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Human factors/ergonomics professionals are improving health care

The latest issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society contains a special section describing ways in which human factors/ergonomics professionals are improving health care.

10 May 2006

Low morale and staff shortages means 'grave' situation for midwives

The morale of British midwives is at an all time low and 10,000 extra staff are needed, according to a leading healthcare expert.

From Sheffield Hallam University 9 May 2006

Obtaining and documenting informed patient consent prior to surgery

Obtaining and documenting informed patient consent prior to surgery is of vital importance, but both the process and documentation of consent can be inadequate.

3 May 2006

Foreign doctors up in arms over new UK immigration rules

The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK appears to stagger from one crisis to another, and now hundreds of overseas doctors have staged a demonstration outside the Department of Health over a change in the immigration rules which will force many of them to leave the UK.

24 Apr 2006

Poor health related to inadequate housing for immigrant farmworkers in the USA

Many Hispanic farmworker families in North Carolina live in inadequate housing that puts them at higher risk of exposure to disease, toxins and overcrowding that can affect their psychological well-being, according to new research by Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

23 Apr 2006

Foot problems change social behaviour - but it doesn't have to be that way

With the average person taking 9,000 steps per day -- more than 600 miles each year -- when feet start to hurt or change in shape, it can really impact a person's life. In fact, according to a new survey, of people who report having foot issues in the past five years, two out of three report that these foot issues, which range from blisters to bunions and heel pain, have changed the kind of shoes they wear, how active they are, where and how far they walk, and so on.

23 Apr 2006

$6.5 million in funding to support innovations in the delivery of health care to New Yorkers

The New York State Health Department has announced the creation of six regional demonstration projects totaling $6.5 million in grant awards to help address the complex health care needs of Medicaid recipients with chronic illness or at-risk for disease.

19 Apr 2006

Nurses encouraged to practice family-centered maternity care

The March issue of Journal of Obstetric Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing is challenging nurses who care for pregnant and laboring women to reconsider family centered maternity care.

18 Apr 2006

Future of children's hospitals threatened in Britain

The crisis in the National Health Service in the UK deepened this week as four children's hospitals warned health ministers they will be forced to cut specialist services.

18 Apr 2006

British hospital fined over patient's death after routine knee surgery

A British hospital has been fined £100,000 for failing to supervise doctors after a man died following routine knee surgery.

12 Apr 2006

Tough times ahead for NHS despite record investment

British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday met with the chief executives of sixteen Primary Care Trusts to discuss the financial crisis dogging the National Health Service (NHS).

12 Apr 2006

WHO report says rich must stop poaching medical staff from poor

A critical shortage of doctors and nurses is causing unnecessary disease and death across much of the developing world as rich nations poach health-care workers.

10 Apr 2006

Healthcare technology training centre to be set up at Imperial

The new centre, named THOTH (The Training Hub for Operative Technologies in Healthcare), based at Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, will become a centre of excellence that will set the standards for training in the use of the most advanced technologies in healthcare.

10 Apr 2006

Teenagers and young adults more likely to survive cancer in Australia than in the USA

Countries that have national health services easily accessible to people of all ages are more likely to have better survival rates for their teenagers and young adults (TYAs) with cancer, than are countries where individuals have to pay for their own medical insurance.

4 Apr 2006

New therapy program for women with young children and substance abuse problems

The Mothers' and Toddlers' Program (MTP) broadens the focus of substance abuse treatment to encompass parent-child relationships. The MTP aids mothers to recognize their own, and subsequently their child's, emotional cues aiming to improve the emotional quality of the mother-child relationship and decrease the mother's preoccupation with drugs.

28 Mar 2006

Substantial protection from coronary heart disease given by lowering cholesterol earlier in life

New research from UT Southwestern Medical Center indicates that lowering "bad" blood cholesterol earlier in life, even by a modest amount, confers substantial protection from coronary heart disease.

27 Mar 2006

Flu vaccination program could save more than 6,500 lives

To increase influenza vaccinations rates among the elderly - those ages 65 and over who are at high risk for influenza-related mortality - the federal government could consider borrowing a page from the pharmaceutical companies' prescription drug advertising campaigns.

27 Mar 2006