Wednesday, October 28, 2009
QD: News Every Day--public option unsettles Senators
ACP Internist's daily digest of news and events wraps up how the public option has shifted the balance of opinion in the Senate, how the public itself has shifted on H1N1 vaccination, and the economic impact of a rural physician.
Health care reform
The introduction of a public option has precariously shifted Senators' support. Democrats are divided. What bi-partisan support there was has evaporated. Liberals are happy, but that won't carry the day. (AP, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe)
H1N1 influenza
Some hospitals are seeing their emergency department patient volumes double from H1N1 influenza as doctors are being recruited as the flu police, trying to prioritize who gets vaccinated. To ease the crunch, more than 22 million doses of H1N1 flu vaccine are now available now, and health officials are still saying better late than never. (USA Today, New York Times, AP/MSBNC.com)
Data produced by a supercomputer shows that there could be a third wave of the H1N1 virus in the spring. The University of Texas is using
the "Ranger" supercomputer to make its predictions. (KXAN-TV)
Handshaking was out, and now so is the simple fist bump. Here's some humorous ways to greet people. (NPR)
In case you missed it ...
Doctors' economic contributions are as important to rural communities as their medical ones. The National Center for Rural Health Works estimates that a rural hospital loses $236,565 from clinic visits and $451,169 net revenue for every half-a-physician they are short. When extrapolated to include services purchased by the physician, the clinic and employees, the shortage translates to 13.8 jobs and $533,493 in income. (Iowa Independent)
Irving Harper, ACP Member, discusses how he handles his patients with e-mail, cell phone and video chat. Ahhh, but it's good to practice in Hawaii. (U.S. News & World Report).
Labels: H1N1, health care reform, health information technology, QD, telemedicine, vaccination
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
11:32 AM
0 Comments
Friday, August 28, 2009
ACP Master speaks his mind on H1N1 vaccines for health care workers
Following studies on Canadian and Hong Kong health workers unsure about getting vaccinated for H1N1, William Schaffner, MACP, now questions whether American health workers will, as well.
"There isn't a doubt that it's a severe challenge," Dr. Schaffner told MSNBC. "It's primarily a patient safety issue."
He's not only a Master of the College but also chairman of the infectious diseases division at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and is in a position to encourage others. Clinical trials for it appear safe, he said, and health care workers should protect themselves and their patients.
"It's a professional and ethical responsibility of every health care worker to be vaccinated," he said.
Labels: flu, H1N1, infectious disease, swine flu, vaccination
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
4:00 PM
1 Comments
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
More health workers unsure about H1N1 vaccination
In a follow-up to Tuesday's post that found Canadian health workers might refuse an H1N1 vaccine during a pandemic, another report finds about half of Hong Kong's health workers would refuse the swine flu vaccine. According to the BMJ, when the World Health Organization raised the H1N1 flu alert level to 5 in May, only 47.9% of 2,255 Hong Kong surveyed health workers were willing to get vaccinated, up from 28.4% surveyed a few months prior. An accompanying editorial in BMJ gently encourages vaccination while quelling fears of potential harms from vaccination.
Labels: H1N1, infectious disease, swine flu, vaccination
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
12:11 PM
0 Comments
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Health workers, public may refuse H1N1 vaccines
Health care workers will balance the risks of H1N1 flu against the novelty of vaccines developed to combat it, according to research published in Emerging Health Threats Journal.
Canadian researchers conducted 11 focus groups (eight community groups and three for health care workers) in Vancouver asking participants how willing they would be to accept a new vaccine in case of a pandemic. They found that respondents were reluctant to get vaccinated against an illness they perceived as mild.
"Participants were very concerned that in a pandemic, a vaccine would be brought to market without sufficient testing for safety," researchers wrote. Many among all 11 focus groups believed that hand washing, social distancing or a good diet conferred protection. In the words of one health care worker: "A lot, well all of us probably practice basic body, blood, fluid precautions, right? ... So, we're equipped in that way to handle new diseases. We know how to protect ourselves. At least we think we do."
Similarly, health care workers are balancing the severity of the disease vs. any potential risk in a new vaccine. One health care worker told researchers: "Information would be key and I'd have to weigh the cost and the benefit of ... I'd have to know what would be the implications of getting the disease. And what would be the implications of getting the vaccine."
