Chelsea Adams

Chelsea Adams is a former newspaper journalist who made the leap to healthcare public relations and marketing where she worked for a decade. Chelsea has a bachelor's of social science and statistics in mass communications and a master's of business administration. She is a full-time freelance writer based in the Gulf South.

Articles by Chelsea Adams

• Study: ED clinicians hesitant to prescribe buprenorphine for treating opioid dependency

  Thursday, July 02, 2020

  Despite the fact that 2 million Americans are diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) each year, evidence-based medications aren't often prescribed, especially in the ED setting. It's estimated that only a third of those diagnosed with OUD are given methadone, buprenorphine/naloxone or naltrexone for substance abuse treatment. A new study from Yale University seems to confirm that assumption. Researchers surveyed some 400 clinicians at four urban academic emergency departments.

• ‘Heart box’ may help increase number of transplants

  Tuesday, June 30, 2020

  Most organs are placed into "static cold storage" after being harvested. This method has been used since the 1960s and continues to be considered the gold standard for organ transport throughout much of the world. However, this method causes organs to use stored energy, which breaks down tissues quickly. A new Swedish study has presented another possible mode of transportation for donated heart organs. The new method involves a specially designed box that preserves hearts for longer than surgeons presumed possible.

• Data shows cancer patients forego preventative care, use EDs more often

  Monday, June 29, 2020

  Cancer patients with financial hardships are more likely to forego preventative care and are therefore more likely to seek care for pain, urinary tract infections, respiratory distress and other ailments in an emergency department. That's the result of a data analysis of more than 10,000 cancer survivors who responded to the National Health Interview Survey. While most of those who participated in the study had some form of health insurance, patients struggle to pay coinsurance, deductibles, copayments, and other out-of-pocket expenses, lead author Jason Zheng, Ph.D., said.

• Researchers grow livers using human stem cells

  Thursday, June 25, 2020

  Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have grown five tiny human livers and successfully transplanted them into rats. The most significant aspect of the study is that the livers were grown from stem cells, not from the structures of rat cells. Human volunteers donated skin cells for the study, which was published in Cell Reports in June. The cells were reverse engineered into stem cells before being directed to become the cells needed to form a liver. Next, scientists seeded the cells into a rat liver that had had all its rat cells removed.

• Pediatric mental health ED visits spike during recent years

  Tuesday, June 09, 2020

  While the number of overall pediatric emergency departments visits has remained stable over the past decade, the number of children who have presented with mental health disorders has increased by 60% and cases of self-harm have skyrocketed by 329%. "We're seeing more and more children presenting with mental health disorders," said Dr. Rachel Stanley, chief of emergency medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Stanley authored a study published in the journal Pediatrics that sheds light on emergency department utilization for mental health symptoms among patients between the ages of 5 and 17.

• Study shows men receive preference for liver transplants

  Monday, June 08, 2020

  Women in the U.S. are significantly more likely to die while waiting on a liver transplant. The results come from a large cohort study that looked at sex-based disparities among women and men who received liver donation from living and deceased donors. "Our findings suggest that the MELD [model for end-stage liver disease] score does not accurately estimate disease severity in women and that the lack of consideration of candidate anthropomorphic and liver measurements in the current allocation system may have a greater association with the sex disparity in liver allocation than geographic factors," the researchers wrote in their study in JAMA Surgery.

• Heart attack, stroke patients are avoiding the ER due to COVID-19 concerns

  Tuesday, June 02, 2020

  The number of heart attack patients treated at U.S. hospital emergency rooms decreased by nearly half during the pandemic. That statistic has health officials worried that people are avoiding care because they are afraid of contracting COVID-19 at a hospital. Kaiser Permanente researchers reviewed heart attack treatments at its Northern California hospitals before and after the first COVID-19 death was reported on March 4. The 4.4 million records showed the number of ER treatments dropped by 48% once pandemic-related deaths started occurring.

• Newly discovered immune pathway could help prevent long-term organ rejection

  Monday, June 01, 2020

  University of Pittsburgh and Houston Methodist Hospital researchers have discovered an immune pathway that could cause rejection of transplanted organs. The study, published in the journal Science, says contrary to previous data, the body's "innate" immune system may impact organ transplants over the long term. "The rate of acute rejection within one year after a transplant has decreased significantly, but many people who get an organ transplant are likely to need a second one in their lifetime due to chronic rejection," said Dr. Fadi Lakkis, the study’s senior author.

• COVID-19 crisis slows organ transplants nationwide

  Friday, May 01, 2020

  As ICUs have filled up with COVID-19 patients, the number of organ transplants have decreased significantly nationwide. Data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) showed transplants decreased sharply in early March. By the last week of month, half the number of transplants were performed as in the first week. According to the UNOS, there were about 900 transplants the week of Feb. 16. By March 29, that number had fallen to 437. Living donor programs have seen the most significant drop.

• AAP: Denying transplants to kids with intellectual, developmental disabilities may be discriminatory

  Tuesday, April 28, 2020

  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement in April that says physicians who deny organs to children with intellectual and developmental disabilities may be acting in a discriminatory manner. "Patients should not be excluded from consideration for solid organ transplant solely on the basis of an intellectual or developmental disability," the guidance states. The policy statement's authors, Dr. Mindy B. Statter and Dr. Garey Noritz, also write that "children without disabilities have no more claims to scarce resources, such as organ transplants, than do children with disabilities."

