Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

New York State Compensation Policy For Egg Donors 'Seems Justifiable,' New York Times Editorial States
Although New York state"s decision to allow state-funded embryonic stem cell researchers to compensate women for donating their eggs "has provoked criticism from some ethicists and runs counter to guidelines issued by" NIH and the National Academy of Sciences, it still "seems justifiable" to pay the women "for undergoing an arduous procedure and to spur progress on potentially important research that has been slowed because of a lack of human eggs," a New York Times editorial states. The state"s Empire State Stem Cell Board last month made the decision to allow researchers to pay women up to $10,000 as compensation.According to the editorial, "[w]omen already get paid comparable sums to donate their eggs to help infertile women have a child through in vitro fertilization," so it "is hard to see why they should not be paid for contributing their eggs for research." The editorial notes that the "money is meant as reimbursement for travel, housing, child care or medical expenses," and it also would "compensate the women for the considerable time, burden and inconvenience of harvesting their eggs, a process that can take 56 hours spread out over many weeks.""The board set reasonable constraints, insisting that the research be rigorously reviewed and approved by oversight committees, that donors be fully informed of potential physical and psychological risks and that they give informed consent to the procedure," the editorial states. It adds, "One concern has been that payments could induce women, especially poor women, to provide eggs without fully considering potential risks." The editorial continues, "In an effort to mitigate that possibility, the stem cell board will follow the guidelines of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, which require justification for payments of $5,000 or more and deem sums above $10,000 inappropriate."The editorial adds, "Human eggs are highly prized for some of the most promising research, notably studies that require matching embryonic stem cells to a particular patient with a particular disease," concluding, "It has proved almost impossible to recruit women to go through the arduous process for free," so the "board was right to allow fair compensation" (New York Times, 7/11).

Passport Health Of Massachusetts Warns New Englanders, "Exploding Mosquito Population Can Be Deadly, Look For Repellents With At Least 30% DEET!"
Passport Health of Massachusetts, specialists in vaccinations against dread diseases faced by international travelers, is concerned that eastern New England"s wettest spring and early summer in decades can be more deadly than usual.
News of the day
Wall Street Journal Examines Program To Spur Vaccine Development For Developing World Diseases
The Wall Street Journal examines a $1.5 billion program supported by Italy, the U.K., Canada, Russia, Norway and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that hopes "to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases common to poor countries," which is expected to be announced Friday "on the sidelines of a meeting of top finance officials from the Group of Eight major industrial powers."
Endocrinology

Patient Satisfaction At Discharge From Hospital Improved By Hospital Software

When hospitalists use discharge communication software, patients and the outpatient doctors who carry out the care have better perceptions of the quality of the discharge process, according to new research published in the August issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. The researchers go on to say that hospitalists are satisfied that the software works, although they find the systems more difficult to use than the paper based methods they are more familiar with. Communication between physicians at the hospital - known as hospitalists - and primary care physicians or physicians at outpatient clinics can be a major challenge. That challenge can have major impacts on patient safety, re-admissions to the hospital and the financial well being of the healthcare system. "We designed a computer software program to help doctors communicate with each other," said Dr. James Graumlich, Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology, Chair in the Department of Medicine University of Illinois College of Medicine. "This research shows that the software can play a role in increasing the satisfaction of patients and their primary care physicians." Part of that communication is the discharge summary, and problems occur when these are either not written, not handed on, or difficult to understand. Often patients have their first out-of-hospital appointment before the discharge notes have arrived with their primary care physician. To assess their system, Dr. Graumlich and colleagues studied the experience of 631 patients and 70 hospitalists who had used the software between November 2004 and January 2007 in a teaching hospital in Illinois. Compared to standard systems, computerized physician order entry (CPOE) software: * Increased discharge preparedness scores from 17.2 to 17.7 for patients - a small but statistically significant increase * Increased discharge quality scores from 16.5 to 17.2 for outpatient physicians - a small but statistically significant increase, * Decreased the "easiness" of the discharge workflow from 7.9 to 6.5 for hospitalists - a significant decrease. "While our CPOE-based discharge software gave patients a slightly better experience as they were being discharged, we are aware that pharmacists and nurses still play a key role in the discharge process," Dr. Graumlich added. "Hospitalists need to recognize that patients benefit when these systems are used, and at the same time people building these systems need to work to solve the practical usage issues raised in our study." Jennifer Beal Wiley-Blackwell


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009