.
According to a report on the BBC website regarding a study by the RAC foundation, average reaction times were 35% slower by texting motorists. The research suggests that texting while driving impairs motorists more so than being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A poll of 3000 drivers conducted earlier in 2008 on facebook found that 48% of 18 to 24-year-olds admitted to texting while driving.
The RAC Foundation found average reaction times slowed by 35% when 17 to 24-year-olds drove in a simulator while writing or reading texts. Previous studies had found reactions were 21% slower among those who had taken cannabis and 12% slower among those who had drunk alcohol up to the legal limit. The texters also drifted out of lanes more and had poorer steering control.
The overall driving performance was poor among those tested by the Transport Research Laboratory, which also carried out the previous studies, the RAC Foundation said.
Steering control among drivers in the text test was 91% worse, compared with 35% worse for those under the influence of cannabis.
This is why I like to have my wife in the car with me. I can drive in the commute lane plus she can send/write/read my text messages!
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man!
Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man!
I saw the quote, thought it was funny and decided to share it with you to start your day with a smile. I then found out it is a book!
I probably will not try all the recipes, but this could be the top ‘White Elephant’ gift for this Christmas season! I have included a link below so you can easily get it.
Tired of tofu? Sick of salad? REVOLT! Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man will put you back in touch with your Inner Hog.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806528680/?tag= tomrecommend-20
I can't wait to see who opens this up at Christmas time!!!
I saw the quote, thought it was funny and decided to share it with you to start your day with a smile. I then found out it is a book!
I probably will not try all the recipes, but this could be the top ‘White Elephant’ gift for this Christmas season! I have included a link below so you can easily get it.
Tired of tofu? Sick of salad? REVOLT! Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man will put you back in touch with your Inner Hog.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806528680/?tag= tomrecommend-20
I can't wait to see who opens this up at Christmas time!!!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Executive Coaching Fees
The Conference Board has published an update to its survey of executive coaching fees. The executive coaching industry is showing steady growth not just in the US but in Europe and Asia. Rates are the same in Europe as in the US and have risen significantly around the world. Organizations that coach their top level of executives pay a wide range of fees – anywhere from $200 to more than $500 per hour – with most spending in the higher ranges. The median for 2008 was $425.50 per hour. The most commonly stated fee, however, was over $500 per hour.
The most common billing method is monthly billing. Over 20% of consultants billed half of the fee up front and the balance at the end of the engagement. The most common duration of engagement is 9 months with coaches spending around 4 hours per month with their coachees.
http://www.obcomconsulting.com/pdf/MDL.pdf
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Friday, September 12, 2008
Confusion Over Drug Names a Prescription for Danger
Confusion Over Drug Names a Prescription for Danger
Associated Press September 3, 2008
I got this from the associated press and feel it is important to share just as i have it in order to get the word out.
"Do you take the generic drug clonidine for high blood pressure? Double-check that you didn’t leave the drugstore with Klonopin for seizures, or the gout medicine colchicine.
Mixing up drug names because they look or sound alike, like this trio, is among the most common types of medical mistakes, and it can be deadly. Now, new efforts are aiming to stem the confusion and make patients more aware of the risk.
Nearly 1,500 commonly used drugs have names so similar to at least one other medication that they’ve already caused mix-ups, says a major study by the U.S. Pharmacopeia, which helps set drug standards and promote patient safety.
Last week, the influential group opened a web-based tool to let consumers and doctors easily check if they’re using or prescribing any of these error-prone drugs, and what they might confuse it with. Try to spell or pronounce a few on the site (www.usp.org), and it’s easy to see how mistakes can happen. Did you mean the painkiller Celebrex or the antidepressant Celexa?
Due out later this fall is a more patient-oriented website, a partnership of the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices and online health service iGuard.org, that will send users e-mail alerts about drug-name confusion.
And the Food and Drug Administration, which currently rejects more than a third of proposed names for new drugs because they’re too similar to old ones, is preparing a pilot program that would shift more responsibility to manufacturers to guard against name confusion. The goal is to spell out how to better test for potential mix-ups before companies seek approval to sell their products.
