The News Review:
- Paperless health care? A hospital’s long journey
- Britain has three swine flu deaths in a day
- HHS chief: Colorado health plan a model for US
- US Russia reach health accord
- Child obesity: A future health care disaster
- Updating a Standard: Fetal Monitoring
Paperless health care? A hospital’s long journey
The Associated Press
In most emergency rooms the doctor would grill Mom: Has he ever been X-rayed? Do you remember what it showed? But in the new all-digital Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh doctors just clicked on a CW — a “computer on wheels” that rolls to each patient’s side. Up popped every test and X-ray the 6-month-old has ever had. This is the eerily paperless hospital of the future what the “electronic medical record” that President Barack bama insists will transform what health care looks like. No chart full of doctors’ scribbles hanging on the bed. No hauling around envelopes full of X-rays. No discharge with a prescription slip. Even the classic ER patient list has changed from the white-board of TV-drama fame to a giant computer screen.
Related from Transitions-for-women: Tennessee on ‘most improved’ list for prescription e-filing
Britain has three swine flu deaths in a day
AFP
Health officials said they could not confirm whether swine flu or the pre-existing condition was the cause of death in either case in West Yorkshire. Speaking about the child a spokesman said: “At this stage we have no confirmation whether or not swine flu was the cause of death. “In London the National Health Service (NHS) said the nine-year-old child whose gender was not identified also had “serious underlying health problems”. The government warned last week that Britain could soon face more than 100000 daily cases of swine flu if the current rate of infection is maintained. Health officials have abandoned efforts to contain the virus given the high number of cases and have switched to focusing on treating infected people who fall into a high-risk group. People who present the symptoms of swine flu are now given antiviral drugs without laboratory testing to confirm the presence of the virus. Britain already has Europe’s highest number of reported cases with nearly 7500.
HHS chief: Colorado health plan a model for US
Denver Post
Now the federal government wants to expand the program to other states with $40 million in grants. Sebelius said the federal program will include state and local government programs church outreach groups child care centers schools community centers and American Indian tribes and provide from $25000 up to $1 million for programs that prove successful. She said over the next four years more than $100 million will be available for outreach efforts. “The grants come at a very important time.
US Russia reach health accord
United Press International
– Chronic and non-communicable diseases including diagnosis surveillance prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease diabetes and cancer. — Promoting healthy lifestyles including tobacco and alcohol consumption reduction drug abuse prevention and trying to lower deaths from highway accidents. — Maternal and child health protection; including promoting best practices in maternal and child health. — Improving global health including facilitating international cooperation on the surveillance and monitoring of infectious diseases and fortifying health systems in developing countries.
Child obesity: A future health care disaster
eFitnessNow
6 per cent of the children weighed normal according to their height. The study’s authors say the obesity problem is the result of a large number of factors including poor school lunch programs cutbacks in physical education classes junk food advertising to kids and the physical layout of towns that make walking and bike-riding dangerous activities. besity rates have intensified in nearly half of the 50 states and the childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1980Health officials described the figures as “tragic” proof of an obesity epidemic forecast to blight the health of millions via mounting rates of heart disease diabetes cancer and even limb amputations. MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:”";mso-padding-alt:0in 5. 4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.
Updating a Standard: Fetal Monitoring
New York Times
¶Monitoring results are widely used by lawyers to bolster malpractice cases of spurious merit which has led to soaring costs for malpractice insurance and in turn prompted many obstetricians to stop delivering babies. ¶Electronic monitoring has not reduced the risk of either cerebral palsy or fetal deaths. Revised GuidelinesLast year a workshop held by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development produced new recommendations that have now been incorporated into revised practice guidelines by the American College of bstetricians and Gynecologists and published in the July issue of the journal bstetrics & Gynecology. Macones supervised the development of the new guidelines. The college hopes the revised guidelines will reduce misinterpretations and inconsistencies in the understanding and use of readings on fetal monitors although experts are not optimistic that the rate of Caesareans will drop. In cities like New York Philadelphia and Chicago as many as 40 percent of babies are delivered by Caesarean.
