WARM UP:

One Joke: 

Who do you call when you need a doctor immediately? (Answer at bottom)

One Fact: 

One fourth of the bones in the human body are found in the foot!

One Quote:

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon

One Guess…Name That Disease: (Answer at bottom)

• Epidemiology: This sexually transmitted disease is caused by a bacterium that may not cause symptoms, but when it does could be weeks after the initial infection. Affects approximately 61 million people annually across the globe.

• Signs and symptoms: Pain and swelling in the affected area. Discharge from the involved anatomy including the genitals and even eyes.

• Diagnoses: Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) is the gold standard and with approximately 90% sensitivity and 99% specificity.

• Treatment: Guidelines recommend azithromycin, doxycycline, erythromycin, levofloxacin or ofloxacin.

• Prognosis: Patients typically experience complete resolution with no lasting effects as long as the treatment is timely and reinfection does not occur.

  

  Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

HEALTHCARE HEADLINES:

• Nearly 60% of ground ambulance rides were out of network in 2022, punishing many Americans with huge bills during emergencies. Congress excluded ambulance services from its surprise billing legislation.

• 1 in 4 health visits in America were conducted by physician assistants or nurse practitioners.

• YouTube wants to be your hub for medical information. Not sure learning about diseases will be as popular as their videos of cats using plungers, but more high quality information for patients certainly sounds like a win!

WATER COOLER WONDERS…the stuff we found interesting this week:

• Photos: Get into the fall season with some beautiful aerial shots of leaf art.

• Facts: Two children is still the most preferred number of kids, to the surprise of no middle child. Overall, Americans are about evenly split on having larger families versus smaller families, however.

• Debate: If you’re looking to get into a heated argument with your coworkers, debate the best style of pizza using this regional guide of the best pizzas as a guide.

  

  Friends / NBC via Giphy

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TGIF:

As pointed out above, nearly 60% of ground ambulance rides were out of network in 2022. Check out the physician-comedian Dr. Glaucomflecken's hilarious take on ambulance bills:

THANKS FOR READING!

At The Hyperthalamus, we’re on a mission to educate and entertain health care workers. Because we believe work should be a fun place to hang out with your colleagues and make them feel dumb for not knowing the answers to our trivia questions.

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Joke Answer: The nearest golf course.

Disease Answer: Chlamydia