in my personal experience I have seen that their calculation is very accurate and is preferable to estimation by a non-Burn Specialist using the rule of Nines . You can use the App offline .




Its an all in one calculator for all the medical Scorings you can think of eg GCS, APACHE2 , CRUB2 , Geneva Score for PE , CHAD2 for AF etc ...the Data base is really vast !

Its Developed by collaboration of clinical experts from diverse backgrounds. It has detailed references with Pubmed integration and provides comprehensive and insightful results for both medical health professionals and patients.

Select from any of its numerous calculators, grouped together for easy access. Choose whatever fits your current needs, such as general calculators, those specifically for cardiology, and many more.

The app provides tools to reduce and predict perioperative, guide treatment, determine prognosis, dose, calculate, classify, manage, stage, understand and diagnose.




If you are weak in Anatomy like me ,try this game .. Its fun.

The app is an addictive game that
tests your speed and challenges your knowledge of human anatomy.The faster and more precise you can point to a liver, a gallbladder or an incisor, the more points you earn. When you hold your finger over an image, a magnifying glass appears which allows you to achieve more precision and higher scores.Speed Anatomy Quiz Free contains 28 levels, including an overview of bones, muscles, arteries, veins, the respiratory system and much more..It starts with basic level but as you climb up things get tougher.

They also have versions for Neuro Anatomy and Blood vessels at a nominal price (Around Rs 200)






Useful Number

AIIMS Poison Information Centre Number:
 (011) 26593677, 26589391, 26583282

24 X 7 hotline  for Toxicology Related Cases
If you have any queries about any Toxicilogy case you can consult an Expert for Free ...Give them description of the poison( colour brand name ) they will tell you what it is and what to do.
From my past experience in  AIIMS I can say that the phone operator is  not a certified Toxicologist but has very good knowledge in Toxicology and  has 24 x 7 access to a toxicologist  in case the need arises.

By Dr Sourabh Pathak


  




28 March 2014

Another Milestone : Training The Indian Navy !


Another milestone for the Department !  - We had the honor to train the nation’s Navy  about Basic life support .
The group of Navy men were overenthusiastic to learn the art and science of saving lives!  Our doctors trained them about the basics of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation . They were also trained how to use the AED  (Automatic External Defibrillator ) , manage drowning cases etc..

The course was followed by  a final exam following which successful candidates were certified as basic life support provider .

The aim of the course was to maximise the chances of survival of a sudden cardiac death victim in the The Indian Navy  in absence of a medical personnel.

Although the value of bystander  CPR was once debatable, virtually all recent studies show that early initiation of CPR by a bystander improves survival from cardiac arrest significantly, and it also results in improved neurologic outcome of survivors. The presumed mechanism by which CPR by a bystander improves outcome is the preservation of flow to the heart, brain, and other vital organs, providing a "holding action" until other therapies (e.g., defibrillation) can result in restoration of spontaneous circulation.

As per Professor  Judith E Tintinalli: University of North Carolina 
Public CPR education can improve the behavior of bystanders significantly when a cardiac emergency occurs in the community. However, there are a number of problems associated with training the public to perform CPR. Most citizens who have received CPR training never actually witness or participate in managing a cardiac arrest. Conversely, bystanders who witness a cardiac arrest usually do not know how to perform CPR. The typical cardiac arrest victim is male, age 50 to 75 years old, and usually arrests at home, often in the presence of a spouse of similar age. Most citizens who have taken CPR training are <30 years of age; typically, <10% live with family members known to have heart disease. Many laypersons who attempt to perform CPR out of hospital are actually employed or volunteer their services as health professionals. The best solution to the problem is to target CPR training to "high-risk" individuals, such as middle-aged persons, senior center residents and staff, and family members (particularly the spouse) of patients who are survivors of AMI or cardiac arrest or who have other risk factors for sudden cardiac death.”

The Training team consisted of
Dr Indraneel Das Gupta ,Dr Saptarshi Saha
Dr Prerit Sharma ,Dr Arun Chander , Dr Onkar Nath Thakur, Dr Amit Bhowmik.



14 March 2014

His hand if not life was gone - Our Team effort saved both.



11th March 2014 will always haunt Amar (name changed)  as a nightmare for the rest of his life . This young carpenter was on his regular work when accidentally a Marble Cutter pierced his right hand  in such a way that the only connection between his hand and the rest of his body were parts of skin and few surrounding tissue , this immediately led to massive blood loss and the patient was in Shock. Under normal circumstances these hands cant be saved unless a vascular surgery is done but the patient was almost dead-any surgery in such patients are very risky! 

Background 

Limb Saving vascular Traumas are of frequent occurrence in War Medicine, extremity amputations  due to vascular injury were the most frequent procedures done by US surgeons in  the  second World War .  DeBakey et all calculated that during second world war  amputation rate was higher than 40% among survivors  ,60% died . However lot have changed since then , the earlier notion of saving “life over limb “ has been replaced by “saving Life and limb “  .However   the  simplicity of the concept ends at “ saving life and limb” caption complexity and challenges  of this concept  from step one haunt the most  renowned trauma centres of the world.

We had three main Tasks  1 To immediately stop bleeding   2 bring him  out of Shock   3  Immediate vascular surgery which may save his hand , in spite of being in a state of shock  .

Case Discussion 

The patient was brought to the ED 30 minutes following the incident , during this time his BP was un recordable and there was profuse bleeding from visible right brachial artery  below his right elbow . There was a visible open  fracture of the forearm . The Emergency Team  led by Dr Indraneel  Das Gupta( Emergency Director ) started its resuscitation  efforts  based on the principles of Damage Control Resuscitation (DCR)  , a second team led by Dr Sudeshna Barua (Consultant Emergency Physician ) and Dr Syed Mudassir focused on immediate control of bleeding using temporary measures  , the third  Orthopaedics team led by Dr Somnath De and Dr Nikhilesh Das   focused on the aspects of the injury  while a fourth team of Vascular Surgeon  led by Dr Ashim Kumar De and Dr Hasim De was summoned for immediate vascular surgery in the Emergency Operation Theater . The Emergency Team managed to bring the blood pressure back to a recordable range and temporaryly stop the bleeding though the patient was still in shock .  This paved the way for further intervention -crucial decision was taken that the patient will undergo vascular surgery while resuscitation measures are still going on because that was the only way to save his right hand and arguably his life .
The Vascular Surgeon Dr Ashim Kumar De performed End to End Anastamosis of Right Brachial Artery and bifurcation of Radial and Ulnar  arteries .  The Anesthesia Team maintained the patient in a stable condition during the surgery.


The operation was successful ..His hands were gifted back by the Vascular Surgeon and his life was saved  by the Emergency Team , the Orthopedics team repaired the fracture and injury, as a result of these   pulses were palpable  in the right  hands after the surgery and the patient was able to move his finger. Equally important role was played by the Emergency Nurses and Paramedics ,without their help all  plans would have never been implemented.
This was  a great example of successful  Team  effort  which played against all odds to save the life and hand of the poor carpenter .

NB : Clinical images showing  initial condition of the patients hand after the traumatic incident has not been  displayed as we believe its  un-ethical to display such a pathetic  and terrifying image online.