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1. Top 10 Strategies for Patient Safety Outlined. There are 10 ways to prevent nosocomial infections and overt medical errors that have been proven to work and that should be followed in all healthcare facilities.
2. CDC: Rare Superbug Hits U.S. Hospitals. Although still unusual, a rising number of U.S. hospitals have reported cases ...
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1. Pediatricians: Watchful Waiting Best for Ear Infections. Stricter diagnostic criteria and broader use of observation to further rein in antibiotic prescribing for acute otitis media emerged in a revision of American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines.
2. Is Evidence-Based Medicine Only an Illusion? In a system where half of all clinical trials never ...
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Right now, the technology exists to completely transform healthcare.
A doctor should be able to walk into the room where a patient is waiting for them and get everything they need to make an informed decision about that patient’s care.
Location-based technology should sense the doctor approaching and already know which patient is waiting for them. A computer or a tablet in the room should have access to thousands of data points ...
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I recently read an article on the RAND Corporation’s analysis of electronic health records (EHRs). As a practicing pediatrician currently using EHRs, and given the reality that EHRs are still a relatively new addition to the U.S. medical profession and have created a fundamental shift to the care delivery process, I am compelled to respond to assertions made in this article.
The first RAND study, sponsored by a ...
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1. HIV Linked to Sudden Loss of Hearing. Having HIV appears to increase the risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, at least among younger patients.
2. Residency Rules: Shift Limits Dissed. Program directors who manage interns and residents approve of most of the workload requirements implemented 18 months ago, except for duty-hour restrictions.
3.
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Nothing was helping. Everything had been tried for a week of the most intensive critical care possible. A twenty year old man, completely healthy only two weeks previously, was holding on to life by a mere thread and nothing and no one could stop his dying.
His battle had been lost against MRSA pneumonia precipitated by a brief influenza-like illness. Despite aggressive hemodynamic, ...
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1. Repealing SGR Raises Questions for Congress. Opinions on what to replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula with and how to get there vary greatly.
2. Depression May Lower Response to Shingles Vax. Untreated major depression may hamper the protective effect of varicella zoster virus (VZV) vaccine against herpes zoster -- shingles -- in older individuals.
3. ...
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1. Disease Burden of New Virus Similar to Flu. Rates of hospitalization for metapneumovirus in children younger than 5 are similar to those for influenza, representing a substantial disease burden.
2. Blood Test May Show Memory Loss in Older Women. The blood of healthy postmenopausal women may offer signs of increased risk of small areas of brain ...
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Between 7:30 and 10 a.m. on a glacial late November morning, a tall white van lingers at a street corner in Boston's South End. I consult my iPhone one more time to confirm that I'm in the right place and knock on the vehicle's glass-paned door. Ritchie, with his oversized Las Vegas baseball cap and faint smell of cigarettes, ushers me inside and I settle in across from him on ...
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A version of this column was published on January 13, 2013 in USA Today.
Like many other primary care doctors across the country, I’m seeing my fair share of patients with runny noses during this winter season.
I recently saw a patient for a sinus infection whom asked, “Why did I have to come in to see you? Couldn’t you have given me an ...
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"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
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