Findings may offer another reason to judiciously prescribe antibiotics to children Date: July 20, 2015 Source: Rutgers University Taking antibiotics may increase the risk that a child will develop juvenile arthritis, according to a study from Rutgers University, University of Pennsylvania and Nemours A.I. duPont Hospital for Children published today in Pediatrics. Researchers found that […]
Caroline Cassels December 17, 2013 Methylphenidate has been linked to a rare risk for priapism in males taking the stimulant for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns. In a release, the agency reports that the stimulant may in rare instances cause prolonged and sometimes painful erections, and […]
Nancy A. Melville July 14, 2015 The combination of antidepressants and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) is linked to an early increased risk for intracranial hemorrhage, regardless of the type of NSAID or antidepressant, new research shows. “The take-home message for clinicians is that special attention should be paid [to] antidepressant users when they start an […]
June 15, 2015 Current estimates for wrong-site surgery, retained surgical items: 0.09 and 1.32 per 10,000 procedures FRIDAY, June 12, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Wrong-site surgery and retained surgical items still occur, and evidence for interventions to prevent these is limited, according to a review published online June 10 in JAMA Surgery. Susanne Hempel, […]
June 12, 2015 In a 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court of West Virginia ruled that narcotic addicts may sue pharmacies and physicians for facilitating their addictions. A suit was brought on behalf of 29 pain center patients who had been treated with narcotics for various injuries and became addicted. One article quoted the Chief Justice’s […]
Diana Swift May 18, 2015 By offering parents positive advice on ways to reduce children’s respiratory symptoms and explaining the reasons why antibiotics are not indicated, clinicians reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, a new study suggests. At the same time, this two-sided approach improved parents’ experience and provider care ratings. Rita Magione-Smith, MD, MPH, a professor of pediatrics […]
Robert Lowes May 22, 2015 One was a physician with a warehouse full of Ferraris, Mercedes-Benzes, and other fancy cars. Another was an Arkansas pharmacist who owned some 100 machine guns, rifles, and other firearms, some with silencers. Still another was a physician who billed himself as a world-renown diabetologist on his practice website. What they shared […]
By Robert Wilonsky Published: May 20, 2015 12:17 pm Dr. Richard Ferdinand Toussaint Jr. is a licensed anesthesiologist who co-founded Dallas’ Forest Park Medical Center and started Ascendant Anesthesia, which has 16 practice locations scattered around the area. He’s also just been indicted by a Dallas federal grand jury on 17 counts of health care […]
May 19, 2015 Two women are suing a Central Florida college and three professors after allegedly being forced to undergo internal vaginal probes during peer physical examinations (PPEs), My Fox Alabama reported. The former medical diagnostic students, who were not named, say their professors at Valencia College, in Orlando, Fla., threatened to dock their grades […]
Date: May 18, 2015 Source: Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Summary: Misdiagnoses lead to increased risk of incorrect antibiotic use, threatening patient outcomes and antimicrobial efficacy, while increasing healthcare costs, a new study concludes. The researchers found that 95 percent of patients with an incorrect or indeterminate diagnosis, or with a symptom identified but […]
Action Points A tool developed to prevent medical errors (“harms”) in pediatric inpatients found that nearly half of the harms in patient charts were preventable, according to a pilot study to measure the tool’s effectiveness. Note that the most common of these were intravenous catheter infiltrations/burns, respiratory distress, constipation, pain, and surgical complication. A […]
Understanding why physicians from various areas of expertise prescribe opioids helps the medical community as a whole combat opioid abuse, misuse and overdose. Even though emergency physicians are not likely to prescribe opioids to discharged patients, doctors from other medical fields are contributing to the opioid epidemic at a higher rate. Published in The Journal […]
In a database study of nearly 26,000 beneficiaries of Tricare, the military health system, those taking statin drugs to control their cholesterol were 87 percent more likely to develop diabetes. The study, reported online April 28, 2015, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, confirms past findings on the link between the widely prescribed drugs and […]
An epidemic of bullying doctors is threatening both nurses and patients ALEXANDRA ROBBINS, SLATE MAY 3, 2015, 8:58 PM A doctor-bully epidemic is jeopardizing both nurses and patients. In news reports and hospital break rooms, stories abound of physicians berating nurses, hurling profanities, or even physically threatening or assaulting them. Doctors are shoving nurses in […]
By Lynn Arditi Journal Staff Writer Posted Apr. 28, 2015 @ 2:12 pm Updated Apr 28, 2015 at 4:33 PM PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Massachusetts health officials said Tuesday that more than 1,000 deaths in 2014 are likely related to opioid overdoses, but the overdose death rate is still lower than Rhode Island’s. Based on those […]
Robert Lowes April 28, 2015 Joseph Mogan III, MD, was sentenced to roughly 8 years in prison last month for operating two pill-mills in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, that manufactured illegal prescriptions for narcotics and other controlled substances on a cash-and-carry basis. The sentence might have been longer, however, if Dr Mogan had not agreed to testify […]
Kathleen Louden April 28, 2015 Nearly 38% of the upper endoscopies performed in outpatients with gastroesophageal reflux disease and low-risk dyspepsia do not adhere to current best-practice guidelines, according to new research presented at the Society of General Internal Medicine 2015 Annual Meeting in Toronto. According to the American College of Physicians (ACP), “inappropriate use of endoscopy […]
By Tara Haelle HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, April 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Antibiotics appear to be overused in many neonatal intensive care units, new research suggests. Just how overused these medications were varied widely, the study authors found. Some neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) gave antibiotics to newborns at a rate 40 times greater than […]
Diana Swift April 07, 2015 Most emergency department physicians order diagnostic imaging tests they know are unnecessary, according to the results of a national survey published online March 23 in Academic Emergency Medicine. A key driver behind these excess scans is the fear of malpractice lawsuits based on missed diagnoses, the researchers found. “The most striking finding of our study […]
Go to… Print This Post Living Sick and Dying Young in Rich America 76 1587 16 3 Health Impact News Editor Comments When I read an article in The Atlantic recently with the title: Living Sick and Dying Young in Rich America – Chronic illness is the new first-world problem – it caught my attention. This is […]