December 2nd, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in News, Opinion
Tags: 2009, Beldina Atieno, Economy, Eric Goosby, Event, Global, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Disease, Jack Lew, Joy Phumaphi, Michel Kazatchkine, PEPFAR, World AIDS Day, World Bank
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What does America’s economic recession have to do with a school teacher in Kenya? A lot more than you realize. If there’s one thing I learned at the World Bank’s World AIDS Day event yesterday, it’s that our lives, economies, and health are all inextricably intertwined on a global scale.
Beldina Atieno (second from the left in the photo) traveled all the way from Nairobi to offer her first hand account of life as an HIV+ school teacher in Africa. Ms. Atieno’s story was both heart-wrenching and eye-opening. She was first diagnosed after her youngest daughter became very ill from an opportunistic infection, which prompted HIV testing in both daughter and mother. After discovering that they were both positive, she was abandoned by her husband and was plunged into poverty and despair. Read more »
December 1st, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Chitosan, Cream, Emergency Medicine, Foam, Hemostat, Nano-Hooks, Remedium Technologies, Technology
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Remedium Technologies won first prize in the Most Promising Security Idea category of the Global Security Challenge 2009 for their shaving cream-like foam that can stop bleeding. The foam incorporates chitosan, a natural low-cost hemostatic substance derived from shellfish. It is designed to be sprayed into wounds where it expands and adheres to tissues in order to slow or stop bleeding. The company is also working on a novel chitosan-based wound dressing which uses “nano-hooks” in order to better adhere to bleeding tissues. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
November 23rd, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Adverse Event, Connecticut, Cover Up, Disclose, Hide, Hospital Errors, Legislature, Medical Errors, Medical Mistakes, Reporting
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There is a disturbing story in the Hartford Courant (via the WSJ Health Blog) on how Connecticut state lawmakers have helped hospitals keep medical mistakes secret from the public. It’s true:
The legislature in 2002 ordered hospitals to disclose all serious patient injuries “associated with medical management.” But after the first reports were made public, hospital lobbyists persuaded lawmakers to rewrite the statute in 2004, limiting the kinds of adverse events that must be divulged, and promising to keep reports secret unless they led to an investigation.
What happened next is predictable. According to the Courant, public access to data about hospital adverse events dropped by 90%. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
November 23rd, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Medicare, Nocturnists, On-Call, Pay Cuts, Salary, Shift Work
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Should there be a premium added to physician compensation for on-call coverage after hours, or are Medicare rates enough?
This appears to be the central question between two competing hospitals in Longview, Texas where a $300,000 stipend was paid to a cardiology group by one hospital and not the other for cardiology on-call coverage.
Guess which one the doctors are promoting now? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
November 21st, 2009 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, News
Tags: ACOG, Guidelines, HPV, Infectious Disease, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Oncology, Pap Smears
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Right in the middle of the national firestorm about Mammogram recommendations, the American College of Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued new guidelines for screening of cervical cancer. After 40 years of successfully convincing women to get pap smears annually, the new recommendations say women should not get their first pap test until age 21 and the intervals for testing can then be stretched out.
The new recommendations say that women should start pap screening at age 21 (not teens who are sexually active as previously recommended) and then every two years through age 29. Women age 30 and over with three negative pap smears can stretch it out for three years. Women over age 65 can stop getting pap tests if their previous tests have been negative. Women who have had a hysterectomy for non-cancer reasons never need a pap smear. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