• Urine tests can predict transplanted kidney rejection

  Tuesday, April 07, 2020

  Two new methodologies offer promise in predicting kidney failure using a simple urine test instead of a biopsy. University of California, San Francisco researchers say a urine test they have developed would eliminate the need for an invasive biopsy to determine the chances of organ rejection. What's more, monitoring kidney health with a urine sample makes it much easier to identify a problem before the organ suffers irreparable damage. The findings appeared in the March 18 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

• Social media posts offer clues to ED utilization

  Tuesday, March 31, 2020

  Social media often serves as a signal of medical distress that could be utilized to help hospitals determine when a patient might seek emergency care. Previous research has analyzed clinical information to forecast readmissions but looking at digital signatures on social media could predict individuals’ behaviors, thoughts and motivations prior to a healthcare visit. A study published in the March 12 edition of Nature Scientific Reports found that patients made Facebook posts that discussed family and health more than usual. They also included language that was more anxious, worrisome and depressed.

• Researchers ‘trick’ body into accepting organ transplant using cancer tactic

  Friday, March 27, 2020

  Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed technology designed to "trick" the body into accepting a transplanted organ. "It's like hacking into the immune system, borrowing a strategy used by one of humanity's worst enemies to trick the body into accepting a transplant," said senior author Steven Little of the Swanson School of Engineering at Pitt. "And we do it synthetically." The enemy Little is referring to is cancer, which tricks the body's immune system into thinking the tumor is a part of the body.

• Current lack of PPE puts emergency department staff at risk of contracting COVID-19

  Monday, March 23, 2020

  Mere days into the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it was quickly apparent the nation's supply of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers (PPE) was grossly inadequate. PPE is the best barrier between caregivers and patients with positive or suspected cases of the highly contagious virus. Doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and other front-line staff are being asked to ration or even reuse PPE, such as N-95 masks, face shields, goggles and surgical masks.

• Study: Bacteria the cause of most infections in first year after solid organ transplant

  Friday, February 07, 2020

  In the first year after transplant surgery, bacteria cause more than half of the infections that occur in solid organ transplant recipients. That's the result of a patient analysis conducted as part of the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study. The information is important since it allows transplant teams to prescribe appropriate immunosuppressant drugs. Following an organ transplant, three periods of infection have been identified.

• Transplant community offers widespread support for proposed federal rule changes

  Tuesday, February 04, 2020

  Changes to federal policies governing living organ donors have widespread support among organ procurement agencies. The changes allow living organ donors to be reimbursed for missed work and the cost of child care. "These are bold steps that are going to have an immediate and lasting impact on our ability to serve patients who are on waiting lists," Dr. Seth Karp, director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center and surgeon-in-chief of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Modern Healthcare magazine.

• Study: Liver transplants linked to worse pregnancy outcomes

  Tuesday, December 17, 2019

  Pregnant women who received liver transplants are at higher risk for pregnancy-related complications, according to data presented at the American College of Gastroenterology Meeting. "As more women of childbearing age undergo transplantation and subsequently experience pregnancy, issues regarding complications and the effect on outcomes will only become more relevant," said Dr. Lindsay A. Sobotka, a fellow at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. For the study, the Ohio State research team analyzed a large inpatient sample of data from pregnant women who received care between 2005 and 2013.

• Study: Robotic transplants safe for obese patients with kidney disease

  Wednesday, December 11, 2019

  University of Illinois at Chicago research finds that robotic kidney transplants for obese patients result in survival outcomes comparable to those in nonobese patients. Published in the American Journal of Transplantation, the study highlights 10 years' worth of data from some 230 robotic-assisted kidney transplants in patients with obesity conducted at University of Illinois Health hospitals. The study reports one- and three-year patient survival rates of 98% and 95%, respectively, among kidney transplant patients with obesity.

• Australian study: Organs once deemed unsafe for transplant may be OK

  Wednesday, November 06, 2019

  Australian research suggests organs once deemed too risky for transplant may actually be safe. The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, says it may be safe to transplant organs from donors with high-risk behaviors, as long as the donor tests negative for blood-borne viruses like HIV and any type of hepatitis. International guidelines frequently reject donors who inject drugs intravenously; work as sex workers; are homosexual; spent time in jail; or had sex with a person with a high-risk lifestyle.

• Federal government urged to address disability bias in organ transplants

  Thursday, October 24, 2019

  In a new report to the president, the National Council on Disability acknowledged that people with disabilities are often barred from receiving organ transplants even though federal law and some states specifically prohibit it. "We live in a world where organ denials are based on disability, rather than suitability," said Neil Romano, chairman of the National Council on Disability. "Receiving an organ to save your life should never be jeopardized because of fears, myths and stereotypes about disability. Especially not with so many federal laws making that practice illegal."

• New protocol triples storage time for donated livers

  Thursday, October 10, 2019

  A three-step approach to the organ preservation process promises to help physicians store donated livers for hours longer than before. To this point, donated livers must be transplanted within nine hours of harvest. A varied protocol means livers may be viable for up to 27 hours. In previous studies, rat livers were preserved using a supercooling method that included a modified glucose compound. The combination prevented ice crystals from growing on the livers. However, when the process was replicated for human livers, it didn't work.

