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Are IV vitamin drips right for you?

Victoria Fann Medical & Allied Healthcare

Have you joined the IV drip craze? If so, you’re not alone. At the beginning of 2019, Good Morning America called IV vitamin drips one of the biggest health trends of the year. Doctors, nurses and entrepreneurs are getting in on the action. As a result, IV bars, lounges and clinics are popping up along with mobile units that come to your home or office. They’re offering everything from hangover cures to beauty enhancers and immune system boosts. Loyal fans spend thousands of dollars to get punctured, sometimes several times a month. But are they the miracles that they’re touted to be?

Investigational hyperbaric oxygen therapy indications

Eugene R. Worth Medical & Allied Healthcare

We would like to start this series by emphasizing that we are not recommending hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for off-label indications. However, the use of HBOT for certain off-label conditions may be supported by some evidence, as described by case reports, case series, or small randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In this series, we will provide an overview of off-label indications for HBOT and review existing evidence for several conditions. We are going to start with an overview of off-label HBOT. To do so, we must define the boundaries of "on"- and "off"-label HBOT use.

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

Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied Healthcare

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.

5 ways to simplify key processes at your hospital

Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare Administration

As a hospital administrator, you seek to streamline processes at your facility on an ongoing basis. Your institution likely uses focused studies and seeks complex feedback to make this happen. But sometimes the easiest fixes are the most effective. Consider these simple, research-driven strategies to make your staff’s jobs easier, increase your patients' satisfaction, save costs, and sharpen your focus. Plus, you can start implementing them immediately.

Study: Off-label use of gabapentin for cancer pain

Dorothy L. Tengler Pharmaceutical

Although not all cancer patients have pain, it is still one of the most common symptoms caused by cancer treatment, surgery, or cancer itself. Opioid drugs are commonly used to treat moderate or severe cancer pain and are recommended for this purpose in the World Health Organization (WHO) pain treatment ladder. But the opioid epidemic has raised questions about whether postoperative use of opioids can lead to misuse. Between 2005 and 2015, as the opioid crises became evident, prescriptions for gabapentinoid medications such as gabapentin and pregabalin saw a twofold increase for use with cancer.

The terrible nature of expedient principles

Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk Management

The word "principles" is bandied about often, as in, "It’s against my principles to do XYZ," or, "My life is built on solid moral and ethical principles." Principles are good. They are a guideline how to live your life consistently to the standards you profess to espouse. Not having any principles is typically not good. It's fairly easy to discern the principled from the unprincipled people, and you can easily choose which group of people you'd prefer to associate with. What’s tricky is discerning the people with expedient principles.

Survey: Patients who experience telehealth services are happy with them

Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied Healthcare

For those who use telehealth services, the results are quite good, a survey by J.D. Power shows. The satisfaction rate is about 85% — 851 on a 1,000-point scale — while almost half (46%) of all who participated in the survey gave telehealth services a score above 900. The survey included almost 8,300 consumers. In addition to their being happy with the service, they reported that it usually addressed their clinical issues; almost 85% of telehealth users said they resolved their medical problems as a result of their remote teleconsultation.

Congress may give dental coverage to millions of Medicare recipients

Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental Healthcare

Did you know around 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day and can sign up for Medicare? While the program’s 60 million beneficiaries can access dental, vision and hearing through supplemental options such as Advantage plans or standalone insurance policies, original Medicare — Part A and Part B — excludes dental, vision and hearing coverage except in very limited circumstances. But Medicare recipients might just see better coverage and more services in the new year. Several bills now before Congress would give Medicare participants access to dental, vision and even hearing coverage if passed.

Study suggests tranexamic acid could reduce TBI deaths by as much as 20%

Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied Healthcare

The results of a new study, published in The Lancet, suggest that tranexamic acid (TXA) could reduce traumatic brain injury (TBI) deaths by as much as 20%, depending on the severity of the injury. In 2014, about 2.87 million cases of TBI occurring the United States each year, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and there are approximately 69 million new cases of TBI each year worldwide. Accounting for upwards of 90% of all TBIs, mild to moderate TBIs are much more common than severe TBIs. Serious complications can still occur in mild to moderate TBI.

Infographic: Why cybersecurity awareness training is essential

Chris Usatenko Science & Technology

If your data security strategy focuses mainly on the antivirus software you use, your business is at risk. Infecting a computer with a virus is just one attack vector that criminals might use to get sensitive data. This infographic will highlight other potential cybersecurity risks and go through your best line of defense.

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