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Podcast: Be your very own nursing career detective
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareWhen it comes to your nursing career, you need to be your very own private eye or detective because good ol’ Sherlock or Columbo won’t be able to help you with this particular case. Your assessment of your nursing career is the gathering of facts and clues. And what are you looking for exactly? Here are some potential questions to ask yourself — this is only the beginning of the assessment, but you’ll get the picture.
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Study finds a ninefold increase in ESRD patients opting for bariatric surgery
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareAs with the general population, obesity in the number of people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is increasing. Because they are less likely to receive a kidney transplant, many obese patients with ESRD are opting for bariatric surgery to increase their chances of undergoing the lifesaving procedure. Despite the potential for improving the health status of people with ESRD, also known as end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), there is very little information about the national bariatric surgery practice patterns in patients with end-stage renal disease.
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Updates on treatment for IT band syndrome
Heidi Dawson Sports & FitnessIT band syndrome is the most common cause of lateral knee pain in runners and accounts for up to 14% of all running injuries. It is generally more common in males than females. There has been a huge misconception over the years about the cause of this lateral knee pain condition. I recently listened to a great little podcast on IT band syndrome from BMJ Talk Medicine, entitled "Mythbusting iliotibial band pain with Dr Rich Willy – it’s not friction." I’d definitely recommend giving it a listen yourself, as there are so many great points to take away.
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Why doctors prescribe more opioids at the end of the day
Sheilamary Koch PharmaceuticalMore opioid prescriptions were written for patients seeing their primary care provider toward the end of the day, according to a study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Time pressure influencing doctors’ clinical decision-making is a long-standing concept, yet little empirical research has examined its validity or magnitude, write the researchers of the study Hannah Neprash, Ph.D., and Michael Barnette, MD. Specifically, they examined how appointment timing affects prescribing for patients with pain.
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Are you a 2- or 3-dimensional healthcare job candidate?
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareWhen you have a stake as a job candidate in the healthcare employment marketplace, being able to differentiate yourself from the competition is key. Your future employer is going to spend a great deal of money and resources vetting, hiring, training, and onboarding you, so you need to clearly communicate that you’re worthy of this expensive and time-consuming process that constitutes a financial risk for any organization that chooses to hire you.
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A simple health tip with wonderful benefits is right outside your door
Victoria Fann Medical & Allied HealthcareAn Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report states that the average American spends 90% of their time indoors. Given that indoor air can be up to five times more polluted than outdoor air, this isn’t good for our health. Since many of us work on our computers all day and work indoors, it can be easy to fall into the habit of going from our home to our car to our workplace back to our car and home, perhaps with some stops in between and little or no time at all outside. In today’s world, our desire for comfort often overrules our body’s need for fresh air, sunshine and exposure to the natural elements.
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How a lean management approach can improve patient outcomes
Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare AdministrationLean management: it's an interesting concept in the business world and sounds like a great way to streamline your approach as a hospital administrator. So, what is it, exactly? Lean management's core principles are that you deliver value from your customer’s perspective; you eliminate waste; and you continue to improve in every way possible as your work progresses. This sounds like a tall order — but if you do an overview of the way certain hospital procedures are currently handled, you'll see where you should focus your efforts to go lean, and things will fall into place.
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Living life on the edge: Compassionately caring for all patients
Lisa Cole Medical & Allied HealthcareI'm not referring to folks who are bungee jumping, cliff diving, zip lining or driving race cars here. Rather, the opposite. While we providers do patch up plenty of such patients in the aftermath of such death-defying (or not!) feats, more often we care for those whose entire lives entail living on the edge. Think mental illness, chronic pain, the imprisoned, the disabled, victims of abuse, the homeless, dying patients and the poor. Let's examine our perceptions of patients, coping, resiliency and how we care.
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Researchers find controversial results after investigating opioid use,…
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareIt is almost universally agreed that opioid prescription in the emergency department (ED) is risky, largely because of the risk of abuse. The results of a recent study suggest the risk of long-term prescription opioid use and potential misuse stemming from ED prescriptions for opioids to treat acute pain is less than some might expect. Lead author of the study, Raoul Daoust, MD, MSc, and his team wanted to assess opioid use rate and the reasons patients continue to consume opioids three months after discharge from the emergency department with an opioid prescription. They found that opioid use was relatively low three months after discharge from the ED with an opioid prescription.
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Study: Connected devices pose security risks for most health systems
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareRegarding healthcare technology, there are a few notable maxims: things move quickly; there's a lot of money pouring into the sector; and security always is a concern. Case in point: eight out of 10 healthcare organization security leaders admit that they have experienced an internet of things (IoT) cyberattack in the past year. Of these organizations, 30% said the security incident compromised end-user safety. These are the findings of a new study released by security software company Irdeto. The Netherlands-based firm polled 232 healthcare security decision-makers.
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