News
Social Media Yields Benefits, Poses Challenges for Healthcare Organizations
December 10th 2012With social media no longer in its infancy, healthcare organizations are learning to embrace this dynamic way to reach the patients in the communities they serve. A recent study of 1,229 U.S. hospitals by Healthcare IT News found that 814 had Twitter accounts and 1,068 had Facebook pages.
Most People with Hepatitis C Go Untreated, Despite Effective Drugs
December 10th 2012Just 20 percent of people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) begin the recommended treatment regimen and less than 5 percent go on to successfully overcome the virus, according to a new review in General Hospital Psychiatry. This is despite the availability of highly effective anti-viral drugs that clear hepatitis C virus in about 80 percent of patients participating in clinical trials. Major barriers to recommended care are substance abuse and depression in HCV patients.
New Patient Safety Improvement Toolkit Builds on Clinical Best Practices, Science of Safety
December 7th 2012Hospitals taking part in a national project funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently reported some exciting results: Rates of potentially deadly central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) had dropped by 40 percent.
X-Ray Laser Helps Slay Parasite That Causes Sleeping Sickness
December 7th 2012An international team of scientists, using the worlds most powerful X-ray laser, has revealed the three dimensional structure of a key enzyme that enables the single-celled parasite that causes African trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness) in humans.