• Study looks at causes of homelessness among ED patients

  Thursday, October 03, 2019

  Homelessness is a prevalent problem in American emergency departments, which serve as social safety nets for indigent and sick. A new qualitative study of newly homeless emergency department patients found multiple contributing factors to homelessness. Now that the factors have been identified, they can impact ED-based homelessness prevention intervention. The study was conducted at a New York City public hospital emergency department.

• New research highlights potential incentives to encourage organ donation

  Monday, September 30, 2019

  The donor-priority rule was developed as a potential way to encourage organ donor registrations. If a person signs up to be an organ donor, the potential donor will receive a higher priority on the transplant list if he or she ever needs an organ transplant. However, this arrangement brings about an unintended consequence. People who are at risk of needing an organ transplant are more likely to register as organ donors. And generally speaking, people who need organ transplants are sick. New research published in the journal Management Science pinpoints a potential solution.

• Study: ED patients report less rest than hospital inpatients

  Thursday, September 26, 2019

  A new study published in the Emergency Medicine Journal has confirmed what anyone who's ever spent time in a hospital emergency department already knows: ED patients don't rest as well as inpatients. Researchers surveyed 49 ED patients who were awaiting an inpatient bed and 44 people who had already been admitted to an inpatient unit. During the survey, patients described noise levels and rated the quality of their sleep using the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire.

• 15 studies retracted amid fears of organs’ origin

  Thursday, September 05, 2019

  More than a dozen scientific research papers have been retracted amid suspicions the organs used in the studies came from executed Chinese prisoners. During August, the journals PLOS ONE and Transplantation retracted 15 studies by Chinese authors after questions regarding the source of donated organs were posed. The studies were originally published between 2008 and 2014 and dealt with kidney and liver transplants. Two additional journals have also expressed concern regarding published studies.

• Study: ICU in the ED dramatically improves patient survival rate

  Tuesday, August 27, 2019

  According to a recent study, locating an intensive care unit inside the emergency department drastically increases survival rates for the sickest patients who arrive at ERs. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, examined outcomes from the University of Michigan Medical School's emergency department-based ICU. The study was carried out at the Massey Family Critical Care Center, which opened in 2015 and is housed adjacent to University Hospital's main adult emergency room. The goal of establishing a critical care area in the ED was to prevent some patients from ever needing to be transferred to an inpatient ICU, study authors said.

• Device could extend organ viability to 24 hours or more

  Friday, July 26, 2019

  Keeping donated organs viable poses a significant challenge for physicians. While a pancreas or liver may last 12 hours, a heart or lungs must be transplanted within six hours. Otherwise, the organ dies. Researchers have studied this problem for years but have not created a more effective way to preserve and transport organs than a basic insulated cooler. However, a team of researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio have created a device that could potentially extend organs' shelf life between 24 hours and a full week.

• Viral infections among organ transplant recipients may be influenced by gut microbiome

  Thursday, July 11, 2019

  A study recently presented at the American Transplant College shows that the gut's microbiome plays a significant role in whether a transplant recipient will develop a viral infection of not. "Our results confirm and extend the novel association between the gut microbiome and the development of viral infections from stem cell transplant recipients to solid organ graft recipients," Dr. John Lee and colleagues wrote in the abstract. "Altogether, these findings support targeting the gut microbiota as a strategy to prevent and/or treat viral infections."

• Modified pig organs may be possible for use in humans, but not as quickly as researchers hoped

  Tuesday, June 25, 2019

  Despite estimates that gene-edited pig organs would be available for use in humans by this year, research continues on the plan that could alleviate critical organ shortages. In 2017, founders of the startup eGenesis announced plans to use CRISPR gene-editing technology to make pig organs safe for use in humans. At the time, eGenesis co-founder and Harvard geneticist George Church predicted that modified pig organs would be available for use in humans within a year, maybe two. However, Church admits his prediction hasn't come to fruition.

• Long ER waits in California prompt patients to leave against medical advice

  Monday, June 03, 2019

  The number of patients leaving California emergency departments against medical advice (AMA) has increased by 57% since 2012. Not all the patients who left after seeing a doctor but before treatment had been rendered can be attributed to long wait times, but hospital administrators say most are due to overcrowded EDs. "Most patients are sick but not critically ill," said Dr. Steven Polevoi, medical director of the ED at UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights. "Emergency care doesn’t equal fast care all of the time."

• Court’s blockage of liver-sharing policy sparks conflict

  Thursday, May 30, 2019

  A plan intended to correct regional inequities among liver transplant recipients is on hold after a lawsuit to block its implementation was filed by transplant centers in the South and Midwest. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has worked to create a new way of distributing organs since 2012. The plan calls for the most critically ill patients within a set geographic parameter to receive organs first. For example, if a liver became available in Nashville, the sickest patient within a 500 nautical-mile radius would receive it.

• More teens, children seeking psych care in emergency departments

  Tuesday, April 09, 2019

  Here's the good news. More young people are seeking care for mental health-related disorders than ever before. The bad news? These teens and adolescents are using emergency departments to access the help they need. But, according to an analysis published in the March 18 issue of JAMA Pediatrics, only 16 percent of young patients who sought care in an ED ever saw a mental health professional. The analysis identified a 28 percent increase in overall psych ED visits among patients ages 6 to 24 in the years between 2011 and 2015.

