Hot MedFax

I was really disappointed to read this.  But a new study has found that animals do not improve well-being and care of patients in hospitals and other places that provide healthcare, according to newswise.com. "If you speak with most people they'll say it's a good thing for animals such as dogs and cats to be taken into hospitals, so that patients can derive some form of therapeutic effect from their association with the animals," the Web site quotes lead author  Professor Anna Chur-Hansen , Head of the  School of Psychology  at the University of Adelaide in Australia. But the truth of the matter is that this has just not been proven.  The study found not enough scientific data to say either way whether the presence of animals, though calming and appreciated, really do provide any actual healthcare benefits. "The assumption is that these programs are beneficial – and from the little evidence available they are likely to be – but no-one has yet fully assess...

Are you sure you want to read this?  Previously it was thought that about 100,000 people a year died from medical mistakes. But the truth is, it's quadruple that.  A study in the current issue   of the Journal of Patient Safety that says the numbers may be much higher — "between 210,000 and 440,000 patients  each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death, the study says," according to propublica.org. Here's something even more scary.  That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America , behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second. Though others balk at the numbers, believing it's really closer to 100,000, the study author based his estimates "on the findings of four recent studies that identified preventable harm suffered by patients –known as “adverse events” in the medical vernacular – using a tool which guides reviewers through medical re...

Here's a scary thought.  Thousands of doctors who have been banned by hospitals can still obtain medical licenses in other states. According to Peter Eisler and Barbara Hansen, USA TODAY, "Despite years of criticism, the nation's state medical boards continue to allow thousands of physicians to keep practicing medicine after findings of serious misconduct that puts patients at risk, a USA TODAY investigation shows." Yes, many of the doctors have been barred by hospitals or other medical facilities, but hundreds have paid millions of dollars to resolve malpractice claims, the two report. "Yet their medical licenses — and their ability to inflict harm — remain intact." This isn't true in every state but the alarming fact remains, "State and federal records still paint a grim picture of a physician oversight system that often is slow to act, quick to excuse problems, and struggling to manage workloads in an era of tight state budgets." • E...

You're going in the hospital.  You've covered all the bases -- your insurance will cover, you stopped paper delivery, and you have someone to bring you home after your procedure is done.  But you're scared to death once you put on the gown.  How do you make sure no one screws up? U.S. News & Review, which just released its rankings of the so-called best hospitals in the country,got  the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading patients rights organization, to give some tips : Use the Internet, though that comes with a caveat.  Only use resources that come from a highly reputable, reliable source like  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus  or  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health-information  (webmd.com is fine but don't use it for your primary source of info). Research, research, research -- look for outcome stats for the procedure you're having for your doctor and hospital, and complication rates Have a list of questions: How long ...

I've heard of standing on your head to clear hiccups (doesn't work).  And throwing salt over your shoulder to ward off bad luck, after you've spilled it. But singing when you have trouble breathing? Apparently it's all the craze in London, where the AP says sessions held to help those with chronic lung disease get better, singing.  According to a story at yahoo.com, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), who have trouble breathing because they can't get enough air in and out of their lungs, find that singing can help them learn how to better manipulate their breathing.  "Since many people enjoy singing, we thought it would help them associate controlling their breathing with something pleasant and positive rather than a standard physiotherapy technique," Dr. Nicholas Hopkinson, Royal Brompton Hospital's top chest physician, was quoted. in the article "It's almost accidental that they learn something about their breat...

Have a hospital trip planned?  Forget about the Big Macs .  A national watchdog group is pressuring hospitals in the Broward County area to kick out all the McDonald's franchises that sit in their lobbies, according to a story at The Enquirer-Herald. The group wants the hospitals to do it "to help curb the epidemic of diet-related disease and to stop fostering a food environment that promotes harm, not health," as John Dorschner at the Miami Herald reports.  Of the 14,000 McDonald's in the country, only 26 are in hospitals, though. You know, physician, heal thyself? McDonald's points out that it offers more than greasy burgers and french fries, including some salads, but the salads sometimes have more calories and fat than the burgers, if you include the croutons, bacon bits, and dressing that douses them. Corporate Accountability International is asking fast food outlets to lead the way in helping America -- where one out of three people is overweight or ...

One of the complications patients dread most when they're in a hospital's ICU  is preventable  blood infections , or sepsis, which every year kills  almost 30,000 in the U.S. alone. According to a recent Johns Hopkins study, however, hospitals make three times as much money off patients who develop blood infections than they do off plain old infections.  That's because insurers pay more for these kinds of complications. The study points out that hospitals may have no incentive to try to cut back on these bloodstream infections because they're very profitable. It may sound hard to believe, but a story at newswise.com reports that researchers "found that an ICU patient who develops an avoidable central line-associated bloodstream infection costs nearly three times more to care for than a similar infection-free patient."  Even more relevant for profit-driven hospitals (aren't they all?):  hospitals earn nearly nine times more, from insurers, for trea...

I've been writing about healthcare technology for a while and one of the areas I've focused on is how robotic surgery is changing the face of medicine.  Well, maybe not so much. The big pluses were supposed to be that it was non-invasive, required only a single incision, people healed faster, there was less blood loss, and its outcomes were supposed to justify the cost (sometimes twice "open surgery"). Only, a major study just recently found that outcomes are no better with this type of surgery, and can sometimes even kill you, according to a story in today's NYT by Roni Caryn Rabin. This kind of surgery is typically used for prostatectomies and hysterectomies (my own OB-GYN performs them this way).  How it works is that the surgeon sits at a console  in the operating room connected to a camera that provides a high-definition picture of the surgical site, then moves the robotic arms to mimic what his own hands would be doing, based on the camera image. Sou...