“There are so many new drugs approved each year, this problem can only get worse,” warns USP vice president Diane Cousins. An estimated 1.5 million Americans are harmed each year from a variety of medication errors, and name mix-ups are blamed for a quarter of them.
Rarely does a company change a drug’s name after it hits the market, although it’s happened twice since 2005. The Alzheimer’s drug Reminyl now is named Razadyne, after mix-ups with the old diabetes drug Amaryl, including two reported deaths. The cholesterol pill Omacor is now named Lovaza, after mix-ups with blood-clotting Amicar.
Doctors’ notoriously bad handwriting isn’t the only culprit. A hurried pharmacist faced with alphabetized bottles on a shelf might grab the wrong one. And computerized prescriptions aren’t a panacea.
A doctor who e-prescribes still can click the wrong row on the alphabetized screen, picking the bone drug Actonel instead of the diabetes drug Actos. Phone or fax a prescription, and static or smudged ink can turn the epilepsy drug Lamictal into the antifungal pill Lamisil.
Harder to measure but perhaps more common: A doctor means to prescribe a new drug but spells out a similar-sounding old one out of habit. Or the patient misspells or mispronounces one of his drugs, and a health worker assumes it’s the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, not the antihistamine Zyrtec.
Enter the new web tool. Cousins advises consumers to check it against their current medications, so they know to pay more attention to confusing ones at refill time."
Associated Press September 3, 2008
I got this from the associated press and feel it is important to share just as i have it in order to get the word out.
"Do you take the generic drug clonidine for high blood pressure? Double-check that you didn’t leave the drugstore with Klonopin for seizures, or the gout medicine colchicine.
Mixing up drug names because they look or sound alike, like this trio, is among the most common types of medical mistakes, and it can be deadly. Now, new efforts are aiming to stem the confusion and make patients more aware of the risk.
Nearly 1,500 commonly used drugs have names so similar to at least one other medication that they’ve already caused mix-ups, says a major study by the U.S. Pharmacopeia, which helps set drug standards and promote patient safety.
Last week, the influential group opened a web-based tool to let consumers and doctors easily check if they’re using or prescribing any of these error-prone drugs, and what they might confuse it with. Try to spell or pronounce a few on the site (www.usp.org), and it’s easy to see how mistakes can happen. Did you mean the painkiller Celebrex or the antidepressant Celexa?
Due out later this fall is a more patient-oriented website, a partnership of the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices and online health service iGuard.org, that will send users e-mail alerts about drug-name confusion.
And the Food and Drug Administration, which currently rejects more than a third of proposed names for new drugs because they’re too similar to old ones, is preparing a pilot program that would shift more responsibility to manufacturers to guard against name confusion. The goal is to spell out how to better test for potential mix-ups before companies seek approval to sell their products.
“There are so many new drugs approved each year, this problem can only get worse,” warns USP vice president Diane Cousins. An estimated 1.5 million Americans are harmed each year from a variety of medication errors, and name mix-ups are blamed for a quarter of them.
Rarely does a company change a drug’s name after it hits the market, although it’s happened twice since 2005. The Alzheimer’s drug Reminyl now is named Razadyne, after mix-ups with the old diabetes drug Amaryl, including two reported deaths. The cholesterol pill Omacor is now named Lovaza, after mix-ups with blood-clotting Amicar.
Doctors’ notoriously bad handwriting isn’t the only culprit. A hurried pharmacist faced with alphabetized bottles on a shelf might grab the wrong one. And computerized prescriptions aren’t a panacea.
A doctor who e-prescribes still can click the wrong row on the alphabetized screen, picking the bone drug Actonel instead of the diabetes drug Actos. Phone or fax a prescription, and static or smudged ink can turn the epilepsy drug Lamictal into the antifungal pill Lamisil.
Harder to measure but perhaps more common: A doctor means to prescribe a new drug but spells out a similar-sounding old one out of habit. Or the patient misspells or mispronounces one of his drugs, and a health worker assumes it’s the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, not the antihistamine Zyrtec.
Enter the new web tool. Cousins advises consumers to check it against their current medications, so they know to pay more attention to confusing ones at refill time."
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