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Weed candy is sending more children to the hospital
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityThey look, smell and taste like our favorite candies, but marijuana candy edibles can be a real danger to children. The sweet confections are often packaged to appear like the popular treats with which toddlers and children are familiar. This appearance is not an accident — the marijuana candy products are designed to attract and entice the consumer. But when children ingest marijuana, the results can be serious and even life-threatening.
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Empowering nurses to be their best
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareAs a nurse manager, I am constantly wondering if we provide our nurses with the most empowering environment possible in which they can grow and thrive. We all want nurses to feel empowered, but are we doing enough?
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Study: Frequent ED users are at higher risk for death
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareThose who use emergency department services frequently are not time-wasters, according to a new study, but are actually at higher risk for death. There are more than 136 million emergency department (ED) visits in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers in this new study defined a frequent user as someone who visits an emergency department between four and 20 times a year.
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Study: Generic as good as name brand for post-transplant drugs
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareGeneric formulations of tacrolimus are as effective as the name-brand version, according to a recent study led by the University of Cincinnati. Researchers enrolled 70 kidney and liver transplant patients into a prospective, blinded, six-way crossover study. Participants underwent transplantation at one of two hospitals — University of Cincinnati Medical Center or The Christ Hospital (Cincinnati).
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What we’ve learned from the epidemiology of Ebola
Dr. Afsaneh Motamed-Khorasani Medical & Allied HealthcareEbola viruses are highly virulent zoonoses affecting both humans and nonhuman primates. The virus contains a single-strand linear RNA of 18-19 kb encoding seven genes (NP, VP35, VP40, VP30, VO24 and GP). Furthermore, five genetically distinct species are known for it, including: Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV), Sudan Ebola virus (SEBOV), Cote d'Ivoire Ebola virus, Bundibugyo Ebola virus (BEBOV) and Reston Ebola virus (REBOV) with different genomic sequence, genomic overlap number and location, and virulence. REBOV can only affect nonhuman primates, while the other four versions are responsible for Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) breakouts.
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With Liberia declared Ebola-free, what’s next for West Africa?
Katina Hernandez Medical & Allied HealthcareIn Monrovia, Liberia, medical facilities that once housed hundreds of patients now sit deserted. Once crucial in the fight against Ebola, some of these medical facilities face a questionable future now that Liberia has officially been declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization after 42 days of no new reported infections.
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Is nursing really for everyone?
Joan Spitrey Medical & Allied HealthcareLast week, nursing student Jennifer Burbella filed a lawsuit against Misericordia University after failing a required class for the second time. The lawsuit claims she suffered from severe anxiety, depression and poor concentration and was not given appropriate accommodations during her final exam.
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Nurse’s death highlights risky nature of hoisting operations
Mark Huber Medical & Allied HealthcareIt's happened again. Another EMS rescuer has plunged to her death during a hoisting operation. This one happened April 27 in Texas. Nurse Kristin McClain, 46, somehow became disconnected while ascending to a STAR Flight Airbus Helicopters H145 during the night-time rescue of an injured hiker.
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Scientists are closing in on the root cause of schizophrenia
Dorothy L. Tengler Mental HealthcareSchizophrenia was once thought to be just a catch-all term for forms of mental behavior that we don't understand. In fact, however, schizophrenia is a diagnosis that describes a psychiatric illness characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality. These impairments most commonly manifest as auditory hallucinations, paranoid delusions or disorganized talking and thinking in the context of significant social or occupational dysfunction.
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Spotting a heart attack with a thermometer
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareEvery year, about 735,000 Americans suffer a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. Of these, 525,000 are a first heart attack, while 210,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack. Diagnosing a heart attack can be difficult for physicians. Many patients have symptoms — such as dizziness or nausea — that may mimic other conditions. Many have normal EKG readings, and a quarter of heart attack patients have no chest pain.
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