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D-HH and West Health bring geriatric emergency care and telehealth services to rural hospitals

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, New Hampshire's only academic health system serving nearly 2 million patients across northern New England, and West Health, a family of nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations working to lower health care costs to enable successful aging, are bringing accredited geriatric emergency care and, for the first time, providing older adults in the region with specialized telehealth services from an accredited emergency department.

6 Jan 2021

Study describes physician experiences with online harassment

While many physicians benefit from social media by networking with potential collaborators or interfacing with patients, a new study from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago found many physicians also report being sexually harassed and personally attacked on these platforms on the basis of their religion, race or medical recommendations.

4 Jan 2021

As the terror of COVID struck, health care workers struggled to survive. Thousands lost the fight.

Workers at Garfield Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge as the pandemic ramped up in March and April. Staffers in a 30-patient unit were rationing a single tub of sanitizing wipes all day. A May memo from the CEO said N95 masks could be cleaned up to 20 times before replacement.

23 Dec 2020

Study finds treatment disparities for men and women with chest pain

The use of a standardized tool for assessing the risk of serious outcomes in patients with chest pain was associated with women at high risk receiving comparable care to men, according to new research published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

23 Dec 2020

‘Nine months into it, the adrenaline is gone and it’s just exhausting’

In March, during the first week of the San Francisco Bay Area's first-in-the-nation stay-at-home order, KHN spoke with emergency department physicians working on the front lines of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.

21 Dec 2020

LOOP technique is an effective alternative for treating skin abscesses

The LOOP technique for incision and drainage (I&D) of abscesses in adults is a safe and effective alternative to the traditional I & D with packing and may offer an alternative to the standard regimen in the treatment of uncomplicated skin abscesses in pediatric patients.

17 Dec 2020

Researchers estimate the impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. health care community

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers have been at the forefront of the battle against the life-threatening illness. Sadly, they are not immune to the effects of the disease. Many have contracted COVID-19, and some have died.

15 Dec 2020

New criteria allow accurate determination of death in mountain rescue situations

Evidence-based best practices for making life and death medical decisions in less than ideal circumstances, developed by an international panel and published in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine

15 Dec 2020

AI tool helps clinical labs to rule out COVID-19

Hospital-based laboratories and doctors at the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic might soon add artificial intelligence to their testing toolkit.

11 Dec 2020

Social media appeals from COVID-19 frontliners have more impact on general audience

Anyone who's on social media right now has probably seen them: Passionate pleas from health care workers, asking for the public to realize how bad the COVID-19 pandemic has gotten, and urging them to take steps to slow the spread of coronavirus.

11 Dec 2020

The impact of COVID-19 on emergency medical services: a case study

A team of researchers based in Turkey has now studied the pandemic's effect on emergency medical services (EMS). Their study, titled "Effects of COVID‐19 pandemic on emergency medical services," was published in the latest issue of The International Journal of Clinical Practice.

9 Dec 2020

Study identifies frequency, risk factors of acute kidney injury in children with diabetic ketoacidosis

Researchers from a consortium of hospitals including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have identified factors that make children with diabetic ketoacidosis more likely to experience acute kidney injury.

5 Dec 2020

COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in hospital-wide HCV testing

New research from Boston Medical Center finds that the COVID-19 emergency systemic changes made to decrease in-person visits during the pandemic have led to a decrease in hospital-wide Hepatitis C (HCV) testing by 50 percent, and a reduction in new HCV diagnoses by more than 60 percent.

4 Dec 2020

Novel surveillance system can dynamically track direction, speed and acceleration of COVID-19 virus

A new COVID-19 global surveillance system has been developed which can dynamically track not just where the virus is now, but where it is going, how fast it will arrive and whether that speed is accelerating.

3 Dec 2020

Study shows critically ill patients are not seeking care for fear of COVID-19 infection

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in New England, emergency department visits for medical emergencies - including psychiatric problems, trauma and heart attacks - declined by nearly a third, raising concerns among clinicians that critically ill patients were not seeking the care they needed for fear of coronavirus infection.

1 Dec 2020

Study analyzes the impact of advanced practice provider staffing on ED care

Advanced practice providers (APPs) have lower productivity compared with emergency department physicians, seeing fewer and less complex patients and generating less relative value units per hour, and having no apparent impact on patient satisfaction and safety metrics.

26 Nov 2020

Study highlights need for policies to mitigate racial, ethnic disparities in adolescents

A recent study evaluating the use of force by police against children found that Black and Hispanic adolescents are significantly more likely to die from shootings related to police intervention compared to non-Hispanic white adolescents.

24 Nov 2020

Parents complain that pediatricians, wary of COVID, shift sick kids to urgent care

A mom of eight boys, Kim Gudgeon was at her wits' end when she called her family doctor in suburban Chicago to schedule a sick visit for increasingly fussy, 1-year-old Bryce.

23 Nov 2020

Survival of COVID-19 patients experiencing cardiac arrest is similar to pre-pandemic rates

It isn't a death sentence if a COVID-19 patient suffers a cardiac arrest while getting treatment for the virus in the hospital, according to new research that contradicts reports from early on in the pandemic.

20 Nov 2020

Assessment tool accurately predicts outcomes for COVID-19 patients

A study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine this month reports on an assessment tool developed by Kaiser Permanente researchers and physicians that helps ensure patients get the right care, when they need it, by accurately predicting the probability that patients with COVID-19 symptoms will experience severe disease or even death.