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Immigrants in the United States receive less than half the health-care services than do native-born Americans

Immigrant children get even lower levels of care, receiving 84 percent less than U.S.-born children, according to researchers at Harvard and Columbia universities and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

26 Jul 2005

U-M Health System study finds patient education video is excellent teaching tool but doctors are better at calming fears

In an age when people often learn health information from surfing the Web and watching television shows set in hospitals, researchers have found that showing patients an educational video about their condition teaches them the facts about their disease even better than when their doctor tells them about the condition.

26 Jul 2005

Nonsmokers report better health and fewer symptoms of depression than smokers

People who have successfully quit smoking cigarettes are more likely to have visited a trusted health care provider and to report good mental health than current smokers, according to a recent study.

25 Jul 2005

Government in Ontario will pay for three new cancer drugs

Canadian Health Minister George Smitherman has announced that the government will add three new and expensive cancer-fighting drugs to the list of medications it funds.

25 Jul 2005

Less than 1 percent of health plan members are actually diagnosed with alcoholism or related disorders

Less than 1 percent of health plan members are actually diagnosed with alcoholism or related disorders, according to data from a national performance measurement project released today in New York City at the American Medical Association Media Briefing, Alcohol Dependence: From Science to Solutions.

24 Jul 2005

Three cases of mad cow disease in UK from donated blood

Health officials in the UK are warning blood donors that three patients developed the human form of mad cow disease after receiving blood from a possible one hundred people, some of whom are suspected of carrying the deadly agent.

21 Jul 2005

Good quality of life for cardiogenic shock patients after emergency procedures

Emergency bypass surgery or angioplasty procedures to counteract deadly complications that follow some heart attacks not only improve survival odds for cardiogenic shock patients, but the quality of life after such emergency revascularization procedures appears to be better than that of survivors who received less aggressive treatment, according to a new study in the July 19, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

21 Jul 2005

New guide to help patients who drink too much

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has released a new guide for health care practitioners to help them identify and care for patients with heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders. Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician's Guide (PDF) is now available free online and in print.

21 Jul 2005

High rates of cervical cancer are indicators of larger problems in access to health care

The report also finds that cervical cancer mortality, which is higher in certain geographic areas and populations, is a marker for other health disparities.

21 Jul 2005

Doctor shortage looms as baby boomers retire

The retirement of 'baby boomer' doctors and nurses will place unprecedented pressure on Australia's medical workforce in the next 20 years, according to a study by two University of Sydney researchers.

21 Jul 2005

Health-care officials should work collaboratively with consumer groups to develop report cards on hospital infection rates

There's a growing appetite for infection-control report cards that the public could use in selecting hospitals and that hospitals could use to lower infection rates: Thirty-nine states have introduced legislation, and six have passed laws requiring reporting of certain data. In Texas, legislators created an advisory panel in their June session to study the issue.

20 Jul 2005

Evaluating how hospitals deliver medical care standardizes practices and improves care

In recent years, American hospitals have made significant improvements on standardized, evidence-based measures of clinical performance for several medical conditions, including heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia.

20 Jul 2005

Moraxella catarrhalis found to be responsible for 10 percent of exacerbations of COPD

A ubiquitous bacterial strain thought to be uninvolved in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in fact is responsible for 2-4 million flare-ups of the condition that occur annually in the United States, researchers from the University at Buffalo have shown.

20 Jul 2005

Doctors showed the lowest compliance levels and the smallest improvement in hand washing study

Hand washing among healthcare staff working in a large urban hospital improved by an average of 32 per cent after a six-week hygiene programme, according to a paper in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

20 Jul 2005

Metformin should be in the first line of defense against type 2 diabetes

A new review of studies confirms that the drug metformin should be in the first line of defense against type 2 diabetes. Using metformin alone can improve control of blood glucose, while also reducing risk factors for heart disease such as excess body weight, cholesterol levels and hypertension, the review found.

20 Jul 2005

Videotaping advance directives would allow people to express medical decisions to their physicians and families more easily

Ray Moseley sees the trouble with advance health-care directives every time he speaks to a group of senior citizens: Several in the crowd always know someone who had a living will but whose end-of-life decisions were not honored anyway.

19 Jul 2005

Decline in physical activity plays key role in weight gain among girls

Girls who were inactive during adolescence gained an average of 10 to 15 pounds more than active girls, according to results of a 10-year observational study of obesity. Total calorie intake increased only slightly and was not associated with the weight gains.

19 Jul 2005

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) rates in women skyrocket

The death rate for one of the most lethal diseases in North America has skyrocketed for women in the last 20 years, and a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia and the B.C. Centre of Excellence for Women's Health wants to find out why.

19 Jul 2005

U.S. stockpile of anti-flu drugs is "totally inadequate"

The United States does not have nearly enough antiviral drugs on hand to fight a coming influenza pandemic, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

19 Jul 2005

Moving towards a cheap and easy way to monitor HIV/AIDS

Doctors regularly monitor the level of an immune cell in the blood called a CD4 cell in HIV-infected individuals, to decide when to start treatment and when to change medications.

19 Jul 2005

Health Care News and Research

Immigrants in the United States receive less than half the health-care services than do native-born Americans

U-M Health System study finds patient education video is excellent teaching tool but doctors are better at calming fears

Nonsmokers report better health and fewer symptoms of depression than smokers

Government in Ontario will pay for three new cancer drugs

Less than 1 percent of health plan members are actually diagnosed with alcoholism or related disorders

Three cases of mad cow disease in UK from donated blood

Good quality of life for cardiogenic shock patients after emergency procedures

New guide to help patients who drink too much

High rates of cervical cancer are indicators of larger problems in access to health care

Doctor shortage looms as baby boomers retire

Health-care officials should work collaboratively with consumer groups to develop report cards on hospital infection rates

Evaluating how hospitals deliver medical care standardizes practices and improves care

Moraxella catarrhalis found to be responsible for 10 percent of exacerbations of COPD

Doctors showed the lowest compliance levels and the smallest improvement in hand washing study

Metformin should be in the first line of defense against type 2 diabetes

Videotaping advance directives would allow people to express medical decisions to their physicians and families more easily

Decline in physical activity plays key role in weight gain among girls

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) rates in women skyrocket

U.S. stockpile of anti-flu drugs is "totally inadequate"

Moving towards a cheap and easy way to monitor HIV/AIDS

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

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