Top 10 HCA Healthcare stories of 2018

HCA Healthcare Today published 134 blogs in 2018 and saw more than 240,000 readers to the site. From innovative technologies developed at HCA Healthcare, to an affiliate hospital earning a national nursing honor, to clinicians providing health information on the hottest wellness trends, here’s your chance to catch up on the most-read stories of 2018. Enjoy!

10. September 10: SPOT: How HCA Healthcare is sniffing out sepsis early

HCA Healthcare affiliated hospitals are now using artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms based on patient vital signs, labs, nursing reports, and other data to help identify sepsis approximately 18 hours earlier than the best clinicians. The organization’s data scientists created a technology called S-P-O-T (Sepsis Prediction and Optimization of Therapy) to “sniff” out the first signs of sepsis.

9. December 6: Mom recalls journey of most premature baby ever at Methodist Children’s Hospital

“Will you try?” asked new mom Courtney Stensrud after delivering her 21-week old baby at Methodist Children’s Hospital in San Antonio some four years ago. Babies born that early are not expected to survive, even with resuscitation and intensive care. Today that baby girl, Lyla, is now four years old and thriving, thanks to a mother’s faith and a physician’s willingness to try.

8. July 19: HCA Healthcare hospital earns emergency department award from national nursing group

HCA Healthcare is proud to announce affiliate Swedish Medical Center’s Emergency Department as a recipient of the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) Lantern Award in 2018. Swedish, located in Denver, Colorado, is one of only 19 hospitals in the U.S. to earn this prestigious honor.

7. September 13: Hurricane Florence: Patient evacuated describes coordination of care between HCA Healthcare hospitals

“It was really an interesting spectacle to watch an entire hospital get evacuated,” he said. “I could hear staff members pre-planning.  It was very close to a military exercise, seeing busses from different counties and jurisdictions showing up, a team of people loading patients up and evacuating these people.  It was clearly well organized.”

6. September 4: CBD oil: What to make of the hottest wellness trend?

CBD oil is the new “it” trend in the wellness world, and it’s being touted for its anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory and pain canceling health benefits. And while CBD can be found in the cannabis plant, let’s cut to the chase – it does not get you high.

5. August 16: Aretha Franklin dies of rare pancreatic cancer. What we know about it.

Eric Liu, MD, a neuroendocrine tumor surgeon with Sarah Cannon at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center addressed key questions about this diagnosis below.

4. April 6: What was wrong with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s heart?

We tapped Karen Gersch, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Grand Strand Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to learn more about the emergency open heart surgery.

3. July 12: Is vaginal steaming safe? Our OB-GYN weighs in.

Celebrity health and wellness trends have become fodder for the general public’s search for the latest Hollywood beauty secrets. However, a self-care practice recently shared on Instagram by supermodel and social media maven Chrissy Teigen has raised some eyebrows in the medical community.

2. April 19: Is your teen ‘juuling’? Here’s what you should know.

It’s easy to hide. It’s addictive. It’s the new, viral trend to hit schools and part of what the FDA has declared a teen vaping epidemic across the country. What is juuling?

And, for the second year in a row, the most viewed blog of 2018 was…

1. February 17, 2017: Surviving the Widowmaker

Grand Strand Medical Center Interventional Cardiologist Randy Goodroe, MD, says patients are getting treatment much quicker for heart attacks now than ever before. So the once-grim reality of suffering from “the widowmaker” – a heart attack that results in immediate death – has become somewhat of a misnomer.

“The widowmaker isn’t nearly as widow-making as it used to be, thanks to the public being so well educated on the symptoms of a heart attack and the quick diagnosis and treatment in the ER.”

Visit us on the HCA Healthcare Today blog here in 2019. 

HCA Healthcare 50th Anniversary
In 1968, HCA Healthcare was conceived by two physicians and an accomplished business leader — Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., and Jack Massey. This year, HCA Healthcare celebrates its golden anniversary and the culture of caring established by our three founders 50 years ago. To help us celebrate our 50th year, we’ll share stories here that reflect HCA Healthcare’s mission – above all else, the care and improvement of human life – and our pledge to improve life and make history for the next 50 years and beyond.