• Medical scribes boost productivity among ER docs

  Thursday, March 14, 2019

  Medical scribes can increase an ER physician's productivity, resulting in shorter lengths of stays for patients, according to a study published in The BMJ in late January. Conducted at hospitals in the Australian state of Victoria, the study compared ER shifts where trained scribes were utilized with those where clinicians were required to complete clinical documentation and other clerical tasks. Scribes enter the exam room with the physician and use a computer to document consultations, schedule follow-up appointments, order diagnostic tests, complete patients' electronic health records, request inpatient beds, print discharge paperwork and locate information for the physician.

• Drug combo may make organ, tissue matching unnecessary

  Monday, March 04, 2019

  Tissue-matching means organ recipients have a better chance of a successful transplant, but patients will still need to take anti-rejection medications, possibly for the remainder of their lives. While effective, these drugs can cause the body's immune system to be vulnerable to infection, and they often have unpleasant side effects. However, a new study offers evidence that an antibody-drug conjugate may serve the same purpose as traditional anti-rejection drugs. Led by a Stanford University physician, the research team found that the conjugate eliminates blood-producing stem cells in mice. To this point, only anti-rejection drugs have kept the production of stem cells at bay.

• Questions raised after transplant programs suspended, threatened with decertification

  Thursday, July 26, 2018

  The suspension of a Colorado-based organ transplant program and threats to decertify New York City's organ procurement organization have raised questions for patients on waiting lists. Some 230 patients waiting for a kidney, liver or pancreas at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver must now look for new organ transplant programs in the area. Porter Adventist informed patients in July that the hospital is voluntarily suspending operations.

• Can long-term tolerance of transplanted organs be improved?

  Thursday, July 19, 2018

  Heart transplants survive longer in mice with genetically enhanced DEPTOR, a regulatory protein in immune cells. The study was conducted at Boston Children's Hospital and published in the July 3 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation. In the experiment, mice that received heart transplantations but no immunosuppressive drugs survived an average of seven days. However, mice treated with genetically enhanced DEPTOR activity in their T cells survived an average of 35 days.

• A better molecular microscope method for transplant biopsies

  Wednesday, April 25, 2018

  ​Canadian researchers have determined that using gene chips to read molecules during heart transplant biopsies is much safer and more effective than conventional methods. Dr. Phillip Halloran, who developed the molecular microscope system, presented the preliminary findings earlier this month at the 2018 meeting of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation in Nice, France. The system was created at the Alberta Transplant Applied Genomics Centre (ATAGC) at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

• Partial liver transplants have become safer for pediatric patients

  Tuesday, March 06, 2018

  A study by Johns Hopkins University has concluded that alternatives to whole liver transplant (WLT) in pediatric patients have become safer in the recent years and should be used more widely to increase the supply of donated organs.

• How the VA creates barriers to organ transplantation

  Monday, February 19, 2018

  ​The Department of Veterans Affairs has been accused of making it difficult for veterans to access organ transplants. A recent report by the Office of the Special Counsel alleges that expecting veterans to travel to distant medical centers to access transplants "did not appear reasonable."

• Rate of skin cancer following organ transplant declines

  Tuesday, December 05, 2017

  ​For years, organ transplant patients have been told their risk of developing skin cancer increases following their transplant surgery. However, according to a study published in October in JAMA Dermatology, the rate of risk of squamous cell carcinoma has decreased since the mid-1980s.

• Are nonbeating heart transplants on the horizon?

  Tuesday, September 26, 2017

  ​A "phenomenal" donation after cardiac death (DCD) pilot program being carried out in three British hospitals could decrease heart donation waiting lists by as much as 40 percent, officials say. A nonbeating heart is restored with energy from a "beating machine" as it is transported from the deceased donor to the recipient.

• Study: Discarded kidneys could save more lives than dialysis

  Monday, July 17, 2017

  Roughly 1 in 5 kidneys are thrown out each year in the United States. Kidneys are discarded if they are thought not to meet federal guidelines due to scarring or other issues. Many times, these kidneys are donated from older individuals who may have health problems.

• Would tax credits for organ donation violate federal law?

  Friday, June 16, 2017

  ​New Jersey is the first state in the U.S. considering "no strings attached" tax credits for organ and blood donors.

• New fentanyl variant makes overdoses tougher to treat

  Wednesday, May 24, 2017

  ​A new type of fentanyl produced overseas and sold via the internet is making overdoses more difficult to treat in North American emergency departments. Called acryl fentanyl, the drug is resistant to Narcan and often requires multiple doses of the overdose drug to counteract its effects. In some cases, Narcan isn't effective at all against the synthetic opioid.

• Anti-rejection drug helps transplant recipients avoid weight gain

  Tuesday, May 23, 2017

  Researchers have determined the new anti-rejection drug Everolimus is easier on the kidneys following a liver transplant, compared to Tacrolimus, the drug that's been routinely prescribed to liver recipients. Everolimus also helps liver recipients avoid weight gain. Both factors are important factors in a patient's post-transplant health and can lead to positive outcomes.

