Central Florida Regional Hospital now requires anyone wanting to visit a newborn baby to sign in, get a hospital-issued photo badge and have all baby-sized bags and packages inspected when they leave. The facility proposed these changes to Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, which faulted the hospital for security lapses at when a 1-day-old baby was abducted in March. The agency approved the plan.
Researchers have charted a nearly 26 percent drop in the ratio of general surgeons to patients since 1981, creating the potential for a "severe shortage" of such doctors in the United States. The findings come at a poor time, with aging baby boomers starting to need the skills of general surgeons for various procedures. In rural areas, the decline could mean more deaths from car accidents because patients will have to be transported farther or delays in elective surgery as people are forced to travel out of town.
A contaminated blood thinner from China has become a worldwide public health problem, with 10 other countries detecting the often-toxic ingredient, according to federal investigators. The compound, which mimics the real blood thinner heparin but which costs less to make, may have been added deliberately somewhere along a production chain that began on farms in China. Food and Drug Administration officials issued a warning letter that banned future U.S. shipments from the plant in China that supplied the widely used blood thinner until the safety issues are resolved.
Butler (PA) Memorial Hospital's new emergency room is scheduled to open May 5. The ER project is one part in a $155 million multiyear, multi-element expansion and upgrade of the health system's facilities. The upgraded ED will be 50 percent larger than the current facility and include an additional 10 beds. The biggest element of the expansion is a $140 million acute care tower that is expected to open in December 2009.
The Lincolnton (NC) planning board has recommended a rezoning request that would allow Carolinas HealthCare System to build an $85 million hospital in Lincoln County. State officials approved the plan for a 101-bed hospital in February, after CHS provided details and population estimates that demonstrated the need for the facility. CHS officials hope that the facility could be open by late 2010 or early 2011.
Several medical groups in Oregon continue to construct or remodel buildings, as well as implement technology to change how patients receive treatment. For example, Legacy Health System in Portland will construct a new, seven-story tower to expand the Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital and provide a new Children's Emergency Department. Emanuel's west wing and patient tower will also be remodeled for additional adult intensive care and acute care beds. Also, Providence Portland Medical Center is expanding its computer system so it can carry more than half the orders for patient care at the hospital.