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5 new ways to protect your heart

Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied Healthcare

Keeping your ticker healthy should be a priority for everyone. That's why new research on cardiovascular health can help us all take fresh, proactive steps to safeguard our hearts and feel a lot better, too. This piece will outline science-based advice we can put into practice right away.

Common pain relievers may promote C. difficile

Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied Healthcare

Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is the most commonly diagnosed cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and has surpassed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as the most common healthcare-associated infection in many U.S. hospitals. Healthcare costs attributed to these infections can reach nearly $5 billion each year. Commonly occurring in older hospitalized adults after the use of antibiotic medications, C. diff affects the normal flora of the gut. This hardy type of bacteria is very difficult to treat. An estimated 15,000 deaths are directly attributable to C. diff infections, making it a substantial cause of infectious disease death.

CVS Health to give $100 million to take on the social determinants of health

Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied Healthcare

Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, conditions in these various environments and settings have been referred to as "place." In addition to the more material attributes of "place," the patterns of social engagement and sense of security and well-being are also affected by where people live. Following on this impact, and CVS Health's $69 billion acquisition of Aetna, the company announced that it will give $100 million over the next five years to improve community health.

Deforestation in Brazil comes with health consequences

Michelle R. Matisons Waste Management & Environmental

Since the election of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last October, much has been made about the globally relevant deforestation of the Amazon. Newly initiated climate change students are likely to be introduced to the Amazon rainforest because it sequesters carbon dioxide, produces oxygen, and is home to some of the richest biodiversity in the world. For many environmentalists following the catastrophic effects of global deforestation, battles over Amazonian land-use have never been more prominent. You can also add a public health crisis to the list of problems caused by Brazil’s environmental deregulation.

Ways to protect your healthcare workers from workplace violence

Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare Administration

Patient-driven abuse: it's a sad but true reality for nurses, doctors and medical assistants today. As a hospital administrator, keeping your staff safe is obviously an essential priority, and your organization no doubt has policies in place to make this happen. Are those policies as effective as they can be, though? Reassess your strategies by reviewing and implementing the following research-driven findings.

Evidence continues to show that youth e-cigarette use is growing

Dr. Denise A. Valenti Medical & Allied Healthcare

Yet another survey is demonstrating that teenagers are adopting the use of electronic cigarettes at an alarming rate. One of the latest, released in December 2018, is called "Monitoring the Future." It was administered by the University of Michigan and was given to 14,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders across the United States. Other risk behaviors monitored in the survey, such as opioid use, binge drinking, and conventional cigarette use, either remained level or declined. The use of nicotine vaping products showed the largest and most significant increase in any category since the survey began in 1975.

Study: Female brains may age more slowly

Tammy Hinojos Medical & Allied Healthcare

"Anything you can do, I can do better! I can do anything better than you…" It's an oldie for sure, but it turns out, the catchy tune by Irving Berlin from "Annie Get Your Gun" might just have been on to something. It turns out that female brains tend to age more slowly than those of men, researchers report. Women's brains appear to be about three years younger than those of men at the same chronological age on average. This finding could provide one clue to why women tend to stay mentally sharp longer than men, the authors noted.

Study: Patients experiencing high trauma from hospitalizations had more…

Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied Healthcare

Hospitalization can be traumatizing for patients. Previous research shows that one in three patients who survived an ICU stay for an acute lung injury suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Disturbances in patients’ sleep, nutrition, mobility, and mood are common in medical inpatients, and these disturbances can be traumatic for patients. Traumatic hospitalization can also increase the risk of readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits. The results of a new study, published in JAMA, show that patients who experience high trauma of hospitalization may have a greater risk of an ED visit or readmission within 30 days compared with patients with low trauma exposure.

Financial world weighs in on new CMS price rule

Christina Thielst Healthcare Administration

The Motley Fool is a media channel dedicated to helping the world invest for a better financial future. It is no surprise, then, that it has addressed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) new Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule, which requires hospitals to publish their standard charges online in a machine-readable format. In The Fool’s words, "hospitals are now required to list prices for all of their services, thereby giving patients a clearer notion of what to expect. But while it's a good idea in theory, so far, the rule is only adding to consumers' confusion without in any way alleviating the cost burden for patients."

When healthcare and politics intersect

Keith Carlson Medical & Allied Healthcare

Healthcare consumers and providers may not always speak of politics and healthcare in the same breath; however, these two powerful cultural and societal forces are often inextricably linked in multifaceted ways. For healthcare providers who want to have an impact in this regard, understanding politics and the political nature of medicine and patient care is paramount. A large swath of Americans may not be aware of the fact that many healthcare providers serve in local, state, and federal governments in a variety of positions.

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