• How physicians use VR to train for emergency care

  Thursday, May 18, 2017

  ​Recreating the sights and sounds of a trauma bay is a challenge for doctors in training. Without witnessing it firsthand, residents may have trouble fully understanding what treating a trauma patient can entail. To introduce residents to the experience, some schools are turning to virtual reality technology to fill the gap between the classroom and the emergency department.

• State bills keeping medical marijuana patients on organ waiting lists

  Tuesday, April 25, 2017

  Legislation in several states is aimed at keeping medical marijuana patients on organ transplant waiting lists. ​The situation has come to the forefront as more and more states legalize the use of medical marijuana. The most recent bill to come under consideration is in Maine where a hospital deemed a man unsuitable for transplantation surgery because he had used medical marijuana to treat the side effects of Alport syndrome, a genetic condition that causes renal failure. The bill was approved by Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services in a 7-6 vote on April 11.

• Second flu shot boosts effectiveness in organ transplant patients

  Tuesday, April 18, 2017

  Spanish researchers have discovered that giving two flu shots, five weeks apart, is a more effective method of vaccinating solid organ transplant recipients against the virus. Solid organ transplant patients are more susceptible to influenza and have decreased mortality when they do acquire the virus. That's why all are encouraged to get the inactivated trivalent influenza vaccination each year.

• Anti-fibrotic treatments could help patients with chronically rejected lungs

  Tuesday, March 28, 2017

  ​A new study from the University of Michigan has found a possible reason for chronic rejection of transplanted lungs. "Survival of lung transplantation is worse than all other solid organ transplants," said Dr. Vibha Lama, associate chief of basic and translational research at Michigan Medicine's Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. "The five-year survival rate is only 50 percent, and the 10-year survival rate is as low as 20 percent. For me to tell my patient that this second chance at life comes with this critical limitation is incredibly hard."

• Cryogenics breakthrough could lead to long‑term organ storage

  Monday, March 20, 2017

  Advances in cryogenics could pave the way for storing organs for transplant — a move that could increase the number of transplant organs available and significantly lessen waiting lists. As it stands now, organs must be used within a few hours of being harvested from donors. That means roughly 60 percent of donated organs aren't used since suitable recipients sometimes can't be found or are located too far away from the donor.

• Could animals grow human organs in the near future?

  Tuesday, February 21, 2017

  For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that growing humans organs in other species could be possible. In a study published the journal Cell this month, researchers successfully injected human stem cells into a pig embryo. While the developing embryo was "highly inefficient," the stem cells developed into the precursors of heart and liver cells. A portion of the developing embryo was comprised of human cells.

• Study weighs benefits of preserving organs at body temperature

  Monday, December 12, 2016

  For decades, donated organs have been submerged in a cold solution simply called "UW liquid" — because it was developed at the University of Wisconsin — while en route to a recipient. It's been the gold standard for organ transportation for years. Now, a new method of preserving organs is being studied, and an organ recipient recently became the first in the country to receive a liver ​preserved at body temperature instead of cold storage. Coincidentally, the procedure was conducted at the UW Hospital in Madison.

• Lawmakers press for clarification on organ transplant for disabled recipients

  Thursday, December 01, 2016

  ​A bipartisan group of Congressional leaders is asking the Department of Health and Human Services to clarify guidelines regarding organ transplants to people with disabilities. Thirty members of the House of Representatives signed the letter, which was dated Oct. 12. The letter expressly states that people with developmental or intellectual disabilities should not be denied organ transplants solely based on their disabilities.

• Study: Retail clinics do not reduce trips to ED for minor ailments

  Tuesday, November 22, 2016

  Healthcare officials hoped retail walk-in clinics would divert patients from hospital-based emergency departments. The findings of a new study have proved otherwise. The study, authored by researchers at the nonprofit group RAND Corporation was published online this month in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. It looked at 2,000 emergency departments in 23 states over a six-year period. When retail clinics opened nearby, there was no significant reduction in ED visits for 11 low-acuity illnesses like respiratory infections, urinary tract infections and earaches. Low-acuity illnesses make up about 13.7 percent of all ED visits.

• ER doctors: Psychiatric patients wait too long for care

  Wednesday, November 02, 2016

  ​The American College of Emergency Physicians says patients routinely wait too long for inpatient psychiatric care. Data from a survey of 1,700 emergency department doctors was presented at the ACEP's annual meeting in Las Vegas in mid-October. Of doctors who responded to the survey, 21 percent said psychiatric patients routinely wait two to five days for an inpatient bed. Half of physicians said the situation for psych patients has worsened over the past year.

• Study: Bigger transplant centers have better outcomes

  Thursday, October 27, 2016

  How a patient will fare after an organ transplant can be difficult to predict. However, researchers using a computerized algorithm found that larger transplant centers have better patient outcomes than smaller centers. ​The result​s of their study were published recently in The American Journal of Transplantation.

• Study: Blocking donor’s dendritic cells may prevent organ rejection

  Tuesday, September 27, 2016

  A recent study in the journal Nature Communications suggests blocking organ donors' dendritic cells may help prevent organ rejection. The project, led by doctors at the University of Pittsburgh, looked at whether targeting dendritic cells in mice who received either a heart or kidney transplant would decrease the rate of organ rejection. Tests of this nature have not been conducted on human organ recipients.

