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Could reality TV save academic medicine?

Imagine a future where medical schools are answerable to shareholders, where patients decide how doctors should be trained, or where academics compete on TV game shows to win research grants...

6 Jul 2005

Quebec wants delay in ban on private medical insurance

The Supreme Court of Canada is considering a request from Quebec for an 18-month delay of its landmark judgment banning private medical insurance.

5 Jul 2005

British surgeon challenges Tony Blair on Africa's health needs

As world leaders at the G8 summit discussed Africa, Professor Chris Lavy, a British surgeon working in Malawi, has written an open letter, published in this week’s BMJ, to the British Prime Minister.

4 Jul 2005

Mammography use exceeds targets although some are still reluctant

Mammography use by women over 40 is on the rise and already exceeds the target set by the government-led Healthy People 2010 initiative, according to a new study that also shows, for the first time, that breast cancer screening rises with age.

1 Jul 2005

Americans oppose budget cuts to Medicaid

According to a new national survey released this week in the U.S., the majority of Americans regard the state-federal low-income health care program as very important and strongly oppose budget cuts to Medicaid.

30 Jun 2005

Women's health suffers under welfare reform

Women who are current and former welfare recipients suffer a whole host of health problems - and getting a job doesn't always help matters.

29 Jun 2005

Health costs soar as 60 million Americans classed as obese

According to a new study the amount of money spent treating obesity-related health problems in the U.S. has increased tenfold over 15 years.

28 Jun 2005

Mental health declining in American teenagers

Adolescents in the United States are more likely to suffer from a mental health disorder than ever before, but getting these teens diagnosed and cared for is a challenge that is not being met, a new book warns.

28 Jun 2005

Ethnicity makes little difference in the quality of outpatient care

A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that once U.S. patients visit a doctor for outpatient care, their race and ethnicity make little difference in the quality of care they receive.

28 Jun 2005

Greater use of evidence-based medicine needed in US outpatient care

Although the quality of outpatient care in the United States has improved over the last decade, greater use of evidence-based medicine is needed, however, and quality of care is not significantly associated with the patient's racial or ethnic background, according to a study in the June 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Jun 2005

The potential benefit that IVF children bring to society far outweighs the cost of 'producing' them

Dr. Maria Granberg, from the Fertilitetscentrum, Göteborg, Sweden, told the conference that, although the total cost of IVF financed by health care systems in Nordic countries had increased over the last few years, it was still highly profitable to society.

27 Jun 2005

Health, well-being, and aging in Latin America and the Caribbean

The demographics of aging in the Americas are well known. The United Nations has published projections showing that by the middle of this century, Latin America and the Caribbean will have 112 persons 60 years and older for every 100 persons 15 or under. North America will have 148 older persons for every 100 persons 15 or younger. While those numbers are impressive, the phenomenon itself represents more than just numbers.

27 Jun 2005

How can the U.S. health-care system prepare for the huge wave of dementia patients expected by 2010?

How can the U.S. health-care system and more specifically, primary care doctors - the physicians from whom older adults receive most of their care - prepare for the huge wave of dementia patients expected to engulf us in 2010, the year the baby boomers begin to reach 65?

27 Jun 2005

Drive to increase private sector health care providers could destabilise the NHS in Scotland

The warning came as doctors debated health policies on the growth of independent sector treatment centres in England which, doctors claim, is creating unnecessary competition and destabilising the viability of local NHS hospitals.

27 Jun 2005

Half of American adults believe cancer myths

A new survey has discovered the quite astonishing fact that almost half of American adults mistakenly believe that surgery can spread cancer, and more than one in four thinks that a cure for cancer exists but is being kept from the public by a profit-driven health-care industry.

27 Jun 2005

Half a million in U.S. could die in flu pandemic

A report from the Trust for America's Health, says the United States only has 965,256 staffed hospital beds, and in the event of a pandemic, half a million Americans could die and more than 2 million could end up in the hospital with serious complications.

27 Jun 2005

Bishop of Manchester addresses doctors at BMA Annual Conference

In a robust address at the annual British Medical Association Conference Service, on Sunday 26th June, the Bishop of Manchester, the Right Revd. Nigel McCulloch accused the government of undermining trust between the medical profession and the public. He said:

26 Jun 2005

New website and environmental history tools for pediatric health care providers

The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) has created a new website for pediatric health care providers. The site is an on-line resource portal with user-friendly tools, including a screening and a comprehensive environmental history form, and an environmental history taking primer.

22 Jun 2005

Endocarditis infection is increasing due to staphylococcal infection

An international study reveals that infective endocarditis, infection and inflammation involving the heart valves is commonly associated with health care factors and is increasingly due to staphylococcal infection, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.

21 Jun 2005

Wearing a continuous positive airway pressure device helps heart failure patients with obstructive sleep apnea get a good night's rest

Wearing a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device not only helps heart failure patients with obstructive sleep apnea get a good night's rest, it lowers blood pressure and heart rate well into the morning, apparently, by reducing sympathetic nervous system activity, according to a new study (PDF) in the June 21, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

21 Jun 2005