Top stories in health and medicine, January 18, 2013

This series is brought to you by MedPage Today.

1. Checklists May Improve ‘Crisis’ Care in the OR. Using a checklist helped assure compliance with processes set up to handle a crisis situation — such as a cardiac arrest or massive hemorrhage — in the operating room.

2. Smartphone Apps Not Reliable for Melanoma Dx. Four smartphone applications that purport to distinguish between benign lesions and melanoma provided “highly variable” results.

3. Drug Worries Affect Med Use After Stroke. Concerns about medications may be much of the reason why stroke survivors who exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have poorer medication adherence.