Pharmacist-directed anticoagulation service can impact patient satisfaction

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DETROIT – As hospitals look for ways to improve patient satisfaction and boost their Medicare reimbursement, a Henry Ford Hospital study found that an inpatient pharmacist-directed anticoagulation service (PDAS) might be an unexpected opportunity.

Oldowan hominin: earliest evidence of human ancestors hunting & scavenging

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WACO, Texas (May 9, 2013) -- A recent Baylor University research study has shed new light on the diet and food acquisition strategies of some the earliest human ancestors in Africa.

Study shows lower rate of inappropriate shocks in patients with Sorin dual chamber ICD devices

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Denver, Colorado, USA, May 11, 2013 –Sorin Group, (Reuters Code: SORN.MI), a global medical company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, announced findings from the landmark OPTION study1 demonstrating that patients with Sorin dual-chamber implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) experienced a significantly lower incidence of inappropriate shocks compared with patients with standard single-chamber devices (4.3% vs.10.3%, p=0.015).The study also found that there was no difference in all-cause mortality between the two groups.

Nationalized health care would have saved Medicare an extra $34.1 billion in 2012, say advocates

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A paper out today says that private insurance companies that participate in Medicare under the Medicare Advantage program and its predecessors have cost the publicly funded program for the elderly and disabled an extra $282.6 billion since 1985, most of it over the past eight years. They claim that in 2012 alone, private insurers were overpaid $34.1 billion.

That wasted money that should have been spent on improving patient care, shoring up Medicare's trust fund or funding the White House tours that had to be canceled due to the sequester.

Background noise in the operating room can impair surgical team communication

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Chicago (May 10, 2013): Ambient background noise—whether it is the sound of loud surgical equipment, talkative team members, or music—is a patient and surgical safety factor that can affect auditory processing among surgeons and the members of their team in the operating room (OR), according to a new study that appears in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The findings are the first to demonstrate that a surgeon's ability to understand spoken words in the OR is directly affected by noise in the environment.

Alternative model for personality disorders in upcoming DSM-5 endorsed

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Philadelphia, Pa. (May 10, 2013) – A new "alternative model" included in the upcoming Fifth Edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-5, lines up well with the current approach to diagnosis of personality disorder, according to a study in the May Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

Exercise for patients with major depression -- What kind, how intense, how often?

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Young women are why 'sunless tanning' products are so successful

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Sunless tanning — whether with lotions, bronzers or tanning pills — has been promoted as an effective substitute to dodge the health risks of ultraviolet rays, but if the products don't provide the perfect tan, young women likely will not use them, according to a Baylor University researcher.

Allergic disease worsens respiratory symptoms and exacerbations in COPD

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Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also have allergic disease have higher levels of respiratory symptoms and are at higher risk for COPD exacerbations, according to a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

The Liverpool Care Pathway -- It's a death pathway, but an improvement in UK end-of-life care

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Death in hospital remains very common for cancer patients in developed countries.

Although hospital surveys show that death was highly expected, patients dying in hospital have a high probability of unrelieved and poorly treated physical suffering, and emotional, spiritual and social distress.