• 2 rare full intestine transplants conducted recently in the US

  Wednesday, September 21, 2016

  Two rare complete intestine transplants were conducted in the United States in recent weeks. A Washington state woman underwent a rare full intestine transplant transplant in August. Savanna Oberts, the 26-year-old woman, also received a pancreas and liver during the surgery. It was the first time an adult had a transplant of this type at the University of Washington Medical Center.

• Free-standing EDs on the rise, but do they target wealthy patients?

  Wednesday, August 24, 2016

  ​The number of free-standing emergency departments that offer quick access to emergency care has exploded across the country. With the increase in these types of facilities, another trend has emerged: Free-standing EDs are being built in zip codes where people have a higher annual income and private insurance.

• Voucher programs: A bold new model for organ donation

  Tuesday, August 23, 2016

  ​A grandfather's sacrifice has created a new model of organ donation at several hospitals across the United States. This program started at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center when a 64-year-old man made an unorthodox proposal to hospital leaders. He would donate one of his kidneys to a person on the waiting list now in exchange for a kidney for his grandson sometime in the future.

• US manufacturing gained in July, but future growth depends on new orders

  Monday, August 22, 2016

  Manufacturing continues to expand, but a lack of business spending may be a cause for concern going forward, some economists say. Manufacturing expanded for the fifth month in a row in July, while the economy as a whole grew for the 86th consecutive month. That's according to the Institute for Supply Management's July 2016 Manufacturing Report on Business.

• Study: Race influences opioid prescriptions in the ED

  Wednesday, August 17, 2016

  ​African-Americans who seek care for back or abdominal pain in the nation's emergency rooms are less likely to receive opioid pain relievers than white patients who presented with the same symptoms. That's the finding of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco. Published Aug. 8 in PLOS ONE, the study looked at five years' worth of data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

• Organ transplantation districts being redrawn to correct geographic disparity

  Tuesday, August 16, 2016

  The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has proposed changes to the United States' transplant system in an attempt to reduce the geographic disparity that makes it more difficult to get liver transplants in some areas of the country. At present, organs are shared among 11 districts in the nation. The proposal seeks to reduce the number of districts to eight districts with redrawn borders. Changing the districts' boundaries would create a better ratio of available livers to waiting recipients.

• Study: Home blood pressure monitoring pushing more people to the ER

  Wednesday, August 03, 2016

  A new study finds that home blood pressure monitoring is leading more and more people to emergency rooms when true emergency symptoms aren't present. Published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, the study analyzed more than 200,000 emergency room visits at 180 locations. From 2002 to 2012, there was a 64 percent increase in emergency visits for hypertension. However, over the same time period, hospitalizations for the same reason declined.

• Government, private entities move to reduce waiting lists

  Tuesday, August 02, 2016

  The federal government is attempting to shorten the length of time organ recipients spend on waiting lists. A three-pronged plan that involves government agencies and private entities was announced recently. Announced at a summit held at the White House, the plan spells out ways the Department of Defense, private businesses and nonprofit groups will work to reduce the number of people on organ waiting lists.

• To grow, American manufacturing needs better trained workers

  Monday, July 25, 2016

  ​U.S. manufacturing may be falling behind globally, but it's not simply because companies are shifting jobs overseas to save money. Jay Shambaugh, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, puts it bluntly: The United States isn't keeping up with other countries in training workers with skills needed in today's manufacturing marketplace.

• Study: Body’s microbes may affect success of transplants

  Tuesday, July 19, 2016

  University of Chicago researchers think the garden of microbes that live on human skin and in the digestive system help determine whether a transplanted organ will be accepted or rejected by the body. Their research was published June 20 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

• ER mortality rates have plunged since 1997

  Tuesday, July 12, 2016

  Advances in medical care and more end-of-life outpatient options have resulted in a sharp decline in emergency room deaths in the last 15 years, according to a new study published in the July edition of He​alth Affairs. Researchers found a 48 percent drop in adult deaths in ERs between 1997 and 2011. There's no clear-cut reason for the decrease, leading researchers to cite several reasons for the results.

• Should the sickest patients be removed from transplant lists?

  Tuesday, June 28, 2016

  ​Transplant centers are removing the sickest patients from waiting lists following changes in federal policies that govern performance standards. A study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School showed 4,300 people with life-threatening liver diseases were removed from American transplant waiting list between mid-2007 and 2012. That's almost twice as many as the 2,311 removed in the prior five years.

• Man who lived 555 days with artificial heart finally receives transplant

  Tuesday, June 21, 2016

  A man who lived 555 days using an artificial heart finally received a transplant of a human heart in May. The 25-year-old Michigan man had his real heart removed in November 2014. A total artificial heart powered by an external battery pack kept him alive and allowed him to stay home instead of in a hospital while a donor heart was sought.

• Organ donations on the rise, but increase linked to drug overdoses

  Friday, May 27, 2016

  Overall organ donations increased by 5 percent in 2015, which may seem like an encouraging statistic. But according to government data, 1 out of every 11 donors is a drug overdose victim.

• Study: Shortages of emergency care drugs increasing

  Wednesday, May 18, 2016

  ​The findings of an analysis published in the May issue of Health Affairs show that drugs vital to emergency care are increasingly short in supply, despite a 2012 law that allowed the Food and Drug Administration to respond to drug shortages.

