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The necessary work of disrupting healthcare

Keith Carlson Medical & Allied Healthcare

As in other industries, change is a constant in healthcare. New medications, treatments, and technologies continue to emerge at breakneck speed: robotics and artificial intelligence, EMRs/EHRs, video-based medical appointments, and other innovations have altered various aspects of healthcare management and delivery. Still, this particular industry can feel unadventurous, old, and out of touch when it comes to long lines in ER waiting rooms, the ubiquitously disappointing 15-minute doctor visit, and the cost of prescription drugs and health insurance.

The learning power of breakfast

Brian Stack Education

Many mornings as a school principal, I feel like I am fighting a losing battle with my students with regards to breakfast. They say it is the "most important meal of the day," yet it is obvious to me that many of my students don’t see it that way. Last spring, I surveyed the 700 students in my New Hampshire high school and found that 25 percent of my students report rarely or never eating breakfast before school. Another 30 percent report that they skip breakfast 2-3 days per week. Sadly, only 33 percent of my students report eating breakfast every day. This statistic is at the higher end of the national trend.

Decreasing the risk of suicide in fibromyalgia patients

Dorothy L. Tengler Mental Healthcare

Fibromyalgia, one of the most common pain conditions, affects about 10 million adults in the U.S. About 75-90 percent of those with this condition are women, and most are diagnosed during middle age. One study of 1,269 Danish women with fibromyalgia showed that the suicide risk was 10 times that of the general population. Although the cause of fibromyalgia remains unknown, the disorder can be effectively treated and managed. A recent study showed that fibromyalgia patients who regularly visited their physicians or healthcare providers were much less likely to attempt suicide than patients who do not regularly see their physicians.

Dental licensure may get a little easier

Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental Healthcare

You’ve upgraded your technology over the years, yes? Surely you’re not still using a flip phone. Or a VCR to record your favorite shows. How about dial-up internet? So, it makes sense that industries would upgrade policies and procedures as technology makes strides in making everyone’s lives simpler and more streamlined. Dentistry included. Calling for the modernization "upgrade" of the dental licensure process, three dental associations have teamed up to become the founding members of a group called the Coalition for Modernizing Dental Licensure.

Diabetology: An emerging, but stunted, new field

Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied Healthcare

New cases of diabetes have doubled during the last 30 years, mainly among obese people. This increase in diabetes prevalence has caused an emerging crisis in healthcare. About 14 years ago, one-year fellowship programs were created to afford primary care physicians the clinical skills to manage diabetes and its complications. Currently, there are four diabetes fellowship programs nationwide. But new research reveals that resistance among payers and other physicians may slow growth of this new specialty.

CDC: More than 80,000 Americans died of flu last winter

Tammy Gibson Medical & Allied Healthcare

Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that more than 80,000 Americans died of the flu during the 2017-18 season. Federal health officials said this was the highest number in more than a decade. 90 percent of the deaths were in people over age 65, but the flu also killed 180 children and teenagers. The CDC does not count adult flu deaths directly, but estimates them based on the number of excess deaths during the flu season. Officials at the National Foundation for Infectious Disease (NFID) estimate that a record-breaking 900,000 people were hospitalized.

Insights from a speech-language pathologist: Semantics

Sheilamary Koch Education

Imagine a boy in a classroom who regularly raises his hand to respond to questions, yet when called on hems and haws not knowing what to say. While he claims to have the answer, no one has time to wait for him to come up with it. Meanwhile, other students shout it out and the teacher wonders why he raised his hand in the first place. One viable explanation for the boy’s actions comes from Judith O. Roman, M.A., CCC-SLP, who is a clinical faculty member at Northwestern University’s Center for Audiology, Speech, Language, and Learning. In this series, we turn to Roman, an expert in the field of pediatric speech and language pathology, who shares her experience in the area of expressive language.

Wave of complex street drugs complicates diagnosis of overdose

Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied Healthcare

Drug overdoses are increasingly common and more lethal in nearly every area of the country. New research provides a snapshot of regional illegal drug use. The report also highlights the complexity of detecting and treating severe drug-related events at emergency departments. Begun in 2016, the study focuses on identifying illicit drugs causing patient overdoses at two hospital EDs in Maryland. At the time of the study, the emergency departments were seeing a spike in accidental drug overdoses and related deaths.

Beyond prototyping: Scaling up to additive manufacturing for production

Charlie Wood Manufacturing

Most are well-acquainted with additive manufacturing (AM) — as a rapid prototyping tool, at least. And while many companies believe and perpetuate the myth that AM is only a prototyping tool, innovators in a range of markets (e.g., aerospace, healthcare, consumer goods and more) are already using AM for production-grade manufacturing when design, performance and cost factors align. This article will help organizations considering switching to additive manufacturing for a part or product.

Survey: Many physicians unhappy with their hospital employer

Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied Healthcare

A new survey with a whopping 9,000 physicians tells us that more than 30 percent (32 percent) of those surveyed said they do not see Medicaid patients, or limit the number they do see. Almost 90 percent (88 percent) of physicians said some, many or all of their patients are impacted by social determinants of health. The survey was conducted by the Physicians Foundation and also showed that 78 percent of those physicians experience burnout — which is becoming a highly covered topic of late — and 46 percent said relations between themselves and hospitals are "somewhat" or "mostly negative."

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