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Personal experience, work seniority improve mental health professionals' outlook

One might think that after years of seeing people at their worst, mental health workers would harbor negative attitudes about mental illness, perhaps associating people with mental health issues as less competent or dangerous. But a new study suggests the opposite.

In a survey of 731 mental health professionals in Washington state, the more seniority employees had on the job, the more positively they viewed people with mental illness. The survey also linked mental health workers' positive attitudes with having advanced degrees and reporting a mental illness themselves.

New study shows core factors and strategies to turn primary care practices into PCMHs

BOSTON – (February 4, 2014) – A new study conducted by Robert A. Gabbay, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Senior Vice-President and Chief Medical Officer at Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues identified three core factors and thirteen strategies that increase the probability of getting buy-in from the practice teams within a medical practice to becoming a fully-functioning patient-centered medical home (PCMH). This study was published in the January/ February issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

How states can encourage web-based health care in hospitals

ANN ARBOR—In the first national look at how broadly web-based technologies are being used to provide health care, a University of Michigan researcher has found that 42 percent of U.S. hospitals use some type of "telehealth" approach.

The study, published in the February issue of the journal Health Affairs, breaks down adoption rates by state. It also pinpoints state policies that might encourage more hospitals to adopt telehealth.

Long-term survival no different among those severely injured by violence vs. accident

People seriously injured by violence are no more likely to die in the years after they are shot, stabbed or beaten than those who are seriously injured in accidents, Johns Hopkins researchers have found.

Stock prices are predictable

A new study from the University of Iowa shows evidence that stock price movements are, in fact, predictable during short windows.

The study by researchers in the Tippie College of Business suggests that price movements can be predicted with a better than 50-50 accuracy for anywhere up to one minute after the stock leaves the confines of its bid-ask spread. Probabilities continue to be significant until about five minutes after it leaves the spread. By 30 minutes, the predictability window has closed.

Are you big pharma's new target market?

Montreal, February 4, 2014 — By 2018, it is estimated that the global pharmaceutical market will be worth more than $1.3 trillion USD. To corner their share of profits, established drug companies have to fight fierce competition from generic products, adhere to stringent government regulations and sway a consumer base that is better informed than ever before.

The case for tele-emergency services

New research from the University of Iowa supports the claim that tele-emergency services can successfully extend emergency care in rural hospitals. A summary of the research was published in the new February edition of Health Affairs.

Thousands of unvaccinated adults die each year from preventable diseases

AURORA, Colo. (Feb. 4, 2014) – While adults make up 95 percent of those who die annually from vaccine preventable diseases, a new study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows their vaccination rates remain stubbornly low, representing a growing public health concern.

The study, published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is the first to examine several important aspects of adult vaccination. Every year, 30,000 people on average die of vaccine preventable illnesses, almost all of them adult.

Study finds high Rx burden for bipolar patients

A study of 230 patients with bipolar I disorder whose symptoms were severe enough to warrant admission to a Rhode Island psychiatric hospital in 2010 reveals that more than a third were there despite taking four or more psychiatric medications. Including medicines for other conditions, such as cardiometabolic diseases, the average patient came to the hospital taking six different drugs.

Helicopters save lives

Patients transported to hospital by helicopter have a better chance of surviving traumatic injuries than those transported by ground ambulance despite having more severe injuries and needing more surgical interventions, states a study published in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.

Despite burden, Sjögren's syndrome may not impede function

BOSTON (February 4, 2014) —People living with Sjögren's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder characterized by dry eyes and dry mouth, appear to function at a level comparable to their healthier peers, according to a cross-sectional study published online in advance of print in Clinical Rheumatology. The study by clinicians and researchers at Tufts University reveals that people living with Sjögren's perceive significant decline in cognitive, psychological and physical function. Nonetheless, despite the burdens of the disease, levels of function approach that of healthy controls.

New assessment tool designed to improve care provided at hospitals

A new assessment tool published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine can help hospital medicine groups across the country improve their patient care and make their operations more effective.

Medical tourists seeking treatment overseas without sufficient information and advice

A team of researchers has found that British people travelling abroad for medical treatment are often unaware of the potential health and financial consequences they could face.

The researchers say this can, in some cases, have catastrophic effects for individual patients.

Telemedicine service may expand access to acute medical care, study finds

People who are younger, more affluent and do not have established health care relationships are more likely to use a telemedicine program that allows patients to get medical help -- including prescriptions -- by talking to a doctor over the telephone, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Patients who used the service suffered from a wide assortment of acute medical problems such as respiratory illnesses and skin problems, and researchers found little evidence of misdiagnosis or treatment failure among those who used the service.

Quantifying the FDA's rulemaking delays highlights the need for transparency

In a study published in Health Affairs on February 3, 2014, Aaron Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, and co-authors, quantify how long it takes the FDA to enact a formal rule affecting drugs, medical devices and other health-related products.