Tag: Medical Care

“Telehealth”, an approach to saving costs and improving patient care in hospitals, goes far beyond videoconferenced doctor visits, according to researchers at the University of Michigan who conducted the first survery of how broadly web-based technologies are being used nationwide. The team found that 42 percent of U.S. hospitals use some type of "telehealth" approach. The study, published in the February 2014  issue of the journal Health Affairs, breaks down adoption rates by state.

The most comprehensive review of infection control efforts at U.S. hospitals in more than three decades found lax compliance even in intensive care units where patients are more likely to be treated with devices linked to preventable infections – such as central lines, urinary catheters and ventilators. That is the finding of research done at Columbia University School of Nursing and published in the American Journal of Infection Control.  

About 90 percent of people over 60 years old have rotator-cuff disease. A new ultrasound probe that has been developed at Clemson University in South Carlina could take some of the guesswork out of determining the severity of rotator-cuff injuries, making it easier for doctors to decide whether patients need surgery. Rotator-cuff injuries are the second highest-costing disease in the country, behind only back injuries.

By Paul DiCorleto, Ph. D.

Each year in the United States, 23,000 people die from drug-resistant bacterial infections.

Antibiotics, designed to fight infections, have been one of the greatest medical advances of the past 100 years. But many health experts warn that we are entering a postantibiotic era, where drug-resistant “superbugs” threaten our health and economy.

Our behavior — how we use antibiotics and antibacterial products — may be part of the problem.

How superbugs survive

By Brok Vandersteen

The last time I visited my doctor, I asked him how much my prescription would cost.

“Well, it depends on how much your insurance covers,” he answered. I asked him if he knew how much that was. He pulled out his tablet and did the calculation, finding the pharmacy cost of my medication and comparing it to my insurance coverage. It was amazing: I knew right away what I would have to pay — and whether I could afford it.

Aspirin is still overprescribed for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation despite the potential for dangerous side effects, according to a study done by the European Society of Cardiology andpublished January 28^th 2014 in in the American Journal of Medicine. Another worrying finding was that oral anticoagulants were underprescribed in elderly patients, with aspirin alone more commonly prescribed.

Editor’s Note: A crucial part of looking after yourself is managing the medicines you’re taking – by, among other things, understanding how and when you’re taking them; being consistent; storing them properly; and noting when you should ask for a refill. Here, the best tips for being an efficient medication manager, from the SeniorHealth division of the National Institutes of Health:

Electronic health-records systems, in which medical information is securely shared, may be helping avoid unnecessary care, a new study shows.

Fewer emergency patients got repeated medical scans when they went to a hospital that takes part in a health information exchange, or HIE, according to researchers published online in the journal Medical Care.

Researchers from the University of Michigan said their findings are a good evaluation of the effectiveness of HIEs.

A national plan developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesfor preventing healthcare-associated infections shows progress. That is the joint finding of 14 papers published in a special issue of the journal Medical Care. The 3-year evaluation of the effort has identified what's working as well as the challenges that remain.

Training hospital and nursing home staff in the basics of palliative care can make the last days of a dying patient’s life as comfortable and dignified as possible, according to F. Amos Bailey of the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Bailey is the leader of a study¹ that showed the value of introducing palliative care strategies, typical of hospices, within the setting of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

New research has found that while 50 percent of patients leave their doctor’s office feeling ashamed or guilty, those feelings may have positive results depending on a number of factors.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego said that investigating the issue of patient shame – and consequent avoidance of treatment – is crucial.  "More than one third of all deaths in the United States are still essentially preventable and largely due to unhealthy patient behavior,” the researchers wrote.

If you’re taking a number of medicines for a single condition, you have a greater chance of being hospitalized than people who are taking multiple medicines for multiple conditions.

 

 

A study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology analyzed “polypharmacy,” a situation in which patients diagnosed with multiple conditions are being treated with multiple medicines.

 

 

By Anne-Marie Botek, Editor-in-Chief of AgingCare.com

Overtreatment is a persistent problem among the aging population. Research shows that the more doctors an individual has, the more likely a patient is  to be prescribed conflicting medications. Indeed doctors may over treat elderly patients unintentionally. 

Using an online service to refill medications actually helped some people with their health,  according to a new study.

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the University of California, San Francisco Medical School followed 17,760 diabetic patients who got care from Kaisesr Permanente in northern California between 2006 and 2010.

The subjects used online patient portals, which allow users to order prescription refills, communicate with their health care providers, schedule appointments, access their health records and view their lab test results

Editor’s note: Many people make a list of New Year’s resolutions, and most of us have difficulty keeping them! But here’s one resolution that’s easy to follow through on: donating blood. Hospitals and patients are in critical need for blood, yet the donation rate is very low.

A specialized, multidisciplinary team approach to caring for seriously ill people and their families, is often errantly reduced to end-of-

life care. This misconception has led to palliative care involvement being introduced late in an illness, often depriving patients and

their families of comprehensive symptom control, support and assistance with complex decision-making throughout the course of

their illness when it could provide the most benefit.