Getting Better

Getting sleep = no change

[See post below] The battle of the studies--"Dueling Banjos," anyone?--a[nother] study published in JAMA shows that cutting back on the brutal hours residents used to put in hasn't made a difference in the care Medicare patients get.

Death rates among elderly U.S. patients have shown little change since the long hours worked by doctors in training were cut in 2003

The story's on AP (you'll probably have to register).

Getting sleep = better care

Remember the way residents used to get pushed?  Up all night for several nights, no one ever seemed to have a good reason why (some of us suspect it had to do with a kind of pledging ritual, like swirlies for frat pledges).  When that policy/silliness changed a few years ago, so did the death rates at VA hospitals.  For the better.

The notoriously long hours worked in hospitals by newly graduated doctors, known as residents, were recently cut back in the U.S., and the move seems to have improved death rates for certain medical conditions at Veterans Affairs hospitals.

This is from ReutersHealth.com. 

Kids, computers, and getting better

From Johns Hopkins; helping parents keep their kids from getting hurt, via computer.  The study is in the latest issue of Pediatrics.  (You'll have to pay to see the full text, but the abstract is here.)

The randomized controlled trial of the “Safety in Seconds” program involved 759 parents of young children ages 4 to 66 months. The participants in the “Safety in Seconds” program used a computer kiosk set up for parents in the emergency department of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to answer a series of questions about their children, their own experiences and personal beliefs about safety. After parents complete the questionnaire, the computer generated a personalized safety report for them based on their responses. The control group received a generic health report.

Better than those silly pink things

Everyone should have these, though maybe they shouldn't be applied when hungry.  (They look pretty real.)  Bacon bandages, from Archie McPhee via Medgadget.

Information Therapy;getting better by knowing more.

By Lola Butcher, for Managed Care Magazine; the idea that sharing information with a patient will help doctors provide better care.  In other words, if that person on the table understands what's wrong and why you're doing what you're doing to fix it, they're more likely to do what they're supposed to.

What the Devil Is Information Therapy?

This drug will work. Guaranteed.

Johnson & Johnson breaks ground with a "money-back" guarantee to insurers for its new drug, Velcade; if it doesn't work, you don't pay. 

NPR has the story.

Hey, we try to cover the health landscape here. Including bad chili sauce for hot dogs.

OK, so it's not a big policy initiative, or medical research that'll make you feel better.

But I'll tell you what; botulinum poisoning is no laughing matter, and it can really ruin a good chili dog.

FDA Links Hot Dog Chili Sauce to Botulism Poisoning

Restless legs...not just a made-up syndrome

It was too easy to believe the makers of drugs that claim to help created the whole idea of "restless legs syndrome" in the first place, but as it turns out the problem really is real--and genetic.

German researchers have discovered 3 genes--that are implemental in early formation of limbs and development of the central nervous system in human embryos--are to blame for RLS.

"The function of the identified genes MEIS1, BTBD9 and LBXCOR1 surprised everybody involved: they are genes which are known in connection with the embryonic development of an organism. During this activity phase they are involved in the pattern formation of the extremities and the central nervous system."

Two TB patients in one (place)

Andrew Speaker, the itinerant flying TB patient, has company in his quarantine; an Arizona TB patient who's already been quarantined for a year.

AP story

Children's Health Insurance; really a big anti-government plot

A statement by HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt is posted on their website today, clarifying--in admirably brief language--just exactly why the Bush Administration doesn't want to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  It's because "...we cannot agree to a gradual government take-over of health care."

Draw your own conclusions.  Let's see, Medicare is ...health insurance provided by the Federal government...