People whose loved ones are dying appear to be significantly dissatisfied with the care the patients are getting, according to a new survey published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. “People are less satisfied with care at the close of life, and I think it’s now urgent for us to start thinking about what interventions… Continue reading End-of-Life Care Often Inadequate
Category: Medical Care
Music Helps Ease Anxiety During Extubation
Patient-selected music during weaning from prolonged mechanical ventilation could benefit patients by decreasing their heart rate and anxiety, according to a study presented in May 2015 at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in Denver. A release from the society explains that patients on prolonged mechanical ventilation may feel stress or insecurity during daily weaning… Continue reading Music Helps Ease Anxiety During Extubation
New Guidelines for Using Urinary Catheters
Researchers have developed guidelines to tell doctors and nurses how to better decide which patients may benefit from a urinary catheter. The guidelines are aimed at avoiding side effects such as urinary tract infections. The guidelines, known as the Ann Arbor Criteria for Urinary Catheter Appropriateness, were developed by researchers from the University of Michigan… Continue reading New Guidelines for Using Urinary Catheters
Hip Strengthening to Ease Pain of Clogged Leg Arteries
Detailed gait analysis reveals that people with clogged leg arteries rely more on muscles in the back of the calf when they walk to compensate for weakness in certain hip muscles, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology/Peripheral Vascular Disease Scientific Sessions 2015 in San Francisco in… Continue reading Hip Strengthening to Ease Pain of Clogged Leg Arteries
Generic Transplant Drugs as Good as Brand Name
A University of Cincinnati (UC)-led research team has found that generic formulations of tacrolimus, a drug used post-transplant to lower the risk of organ rejection, are just as good as the name-brand version. The findings were presented Sunday, May 3rd 2105 at the American Transplant Congress annual meeting in Philadelphia by lead investigator Rita Alloway,… Continue reading Generic Transplant Drugs as Good as Brand Name
Majority of Older Adults Are Willing to Be Screened by Telephone for Dementia
Nearly two-thirds of older adults were willing to undergo telephone screening for dementia, according to study from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research and the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis. Willingness to be screened by phone did not differ by sex, age or race. The study was published in May 2015 in the Journal of… Continue reading Majority of Older Adults Are Willing to Be Screened by Telephone for Dementia
Advice from a Dermatologist: Treating Cold Sores At Home
Cold sores – small blisters on the lip or around the mouth – are surprisingly common. According to the American Academy of Dermatologists (AAD), more than half of Americans age 14 to 49 have the virus that causes the sores. If the virus reactivates, or “wakes up,” the AAD says, you could get the sores.… Continue reading Advice from a Dermatologist: Treating Cold Sores At Home
Palliative Care in the ER for Seniors Could Reduce Admissions to the ICU
Applying palliative care principles to emergency departments may reduce the number of geriatric patients admitted to intensive care units, possibly extending lives and reducing Medicare costs, according to a three-year analysis by Mount Sinai researchers published online in the May edition of Health Affairs. A release from Mt. Sinai quotes Corita Grudzen, MD, the lead… Continue reading Palliative Care in the ER for Seniors Could Reduce Admissions to the ICU
Off-label Use of Device to Prevent Stroke in A-fib Patients Can Be Fatal
The Lariat device, which has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for soft tissue approximation (placement of a suture) during surgical procedures, is associated with a significant incidence of death and urgent cardiac surgery during its frequent off-label use to prevent stroke in patients with the irregular heartbeat known as atrial… Continue reading Off-label Use of Device to Prevent Stroke in A-fib Patients Can Be Fatal
Some Hospitals Not Doing Enough to Protect Patients From Infection
Almost half the hospitals who took part in a study aren’t doing what they should to prevent Clostridium difficile bacteria, which sickens hundreds of thousands of people each year. While nearly all of the 398 hospitals in the study use a variety of measures to protect their patients from C. diff infections, a team of… Continue reading Some Hospitals Not Doing Enough to Protect Patients From Infection
New Life for Traditional Antibiotics
“First-line” antibiotics could be brought back to fight against the increasing number of drug-resistant pathogens, according to a new study. A computer simulation created by Hannah Meredith, a biomedical engineering graduate fellow at Duke University, revealed that a regimen based on a pathogen’s recovery time could eliminate an otherwise resistant strain of bacteria. In theory,… Continue reading New Life for Traditional Antibiotics
Family Members Observing CPR Don’t Cause Harm
The presence of family members during cardiac-arrest treatment doesn’t affect the outcome, according to a new study. Some hospitals allow family members to stay during the grueling procedure, while others ask them to leave. Researchers from the University of Michigan Medical and the University of Washington School of Medicine analyzed 41,568 patients who went… Continue reading Family Members Observing CPR Don’t Cause Harm
New Guidelines for Some Hospital Visitors
Experts have issued new guidelines for people visiting hospital patients with infectious diseases. The recommendations were published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). “Visitors have initiated or been involved in healthcare-associated infection outbreaks, but it is unknown to what extent this occurs in the… Continue reading New Guidelines for Some Hospital Visitors
Emphysema: Basis for Improved Drugs
Elastases of white blood cells are involved in tissue destruction and can thus cause various diseases, including pulmonary emphysema. Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Center for Environmental Healthin Neuherberg, have discovered a new isoform which could be involved both in the pathogenesis of diseases such as pulmonary emphysema as well as… Continue reading Emphysema: Basis for Improved Drugs
ER Patients Need to Know More about Pain Management
Patients in the emergency room want to know more about the possibilities for pain management than their doctors are telling them. They also want to know about the risk of opioid dependency. The study, by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, used semi-structured open-ended telephone interviews with 23 patients… Continue reading ER Patients Need to Know More about Pain Management
Risky Procedure May Not Benefit Nursing-Home Patients
Revascularization procedures, designed to preserve limbs, benefit only a few U.S. nursing home residents, according to new research. Investigators from the University of California San Francisco published the finding in JAMA Internal Medicine. They said that even those patients who survived gained little, if any, function. “Our findings can inform conversations among physicians, patients and… Continue reading Risky Procedure May Not Benefit Nursing-Home Patients
Rx for the Medical Profession: An Injection of Humanity
The changes in medical care over the last five decades have been dramatic. Technological and scientific advances gave patients access to a level of medical diagnosis and care previously undreamed of. During this time, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act provided more people with the opportunity to take advantage of that care. Yet… Continue reading Rx for the Medical Profession: An Injection of Humanity
Patient Directives May Change in Intensive Care Unit
Although more and more people have set clear limits on how much life-sustaining therapy they want, intensive-care units across the U.S. vary widely in how they manage the care of those patients. The pre-existing limits include authorizing do-not-resuscitate orders, and prohibiting treatments such as feeding tubes or dialysis. The research, from investigators at the Perelman… Continue reading Patient Directives May Change in Intensive Care Unit