Nov 3rd, 2019 - Nurses, like other healthcare professionals, have been hearing the buzz about mindfulness. Technology corporations, like Google, are instituting mindfulness programs, as are healthcare and wellness-related workplaces. Lifestyle magazines like Oprah and Yoga Journal are covering the topic, but surprisingly, so are Harvard Business Review and other business publications. Perhaps you're wondering ...

Nov 1st, 2019 - African-American patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty were more likely than whites to be discharged to an inpatient or skilled nursing facility after the procedure, and also to be readmitted to an acute care hospital within 90 days, a large retrospective cohort study found. Among 107,768 individuals who had knee replacement surgeries, the likelihood of being discharged to an inpatient...

Oct 31st, 2019 - Bariatric surgery may not necessarily be associated with lower healthcare costs in the long-term, a new study suggested. Among U.S. veterans with severe obesity, those who opted to undergo bariatric surgery saw about $25,900 more in cumulative healthcare expenditures in the ten years following their operation versus matched nonsurgical controls ($143,248 vs $117,378, respectively), reported Mat...

Oct 31st, 2019 - Measles infection in unvaccinated children was associated with up to a 70% decline in antibodies to other pathogens following infection, researchers found. After cases of severe measles, unvaccinated children lost a median of 40% (range 11-62%) of their already existing pathogen-specific antibodies and after a case of mild measles, children lost a median of 33% (range 12-73%) of these pre-exist...

Oct 31st, 2019 - Premed students have perpetually faced the "weedout" class -- the one that's supposed to define who will and won't go into medicine. But Ashley Foster, a premed student in Memphis, challenged that notion in a tweet that garnered widespread support from physicians and educators who said the concept undermines diversity in medicine. "I don't pay these institutions to 'weed me out' from my chosen ...

Oct 31st, 2019 - Premed students have perpetually faced the "weedout" class -- the one that's supposed to define who will and won't go into medicine. But Ashley Foster, a premed student in Memphis, challenged that notion in a tweet that garnered widespread support from physicians and educators who said the concept undermines diversity in medicine. "I don't pay these institutions to 'weed me out' from my chosen ...

Oct 31st, 2019 - Physical activity appeared to be protective against the development of cognitive impairments among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a prospective cohort study found. Among patients with RA who met the 2008 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services physical activity guidelines, the odds ratio for worsening of memory was 0.83 (95% CI 0.72-0.96, P=0.01), reported Nancy A. Shadick, MD, o...

Oct 30th, 2019 - Many women survive breast cancer only to face another health threat -- heart disease. (CBS News, MSN.com) Tiny implantable cancer cell "decoys" might offer an alternative to more invasive tumor biopsies. (University of Michigan) A preliminary study of a blood test for patients with glioblastoma showed that higher levels of circulating tumor DNA correlated with a shorter progression-free surviva...

Oct 30th, 2019 - A resorbable collagen plug venous closure device got patients on their feet faster than did manual compression alone after a catheter-based electrophysiology procedure, according to the AMBULATE trial. Vascular closure with the Vascade MVP device led to faster recovery after cardiac ablation, and with less pain medication use, than seen with randomization to manual compression: Time to ambulati...

Oct 30th, 2019 - More research is needed into informing and optimizing antibiotic stewardship programs in hospitals, said the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). These important research priorities include developing evidence to support best practices in a variety of settings, assessing optimal approaches to stewardship, developing outcome metrics to measure efforts, and approach study design...

Oct 30th, 2019 - In the decade since "child abuse pediatrician" became a board-certified subspecialty, the field has seen its share of controversy. Justina Pelletier was taken from her parents and institutionalized in 2013 after a child abuse pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital didn't believe the original diagnosis of mitochondrial disease -- only to be returned to her parents after 16 months in state cu...

Oct 29th, 2019 - Even in the era of biologic therapy and treat-to-target management, outcomes are far from ideal among children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), although progress has been seen in limiting certain complications, a Swedish study revealed. During a median of 8 years of follow-up, 10.8% of children developed uveitis compared with an estimated 20.5% 2 decades ago, and 9.2% required major or...

Oct 29th, 2019 - SILVER SPRING, Md. -- A divided FDA advisory panel voted 9-7 to recommend withdrawing approval of the 17-α hydroxyprogesterone injection (Makena, 17-OHPC) after overwhelming no-confidence votes in its efficacy in preventing preterm birth or clinical benefits on neonatal outcomes. The FDA's Bone, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee also voted 13-3 that the findings from the most r...

Oct 29th, 2019 - After ransomware attacks or other hacks, hospitals' heart attack mortality rates are higher, speculated to be due to delays in care from stronger passwords and other cybersecurity remediation. (PBS.org) Subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillators may have a special advantage for adults with congenital heart disease, who may have limited or no venous access to the heart, but nearly half...

Oct 29th, 2019 - In individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis but without symptoms, a vaccine offered some protection against progression to active tuberculosis disease for at least 3 years in a placebo controlled trial. Final results in the trial testing the M72/AS01E vaccine indicated efficacy of 49.7% (95% CI 2.1%-74.2%) at month 36, reported Olivier Van Der Meeren, MD, of manufacturer GlaxoSmithK...

Oct 28th, 2019 - With clinical trial data now showing that the injectable drug 17-α hydroxyprogesterone (Makena) failed to prevent preterm birth, should it stay on the market? That's the question before an FDA advisory committee meeting Tuesday to review the new information as well as other data. While Makena was approved in 2011 under an accelerated pathway, a trial was required to show evidence of its efficac...

Oct 28th, 2019 - Rates of burnout among surgical residents were higher among those reporting "mistreatment" at work, researchers said. Among those reporting "discrimination, abuse or harassment at least a few times a month," odds of showing burnout symptoms were triple those seen among physicians with lesser or no exposure to maltreatment (OR 2.94, 95% CI 2.58-3.36) in a survey spanning nearly the entire popula...

Oct 28th, 2019 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. The Trump administration may allow mint- and menthol-flavored vaping products to stay on the market after all. (Bloomberg) Firefighters aren't the only ones facing occupational health risks from the wildfires raging in California. (Kaiser Health News) Former Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the longest-serving African American in Congress and a de...

Oct 27th, 2019 - Palliative care nursing mainly revolves around enhancing the quality of life of seriously ill patients and their families during life-sustaining treatment and at the end of life. Whether or not they have been trained in palliative care, critical care nurses frequently have patients who are in need of such care. How prepared do they feel? Or, what happens when critical care nurses encounter a la...

Oct 25th, 2019 - The injectable agent 17-α-hydroxyprogesterone (Makena), which is FDA approved for certain pregnant women with a prior preterm birth to prevent subsequent preterm birth, actually had no effect on preterm birth or neonatal morbidity compared with placebo in this population, researchers found. The findings call the product's continued market presence into question, as the study was required by the...