Elective Surgery News and Research

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Elective surgery is surgery that is not urgently required due to an emergency. Elective surgery may be performed for medical purposes, such as cataract surgery, or for other work such as breast implants. These are procedures that the person requiring them decides to undertake, and which may be helpful, but are not necessarily essential.

eHealthInsurance releases six-point checklist to get the most out of Medicare coverage

eHealthInsurance, the leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families, and small businesses, that now offers a new online Medicare resource, www.eHealthMedicare.com, today released a six-point checklist to help Medicare recipients make informed decisions about their Medicare options.

19 Nov 2009

CABG completed "off-pump" has no advantages in patient outcomes: Study

A study of 2,203 cardiac surgery patients from Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers nationwide revealed that coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) completed "off-pump," meaning without a heart-lung machine, had no advantages in patient outcomes compared to the traditional "on-pump" procedure.

6 Nov 2009

Perioperative oral dietary supplements before elective surgery offers no functional benefit

Blood glucose levels in a lot of patients fed normal liquid food (NLF) and a high calorie diet (HCD) were high. There was no significant difference in the blood prealbumin levels. There was a significant increase in the blood cortisol levels in some patients. The stress of surgery may be tolerated by children by feeding up to 2 h before elective surgery.

29 Oct 2009

H1N1 overwhelms hospitals; Sebelius addresses flu vaccine shortage

Hospitals across the country are overwhelmed "as waves of flu patients arrive at their doors, doubling their emergency room volume," USA Today reports. "Just as significant is the effect on intensive care units: A relatively small number of flu patients are requiring intensive care, but some are so ill they will need round-the-clock care for weeks.

27 Oct 2009

Heart surgery can be scheduled anytime: Study

The October issue of the journal Anesthesiology contains a study reviewing potential adverse effects associated with the timing of a patient's heart surgery; but based on this study, there is no bad time of the day or week or year to have elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

23 Sep 2009

Mortality index can be misleading in major specialties

A key statistic that consumer groups and the media often use when compiling hospital report cards and national rankings can be misleading, researchers report in a new study.

15 Sep 2009

Misleading information in hospital report cards can impact patients’ health care

A key statistic that consumer groups and the media often use when compiling hospital report cards and national rankings can be misleading, researchers report in a new study.

9 Sep 2009

Healthcare-acquired infection costs $1 billion per annum

Infections caught in hospital are costing the Australian healthcare system more than 850,000 lost bed days, according to a new study by Queensland University of Technology.

3 Sep 2009

Findings reveal that Americans have grown increasingly confident to pay for healthcare services

A new report -- Thomson Reuters Healthcare Indexes(TM): Consumer Confidence -- found that consumer confidence related to healthcare expenditures increased 12 percent between March and July.

31 Aug 2009

TekPackaging wins contract for manufacturing ear thermometer probe covers

ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE) today announced that TekPackaging LLC (Tek) has been awarded a production contract to be the exclusive manufacturer of Thermoscan(R) ear thermometer probe covers for distribution worldwide. Thermoscan is the market leader and healthcare industry standard for electronic thermometers.

21 Aug 2009

Swine flu pandemic could overwhelm critical care beds in England, especially children’s units

Experts in intensive care and anaesthesia have predicted that the current swine flu pandemic could overwhelm critical care beds and ventilators in England, with hospitals on the South East Coast, and in the South West, East of England and East Midlands, being worst hit.

24 Jul 2009

Swine flu jab may be available sooner

The Australian government is planning to spend $44 million over a four year period on extra vaccinations for seasonal flu - this will provide enough vaccinations for another 2.2 million people which will be available from January 1st next year.

20 Jul 2009

Australian national health system on the waiting list

Any hope of a truly national health system as promised by Kevin Rudd in the run up to the last election now appears to have stalled, at least for the time being.

13 Jul 2009

How prepared are we? New study to investigate Australia’s pandemic preparedness

Public health experts have warned that a severe pandemic has the potential to cripple essential infrastructure and cause a catastrophic collapse of systems. A new study, to be undertaken by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), will assess how prepared Australia really is for a pandemic and identify 'weakest links'.

11 Jun 2009

Elective surgery in Canberra a waiting game

According to the latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) people living in Canberra wait on average 72 days for elective surgery which is more than double the national average of 34 days.

9 Jun 2009

Wrist acupuncture prevents postoperative nausea and vomiting

Up to 80 percent of patients who have surgery complain of nausea and vomiting afterwards, but stimulating an acupoint in their wrists can help reduce these symptoms, finds a new evidence review.

14 Apr 2009

Opportunities for the health system in a sick economy

With the interim report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission published yesterday the time for implementing reform could hardly be better.

18 Feb 2009

After knee replacement exercise is crucial

It may be uncomfortable at first, but doing exercises to strengthen your quadriceps after you've had knee replacement surgery due to osteoarthritis is critical to your recovery.

2 Feb 2009

New software promises to reduce bottlenecks in emergency departments

Australian researchers have developed a computer program which is able to accurately predict how many patients can be expected to turn up at hospital emergency departments and their expected medical needs and also promises to reduce bottlenecks in emergency departments.

3 Sep 2008

Fish oil supplements could slow wound healing

A recent study shows that popular fish oil supplements have an effect on the healing process of small, acute wounds in human skin. But whether that effect is detrimental, as researchers initially suspected, remains a mystery.

23 Jul 2008