It’s one thing when the makers of sodas or breakfast cereals tweak their packaging to maximize their profits. But Big Pharma deserves a slap for its practice, newly spotlighted by researchers, of putting out over-sized dosages of cancer fighting drugs. This ensures that $3 billion in already costly drugs get tossed out and wasted each year…..
Continue ReadingNursing Care
A glimmer of good news in U.S. crisis in care for dementia patients
With the United States getting grayer by the day and a national crisis looming in dementia- and senior-care, new information from one of the larger, longer running, and more significant health studies has offered a glimmer of optimism. Experts say dementia risks are showing a decline─by as much as 20 percent. They’re uncertain exactly why…..
Continue ReadingWhen Hospitals Focus on Patient Happiness Instead of Patient Safety
As part of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), Medicare payments to hospitals are based on several accountability factors including measurable quality outcomes and a more subjective “patient satisfaction” rating. No one would argue against satisfying patients, but a recent article in The Atlantic made the case that subjectivity is dangerous, and leads “hospitals to steer….
Continue ReadingNurses Decry Texas Hospital’s Ebola Response
The full story continues to unfold about what happened with the first U.S. Ebola-diagnosed patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, but this week, nurses at that facility went public with their own concerns. As described in a story by the Los Angeles Times, a group of nurses who either treated the Ebola patient, Thomas Eric….
Continue ReadingThe Myths of Health Care at Home
Most patients would prefer to receive care at home instead of in an institution. But home health service, according to some professional observers, is the victim of misinformation. Writing on KevinMD.com, Dr. Michael Fleming, former president of the American Academy of Family Physicians and chief medical officer of a home health and hospice service, says….
Continue ReadingSuggested Reading: Why the Hospice Industry Needs More Oversight
The relatively new hospice industry is a needed and important part of end-of-life care. But it has grown too quickly for the relatively minor oversight it gets, and that has caused heart-wrenching patient harm. That’s the take-home message of a recent exposé in the Washington Post. “Hospices,” it says, “are among the least inspected organizations….
Continue ReadingSuggested Reading — Doctor Experiences Critical Care From the Patient’s Perspective
Arnold Relman, a 90-year-old physician with more than 60 years’ experience treating patients in critical condition, gained a new perspective about medical care when he became a patient after tumbling down the stairs at his home. His chronicle in the New York Review of Books of what it was like to receive treatment is a….
Continue ReadingHospital Staff Shortages Harm Patients
In some ways, nurses are like cops: They all have stories to tell that make you simultaneously grateful you do not have their job and relieved that someone competent does. A commentary earlier this month in the New York Times written by Theresa Brown, an oncology nurse, warned about overtaxed nurses who have “too many….
Continue ReadingProposed D.C. Law Demands More Nurses in Hospitals
In a contest in which patient safety could hang in the balance, hospital administrators are facing off against nursing unions over a bill requiring hospitals in Washington, D.C., to maintain a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio. As reported by KaiserHealthNews.org (KHN), the bill is modeled on a California law that took effect in 2004. That state is….
Continue ReadingPhotojournalist Captures the Essence of Nursing in America
Nurses are the backbone of the healing arts. Photographer/filmmaker Carolyn Jones’ new book, “The American Nurse Project,” celebrates their singular role in caring for patients and keeping them safe. Traveling throughout the U.S. to memorialize the personal tales of 75 nurses, Jones articulates what everybody knows but sometimes struggles to express about going to work….
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