• Study: ADPKD patients at higher risk for diabetes after transplant

  Tuesday, May 17, 2016

  According to a new meta-analysis, patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) are more likely to develop diabetes following kidney transplantation. The analysis was carried out by researchers at the Mayo Clinic who looked at 12 separate studies to determine the risk of ADPKD patients developing diabetes following kidney transplant. Results were presented in a poster presentation at an April meeting of the National Kidney Foundation.

• Hospitals seeing increase in anti-diarrhea drug overdoses

  Wednesday, May 11, 2016

  ​Emergency departments are seeing an influx of patients who are overdosing on over-the-counter anti-diarrhea medications. The majority are using medicines containing loperamide to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms; others are using them to achieve a heroin-like high.

• Study: Pig organs could be viable for use in humans

  Tuesday, April 26, 2016

  A group of baboons at a research facility in Bethesda, Maryland, have been living with pig hearts in their abdomens for the past several years. The goal of the National Institutes of Health experiment was to see if pig organs would be viable for transplantation into humans.

• Suicide screenings in ED help identify at-risk patients

  Thursday, April 21, 2016

  ​Detection of patients at risk for suicide nearly doubled after emergency departments implemented universal suicide risk screenings for all patients, ​according to new research in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

• Emergency physician income increases, but issues remain

  Wednesday, April 13, 2016

  The 2016 Medscape Physician Compensation Report indicates emergency physicians earned an average of $322,000 in 2015, slightly higher than 2014's earnings of $306,000. As part of the survey, nearly 20,000 physicians across 26 specialties were asked about earnings, job satisfaction and how much he or she works. In the survey, physicians provided their annual compensation for patient care.

• Organ transplant between donor, recipients with HIV opens new door

  Monday, April 11, 2016

  ​Doctors at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center recently transplanted organs from an HIV-positive donor to two HIV-positive recipients during landmark surgeries. To this point, people with HIV have not been eligible to donate organs. However, the development is significant for people living with the virus since they frequently need donor organs due to organ failure. Previously, HIV-positive patients were eligible to receive organs from HIV-negative donors.

• Drug treatment reduces risk of skin cancer in transplant patients

  Monday, February 22, 2016

  ​​It is well documented that solid organ transplant recipients (OTRs) are at greater risk of developing skin cancer following transplant surgery. However, ​a new study conducted by Harvard Medical School researchers found that an immunosuppressive drug lowers the risk of subsequent skin cancer following an initial post-transplant cancer diagnosis.

• Report: America’s 50 advanced industries and their impact on manufacturing

  Monday, February 22, 2016

  ​A newly released analysis by the Brooking Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program identifies 50 high-tech innovation industries deemed crucial to economic prosperity in the United States. However, without changes, these 50 industries face significant challenges to remain competitive on the global manufacturing landscape.

• Manufacturing jobs reach 7-year high despite stumbling economy

  Thursday, February 11, 2016

  While overall jobs growth was lower than projected in January, the manufacturing sector saw gains in several key workforce measures. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly labor report, manufacturing companies added 29,000 workers in January, the fourth consecutive month that saw an increase. That translates to 12.4 million workers in the industry, the highest number in seven years.

• Scientists discover cellular structure that may explain organ rejections

  Tuesday, January 19, 2016

  ​Canadian scientists have discovered a cellular structure that may be responsible for previously unexplained organ transplant rejections. Researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre turned their attention to blood vessels, which, when damaged, can make rejection difficult to manage.

• Analysis: CT scans overused among respiratory patients

  Thursday, January 14, 2016

  ​Between 2001 and 2010, there was a fourfold increase in emergency department use of CT scans to evaluate respiratory symptoms. And that increase is too much, ​according to researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.

• Rising salaries prompt China to send factory jobs to Mexico

  Friday, November 20, 2015

  ​Mexico is accustomed to foreign direct investment. In 2014, Mexico received $22.6 billion in foreign direct investment, with the U.S. being the single biggest contributor. The trend for Mexico is continuing as companies from around the globe look to the country for cheap labor and low production costs.

• Powerful gene editing could make pigs perfect organ donors

  Monday, November 02, 2015

  By modifying 62 genes in pig embryos, scientists think they may have found a way to make pigs suitable organ donors for humans. Led by Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church, the work was presented Oct. 5 at a meeting of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Church and his colleagues spoke about using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to inactivate 62 porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) in pig embryos. Embedded in all pigs' genomes, the viruses cannot be treated or neutralized once present in a human.

• CDC: Different infection sources among UPMC transplant patients

  Tuesday, October 27, 2015

  Four organ transplant patients who contracted fungal infections following surgeries at two University of Pittsburgh hospitals didn't acquire the infections in the same manner. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent 16 days determining the source of the infections, which occurred in patients who had transplant surgeries at UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Montefiore between the summer of 2014 and early 2015. Each patient was infected by a species of zygomycota.

• Biking-related hospital admissions, fatalities on the rise

  Thursday, October 01, 2015

  The number of bicycle accidents that resulted in hospitalizations increased significantly in the past 15 years, with the largest proportion of the injuries occurring in adults over the age of 45. What's more, bike-auto fatalities among people between the ages of 35 and 74 have increased as well.