Meanwhile, a panel of U.S. presidential advisors finds looked at a plausible planning scenario--not a prediction--that H1N1 could infect 60 million to 120 million Americans (20%-40% of the population), killing 30,000 to 90,000 people. And the Washington Post looks at history for a lesson from the flu outbreak of 1957.
Labels: H1N1, infectious disease, vaccination
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
11:59 AM
4 Comments
Friday, August 21, 2009
2 years and counting...HPV vaccine controversy continues
Some medical advances slide quietly into practice; others seem to be neverending sources of controversy. The HPV vaccine definitely falls into the latter category. When we first covered it, the big issues were whether vaccination should be mandated and whether insurers would pay enough for it. There was also public debate about the moral message of vaccinating pre-teens against a sexually-transmitted disease. Then came horror stories about mysterious side effects.
The latest issue of JAMA digs into all these issues. One article reports postlicensure safety data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. Basically, they didn't find anything particularly out of line with other vaccines, except higher rates of fainting and blood clots (mostly in women who were also on the pill). A less reassuring article delves into the marketing strategy employed by Merck, particularly the involvement of professional medical associations. Not that pharma marketing usually is, but it's not pretty.
All together, the research causes the author of an accompanying editorial to come to a fairly negative conclusion on the value of the vaccine. "The net benefit of the HPV vaccine to a woman is uncertain. Even if persistently infected with HPV, a woman most likely will not develop cancer if she is regularly screened. So rationally she should be willing to accept only a small risk of harmful effects from the vaccine."
Only one thing is certain--this controversy doesn't seem likely to go away any time soon.
Labels: HPV, vaccination
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:53 AM
0 Comments
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Scary statistic of the week
The CDC is predicting that, without vaccination, up to 40% of Americans could catch swine flu and hundreds of thousands could die this winter, the Washington Post recently reported. Aah! What are they trying to do? Make us panic?
I don't think the CDC would do that, but then when I read this other article--about the government's plans for the biggest vaccine promotion campaign ever--I started to wonder. "Everything is going to be done to try to encourage people to get it," an official told AFP. Everything...including the distribution of apocalyptic statistics?
Labels: CDC, swine flu, vaccination
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
12:41 PM
0 Comments
Friday, July 24, 2009
They're not going to ask for a shot
To the long list of things about which young American adults are woefully ignorant (history, geography), you can add the importance of vaccines, according to a new survey. Less than half of 18- to 26-year-olds know that tetanus causes lockjaw and should be prevented with a vaccination every 10 years, reports HealthDay. Compare that to 84% of people over 50 who claim that knowledge.
The impetus for change is on physicians, according to an official with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, which sponsored the survey. "The majority of adults [87 percent] are very likely to get vaccinated if their doctor or other clinician advises that they get vaccinated," she told HealthDay.
Either that, or kill off one of the characters on Grey's Anatomy with tetanus.
Labels: McDreamy, vaccination
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:00 AM
0 Comments
Thursday, June 25, 2009
If they don't give you the flu...
It's good news for people who like to cuddle wild animals. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has determined that four, rather than five, rabies shots are enough to protect an exposed human, according to an AP report.
Apparently (bet you didn't know this either) there's been a nationwide shortage of rabies vaccine, so the experts are hoping that reducing the number of shots will help to alleviate that problem. On the other hand, Novartis, which charges $100 to $200 per shot, expressed concern about the recommendation and hasn't announced any plans to change their labeling info from 5 shots to 4.
Maybe you can offer that extra shot to your friendly neighborhood bat. They seem to be having a rough year.
Labels: rabies, vaccination
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
2:41 PM
0 Comments
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
Contact ACP Internist
Send comments to ACP Internist staff at acpinternist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- QD: News Every Day--waiting for the weekend
- QD: News Every Day--health care reform's eerie rep...
- Which patients sue for malpractice?
- Ties that bind, and make you gag
- QD: News Every Day--health care reform's 'sunshine...
- QD: News Every Day--health care reform splits urba...
- QD: News Every Day--the public option as a Straw M...
- The story of two little pigs
- Medical news of the obvious
- The vaccine that went away.
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American Journal of Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
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A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
Everything Health
EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Getting Better with Dr. Val
Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
HealthHombre
A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
Kevin, MD
The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
LSUHSC-S Medical Library Evidence Alert
Major guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and/or major reviews by national and international organizations.
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The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by a doctor.
