News
Schwarzenegger Cries Foul On Bought Vote
January 11, 2010 6:01 am | CommentsCalifornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says concessions made to Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson to win his vote on the health care overhaul bill were a rip-off for his state and is urging California lawmakers to vote against it. In an interview Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press , Schwarzenegger says giving extra Medicaid benefits to Nebraska to secure Nelson's vote, critical to Senate passage of the measure, was like buying a vote.
NYC Looks To Take A Bite Out Of Salt Content
January 11, 2010 5:48 am | CommentsDavid B. Caruso, AP New York City health officials have already battled calories and trans fat. Now, they're taking on salt. The city health department released guidelines Monday recommending a maximum amount of salt that should be in all sorts of manufactured and packaged food. The recommendations posted on its website call for sizable reductions in the salt content of many products, from a 20 percent drop in peanut butter to a 40 percent decline in canned vegetables.
New Training Programs For Health IT
January 11, 2010 5:30 am | CommentsFulcrum Methods, a provider of methodologies to assist healthcare IT personnel with project and program management, is extending its current product offerings to include curriculum and training programs for education and professional development purposes. An essential component of the program is designed to address the shortfall of skilled IT personnel needed to implement and support a national electronic healthcare system.
Best Way To A Man's Heart - Though The Wrist
January 11, 2010 5:10 am | CommentsNewswire A new approach to common cardiac procedures called transradial angiography might lead to reduced patient complications and recovery time, as well as lower hospital costs. Cardiologists at the University of Illinois and Jesse Brown VA medical centers are among the first in the Chicago area to offer the approach to heart angiograms and clearing blocked arteries.
New Stent Offers Competitive Option
January 11, 2010 4:52 am | CommentsCook Medical is touting a recent study that compares its Zilver Biliary Stent to the most commonly used device, the Wallstent from Boston Scientific. Essentially, the conclusion of the international multi-center study, published in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy , is that the two stents have very similar performance characteristics.
Inducing Labor Could Mean More C-sections
January 8, 2010 6:29 am | CommentsLaura Buchholz, Reuters Pregnant women tempted to induce labor for convenience rather than medical necessity may want to wait for nature to take its course. Dr. J. Christopher Glantz at the University of Rochester School of Medicine found that inducing labor introduces a risk of 1 to 2 cesareans per 25 inductions that might have been avoided by waiting for spontaneous labor to begin.
Orthopedic Sector Strong For 2010
January 8, 2010 6:19 am | CommentsShares of companies that make orthopedic implants, like Biomet, could be strong performers heading into 2010. Biomet, which is privately held, reported sales for its fiscal second quarter that showed revenue growth of eight percent, rising to $695.6 million. That included 15 percent growth in revenue from knee implants, an eight percent gain in hip implant revenue, and a 29 percent jump in revenue from procedures on the extremities.
Improved Antiseptic Curbs Post-Surgical Infections
January 8, 2010 6:08 am | CommentsStephanie Nano, AP It looks like doctors aren't the only ones who should scrub before surgery. Bathing patients with an antiseptic and squirting medicated ointment up their noses dramatically cut the rate of dangerous staph infections afterward, researchers found. A second study found the antiseptic did a better job of preventing infections than the reddish-brown iodine solution that's been used for decades to swab the skin before an operation.
Tweeting Aids Plastic Surgeon's Practice
January 8, 2010 5:59 am | CommentsDr. Oleh Slupchynskyj, Director of The Aesthetic Institute of New York and New Jersey, recently started using Twitter as a means of disseminating the latest information in facial plastic surgery techniques, new products and beauty trends to his patients and anyone else interested in facial rejuvenation.
Cuffed vs. Uncuffed Pediatric ETs
January 8, 2010 5:48 am | CommentsKimberly-Clark Health Care recently announced the findings of their prospective, randomized, controlled, multi-center trial on cuffed versus uncuffed endotracheal tubes in small children, which has been published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia . The study found that the incidence of tube exchange was 15 times less in children who received cuffed ET tubes than those who received uncuffed ET tubes.
Home-Laundered Surgical Scrubs Show Greater Bacterial Contamination
January 8, 2010 5:39 am | Mölnlycke Health Care | CommentsStudy shows bacterial contamination associated with home-laundered surgical scrubs is significantly greater than other options. Facility-laundered, third-party laundered and single-use scrubs are “cleaner.” January 8, 2010 A study comparing the aerobic bacterial bioburden associated with surgical scrub attire shows significantly greater contamination among home-laundered attire than scrubs laundered by the healthcare facility, scrubs sent out by the facility to a third-party company for laundering, or single use/disposable scrubs.
ER Lawsuits Stem From Delays
January 6, 2010 8:00 am | CommentsThree hospital malpractice lawsuits have been filed recently against facilities that allegedly failed to treat patients in a timely manner, contributing to the deaths of one adult woman and two newborns. Two of the lawsuits were filed against University Medical Center (UMC) in Las Vegas by women who claim that the hospital failed to treat them while they were in labor, resulting in the deaths of their newborn children.
The True Costs Of Malpractice Claims
January 6, 2010 7:33 am | CommentsTennessee doctors continue to fend off the vast majority of malpractice suits filed, but the five-year trend is unmistakable, and the price of success seems to grow higher every year. Physicians and their insurance companies traditionally close up to 85 percent of malpractice cases without paying a penny to plaintiffs, but in the latest year of data available, 2007, the cost of those wins was up 17.
Donors Not Necessary - We Have Clones
January 6, 2010 7:09 am | CommentsReuters It may still seem to be in the realm of science fiction, but nearly half of Americans believe cloning organs will be routine by 2020, according to a new poll. People questioned in a Zogby interactive survey said use of stem cells and cloned organs will be commonplace in the next decade.
Wrapping Up Organ Transplants
January 6, 2010 6:55 am | CommentsScientists in Texas are reporting development of a first-of-its-kind cloth that releases nitric oxide gas — an advance towards making therapeutic socks for people with diabetes and a wrap to help preserve organs harvested for transplantation. The study is covered in Chemistry of Materials , a bi-weekly journal from ACS.