• Study: Organ transplant recipients more likely to die from melanoma

  Tuesday, September 29, 2015

  A recent study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology has determined that people who receive organ transplants are three times more likely to die from melanoma. Healthcare professionals have long known that transplant recipients were more likely to develop melanoma — the most aggressive type of skin cancer — than the general population.

• Delaware mandates that students study organ donation

  Tuesday, September 22, 2015

  Delaware has become the latest state to mandate that students study organ donation as part of health education classes. The move is intended to dispel myths surrounding organ donation and potentially decrease the number of Delaware residents on organ waiting lists, which include some 300 people waiting for livers and kidneys.

• CDC grants $20 million to combat opioid overdoses

  Thursday, September 17, 2015

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has granted $20 million to 16 states in an effort combat the growing number of deaths due to prescription drug overdoses. The Prescription Drug Overdose: Prevention for States program is part of the Department of Health and Human Services' Opioid Initiative and builds upon the CDC's Prevention Boost and Core Violence and Injury Prevention programs, which went into effect in 2014.

• Study: Organ rejection following infection may not be permanent

  Tuesday, July 21, 2015

  New research suggests that organ transplant recipients who reject organs may not necessarily reject future transplanted organs. ​In a study of mice at the University of Chicago, researchers found the rodents rejected a transplanted heart after a bacterial infection, but then tolerated a second heart transplant after the infection was eliminated from the body.

• Studies: Chest pains, syncope in ED may not necessitate admission

  Wednesday, July 08, 2015

  ​When a patient's health is in question, it makes sense to admit them to the hospital and run a few tests — just to be safe — right? Well, a pair of recent studies in JAMA Internal Medicine indicate that may not be the best option.

• Study: Organ donation gap isn’t due to racial disparity

  Tuesday, June 30, 2015

  New research in the American Journal of Transplantation shows geographic gaps in organ donation rates are not due to the prevalence of racial or ethnic populations — a common belief among solid organ transplant.

• Emergency treatment leads to better outcomes for opioid addicts

  Tuesday, June 23, 2015

  ​A Yale School of Medicine study finds pharmaceutical treatment in an emergency department leads to better outcomes for opioid addicts than those who are referred for outpatient treatment or simply given a list of treatment services. The study was the first known random trial that compared three options for treating people who seek emergency care for dependence on opioids like hydrocodone, oxycodone, heroin and morphine.

• Study: Organ-rejection drugs may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease

  Tuesday, June 16, 2015

  The calcineurin inhibitors that organ transplant patients take to prevent rejection may also work to prevent Alzheimer's disease. A new study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) examined the rate of Alzheimer's disease among 2,600 organ transplant patients. Results were compared with a 2014 national dataset from the Alzheimer's Association.

• Bacteria linked to hyperammonemia in lung transplant patients

  Tuesday, June 02, 2015

  New research shows a rare but often fatal complication among lung transplant patients is likely caused by bacteria normally found in the urinary tract. Dr. Ankit Bharat, a thoracic surgeon and surgical director at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, found elevated levels of ammonia in a 44-year-old double lung transplant patient a week after transplant surgery. Reasons for the patient's hyperammonemia weren't clear.

• Experiment aims to stop immunosuppression therapy for face transplant patients

  Tuesday, March 31, 2015

  ​The U.S. Military is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide face transplants and follow-up care for a small group of civilians who suffered traumatic injuries. The intent is to find ways to help servicemen and women who receive disfiguring injuries in combat.

• Teen with stroke symptoms had Lyme disease in bizarre ER case

  Thursday, March 19, 2015

  ​A Swiss teen who arrived an emergency room with seemingly classic symptoms of stroke ended up diagnosed with Lyme disease. ​The details of this case were published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in late February.

• Can acute heart failure indicate future diabetes?

  Wednesday, January 21, 2015

  ​Nondiabetic heart failure patients who arrive at the emergency department with an elevated blood glucose level may be at risk for death within a month or for developing diabetes later on. A study published Jan. 7 in the European Heart Journal reported these results from ​a three-year Canadian study.

• Limited literacy increases rejection risk among liver transplant patients

  Tuesday, January 20, 2015

  ​Limited literacy may cause liver transplant patients to have trouble adhering to a treatment plan and drug therapy, thereby increasing the chances of adverse clinical outcomes such as organ rejection or graft loss.

• Study: Female kidney donors have increased risk of preeclampsia

  Monday, November 24, 2014

  ​Female kidney donors double their risk of developing preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to ​the results of a Canadian study published in the Nov. 14 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. While preeclampsia can pose serious health threats to the mother and fetus, the condition is usually manageable, and most women had uncomplicated pregnancies following nephrectomies.

• US manufacturers in a ‘sweet spot’ heading into holiday season

  Friday, November 21, 2014

  ​U.S. manufacturing surged in October, marking the second month in 2014 it reached 59 on the Institute for Supply Management's PMI Composite index. Plus, production hit a 10-year high, and new orders rose 10 points. The index reading of 59 matched that of August and was the highest reading since March 2011.

• Research: HPVs may contribute to post-transplant skin cancer

  Wednesday, October 01, 2014

  ​Some betapapillomaviruses may contribute to an increased occurrence of squamous cell skin cancer (SCSC) in patients who have undergone organ transplantation. That's according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.