Health Care News and Research

RSS

For civilians, finding a therapist skilled in PTSD treatments is a tough task

Lauren Walls has lived with panic attacks, nightmares and flashbacks for years. The 26-year-old San Antonio teacher sought help from a variety of mental health professionals — including spending five years and at least $20,000 with one therapist who used a Christian-faith-based approach, viewing her condition as part of a spiritual weakness that could be conquered — but her symptoms worsened. She hit a breaking point two years ago, when she contemplated suicide.

22 May 2019

Expert consensus published on use of imaging for precise diagnosis of heart attack

Imaging provides a more precise diagnosis of a heart attack that can be used to individualize treatment. That's the main message of an expert consensus paper published today in European Heart Journal, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology, and presented at EuroPCR in Paris, France.

22 May 2019

New opioid accelerates recovery and prevents relapse to chronic pain

Morphine and other opioid-based painkillers are very effective at treating pain initially, but studies have shown that the drugs can make patients more pain-sensitive, prolonging their discomfort and increasing their risks of developing chronic pain.

22 May 2019

Widespread HCV testing and treatment strategy in U.S. prisons improves outcomes

At current drug prices, testing all persons entering prison for Hepatitis C, treating those who have at least 12 months remaining in their sentence, and linking individuals with less than 12 months in their sentence to care upon their release would result in improved health outcomes.

22 May 2019

Cannabis could help people with opioid addiction

A new study has shown that cannabidiol or CBD, found in cannabis, could help people with opioid use disorder or addiction. CBD can help reduce the symptoms of craving among addicts when on withdrawal from the opioid and also reduce the accompanying anxiety and restlessness write the authors of the study.

22 May 2019

Cutting the test time for disease biomarkers using extracellular vesicles

When an individual has cancer, or any number of other diseases, early detection can make a huge difference in the outcome. A research team led by the University of Notre Dame is working to cut the test time for disease biomarkers.

21 May 2019

Additional surgical procedure may reduce risk of ACL re-injury in young athletes

An anterior cruciate ligament tear, an injury of the knee, can be devastating to a young athlete. While the ACL can be reconstructed through surgery, there is a high risk of re-injury in patients under the age of 25.

21 May 2019

Cannabidiol reduces cue-induced craving and anxiety in individuals with history of heroin abuse

Cannabidiol reduced cue-induced craving and anxiety in individuals with a history of heroin abuse, suggesting a potential role for it in helping to break the cycle of addiction, according to research conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published May 21 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

21 May 2019

Hidden reports masked the scope of widespread harm from faulty heart device

Faced with the possibility that a bout of abnormal heartbeats could end his life, in 2006, Dr. Marc Sicklick had a small device implanted in his chest that would shock it back into rhythm.

21 May 2019

Increasing access to mental health services improves outcomes for people with HIV

Increasing access to mental health services improves HIV outcomes among vulnerable patients, a new study from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests.

21 May 2019

Why Missouri’s the last holdout on a statewide Rx monitoring program

Missouri retained its lonely title as the only state without a statewide prescription drug monitoring program — for the seventh year in a row — after the legislative session ended Friday.

21 May 2019

Supreme Court declines to hear military medical malpractice case

The family of a young Navy nurse who died after military doctors allegedly failed to halt massive bleeding following childbirth won't get a hearing in the nation's highest court.

21 May 2019

Opioid prescriptions drop sharply among state workers

The agency that manages health care for California's massive state workforce is reporting a major reduction in opioid prescriptions, reflecting a national trend of physicians cutting back on the addictive drugs.

21 May 2019

Escalating workplace violence rocks hospitals

Across the country, many doctors, nurses and other health care workers have remained silent about what is being called an epidemic of violence against them.

21 May 2019

Reversibly paralyzing, heavily sedating hospitalized patients do not improve outcomes

Reversibly paralyzing and heavily sedating hospitalized patients with severe breathing problems do not improve outcomes in most cases, according to a National Institutes of Health-sponsored clinical trial conducted at dozens of North American hospitals and led by clinician-scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Colorado schools of medicine.

20 May 2019

New study evaluates complexity of patients undergoing head-CT examinations

Computed tomography of the head uses special X-ray equipment to help assess head injuries, dizziness, and other symptoms of the brain.

20 May 2019

Study examines potential advantages and disadvantages of blister packaging for nursing homes

In blister packaging, a pharmacy portions and packs the prescribed drugs of a patient according to weekdays and times of day, sorted into individual transparent packages.

20 May 2019

Using health IT to reduce disparities in healthcare

An innovative health information technology program helps primary care providers to detect and manage depression and posttraumatic stress disorder in traumatized refugees, reports a study in a special June supplement to Medical Care.

18 May 2019

BMC develops EHR-based screener to address patients' unmet social needs

Boston Medical Center has implemented a social determinants of health screener for primary care patients in order to better identify and address patients' unmet social needs.

18 May 2019

‘Sham’ sharing ministries test faith of patients and insurance regulators

Sheri Lewis, 59, of Seattle, needed a hip transplant. Bradley Fuller, 63, of nearby Kirkland, needed chemotherapy and radiation when the pain in his jaw turned out to be throat cancer. And Kim Bruzas, 55, of Waitsburg, hundreds of miles away, needed emergency care to stop sudden —and severe — rectal bleeding.

17 May 2019