State Surgeons Unit. As a unit for medical practitioners, the mission of the SSU is operate with a great sense of team spirit, strong values, high ethics and a dedication to outstanding patient care and service.

Emergency room visits resulting from children swallowing batteries or sticking them into other orifices doubled between 1990 and 2009, researchers said Monday. There were an estimated 5,525 ER visits caused by batteries in 2009, with the bulk of them occurring in children under the age of 5, according to a team from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Most of them were caused by button batteries, the small, disc-like batteries found in many games and other electronic devices.

Swallowing a battery is often harmless, but the devices can cause serious problems if they become lodged in the esophagus, the nose or the ear. If they are surrounded by liquid, they can generate an external current that causes electrolysis of tissue fluids and the generation of corrosive hydroxide at the battery’s negative pole, with potentially lethal results in as little as two hours. Cylindrical batteries can produce problems if their corrosive alkaline contents leak, either from faulty construction or from a child chewing on them. A 2010 study suggested an “alarming” 6.7-fold increase in severe and fatal outcomes from swallowing button batteries between 1985 and 2009.

For more information: Click here

SSU has teamed up with Merchant Preferred Processing Network to lower your credit card processing fees. The average practice will have their effective rate lowered .50% to 1.00% from current rates. On a $20,000 per month practice, that could be a $3,000 per years savings! SSU members receive many benefits including:

A Lifetime Pricing Guarantee – Your Visa, MasterCard & Discover margin will never increase!

SSU Savings Guarantee – MPPN will save you money off your present fees or your SSU annual membership for next year will be paid!

For more information: Click here

Yvonne Yacoub has been a nurse for half a century.

n 50 years, she has seen her profession redefine itself to meet the challenges of change, yet continue to struggle with shortages of new practitioners.

Yacoub, 72, who has worked at Cape Canaveral Hospital here for 36 years, is decades older than the 46-year-old average age of employed registered nurses. Some veteran nurses continue to work, but many more have hung up the scrubs for good or are counting the days until retirement.

“In several years, we will see many nurses semi-retire or retire completely,” said Bonnie Rudolph, vice president/chief nursing officer for Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla., and Health First’s chief nursing officer. “Nursing is a very physical job, and many nurses cannot continue to stand, lift patients and continue to work the required shifts.”

For more information: Click here

The prestigious journal The Lancet came out with a study today that merits a double-take. After reviewing the data for 27 different cancers in 184 countries, the researchers concluded that two million cases of cancer a year — or one in in six cases — are caused by viruses, bacterial infections, or parasites. Which means, according to the researchers, that one sixth of all cancers are preventable. Yikes.

Which viruses and bacteria can lead to cancer?

Helicobacter pylori
Hepatitis B
Human papilloma virus (HPV)
Hepatitis C

For more information: Click here