Aggressive Malpractice Environments Dictate How, Not Where, Neurosurgeons Practice
New research suggests aggressive medical malpractice environments do not influence where neurosurgeons practice but may cause them to limit their practice, which may result in a critical erosion of care in some of the most critically neurological patients.
Heparin Contamination Was Deliberate Act to Cut Costs?
Contamination of the worldwide heparin supply, which resulted in a substantial increase in adverse events and an estimated 81 deaths in the US, appears to have been a deliberate act to increase profits in Chinese workshops.
New Data Will Help Guide Prescribing of Celecoxib
A new meta-analysis of six randomized trials involving the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor celecoxib (Celebrex, Pfizer) should help direct physicians who still want to prescribe this drug [1]. Dr Scott D Solomon (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA) presented the findings of the cross-trial safety analysis at a late-breaking trials session here at the American College […]
Blood Substitutes Linked to Deaths, MI; FDA Should Have Acted Sooner to Stop Trials, Researchers Say
People treated with blood substitutes in clinical trials over the past two decades were 30% more likely to die and had almost a threefold higher rate of myocardial infarction (MI) than patients in control groups, a new meta-analysis suggests [1]. Even more damning, the authors of the study say that the US Food and Drug […]
Misdiagnoses Caused in Part by Overconfidence
Most of the time a medical diagnosis is on point. But misdiagnoses do occur, and an overly confident doctor may be partly to blame, a new review suggests.
Religion Should Be Considered in Using Porcine and Bovine Surgical Products
Patients of Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu faiths may not accept the use of porcine or bovine products during surgical procedures and, therefore, surgeons should make it very clear in the informed consent process whether such products may be used, Australian researchers report.
What Every Physician Should Know About the RUC
Introduction To paraphrase Winston Churchill, never have so many physicians and other health care professionals owed so much to so few. The "few" in this case are the 29 members of the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee, or RUC (rhymes with "truck") for short. The RUC's recommendations to the Centers for […]
AHA Statement Takes Aim at Hypertension Resistant to Triple-Drug Therapy
News Author: Steve StilesCME Author: Charles Vega, MD A new statement from the American Heart Association zeroes in on a group it says may make up 20% to 30% of patients with hypertension but has received only limited attention in formal guidelines, probably because they have been targeted in few clinical trials [1]. The document […]
Wound Infection After Breast Surgery: Higher Than We Thought?
Hospital-Associated Costs Due to Surgical Site Infection After Breast SurgeryOlsen MA, Chu-Ongsakul S, Brandt KE, Dietz JR, Mayfield J, Fraser VJArch Surg. 2008;143:53-60 SummaryThe aim of this study, which was conducted in a single hospital, was to determine the frequency and associated costs arising from a surgical wound infection after breast surgery. During the study […]
Sarkozy Unveils Overhaul of French Hospital System
President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled plans on Thursday to improve the efficiency of France's public hospitals by grouping them into regional clusters. The plan, which will affect 1.1 million French health professionals, would give hospital directors more responsibility for issues such as staffing and make part of their pay dependent on results. It would group hospitals […]
