The term “bariatric surgery” is used to describe any procedure that helps promote weight loss in severely obese patients who are unable to lose weight using traditional methods or who suffer from serious obesity-related health problems. The operation restricts food intake and, in some procedures...
Family physicians are trained to care for patients throughout their life span. As a result, they build relationships with them over time, unlike specialists who may see a patient once or twice for a specific ailment. When family physicians refer a patient to a surgeon, family physicians may...
A certified RN anesthetist (CRNA) is an advanced practice RN who provides anesthesia to patients in collaboration with surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, podiatrists, and other qualified healthcare professionals. CRNAs are professional, licensed RNs who have become anesthesia specialists by...
Alcohol septal ablation, also commonly called percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation, is a surgical alternative for treating hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), according to the Web site of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the joint university hospital for Cornell and...
The maze procedure is an open heart surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition commonly referred to as arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat. Alternate treatments to AF that are less invasive than the maze procedure include the use of radio frequency (RF) waves, cryoablation, or...
Mechanical ventilation is a life-support system used on patients suffering from respiratory failure. It is typically administered to patients on a short-term basis in monitored settings such as ICUs, operating rooms, emergency departments, and in anesthesia and postanesthesia settings.
Needle electromyography, or needle EMG, is a type of electrodiagnostic test used to determine whether a patient’s muscles and nerves are working properly. Physicians order the test when a patient is experiencing numbness, tingling, pain, weakness, or muscle cramping. Typically, neurologists,...
An electrocardiogram, commonly abbreviated as EKG or ECG, is a noninvasive procedure that records electrical changes in the heart. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), an ECG sends an electrical impulse (or wave) that travels through
the heart. The wave causes the heart...
Emergency ultrasound (EUS) is a technique that uses medical imaging to give physicians critical information by rapidly and noninvasively defining anatomic structures and function. EUS is usually performed at the bedside simultaneously with the clinical examination and has been described as an...
Electroneurodiagnostic (END) technologists—also referred to as electroencephalograph technologists—are multiskilled allied health professionals who operate specialized equipment that measures and records electrical activity in the brain, peripheral nervous system, and spinal cord. The data are...
