After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011, security experts said that poor controls over radioactive materials could allow terrorists to enter the country unarmed and obtain the ingredients for attacks locally. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission set out to tighten its rules, and the National Nuclear Security Agency, which is part of the Energy Department, offered grants to buy security equipment.There are about 1,500 hospitals and medical buildings that use radioactive materials, according to the Energy Department, which has spent about $96 million to secure them.
We hurt people because it's the only way we know to make them better. This is the nature of our work, which is why the growing focus on measuring "patient satisfaction" as a way to judge the quality of a hospital's care is worrisomely off the mark. Implied in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey is a troubling misapprehension of how unpleasant a lot of actual healthcare is. Put colloquially, it evaluates hospital patients' level of satisfaction. We might like to say it shouldn't be, but physical pain, and its concomitant emotional suffering, tend to be inseparable from standard care.
Rochester General, Strong Memorial, Highland and Unity hospitals will participate in a two-year study to see whether ultraviolet light adds to the effectiveness of current ways to kill Clostridium difficile. The bacterium, linked to 14,000 deaths nationwide each year, can add thousands of dollars in hospital costs. Because C. diff can live for months and is protected by a hard shell, it is a vexing foe.
Mohammadreza Hojat, a psychologist who studies physician training at Thomas Jefferson University, is trying to figure out how to make doctors more empathetic. In his most recent work, not yet published, he combined discussions of short film clips with medical students with lessons on why empathy matters. A year ago, Hojat led a study that found that diabetic patients with empathetic doctors were more likely to score well on measures of diabetes control. Hojat said medical schools rightly emphasize science and technology, but they are recognizing that the "art" of medicine, the human side, should also be taught.
A medical marijuana celebrity with a brain condition said a local hospital kicked her out after she attempted to use medical marijuana inside. Angel Raich, who fought for the right to use medical cannabis in the US Superme Court back in 2004 and 2005, said she checked into the hospital Monday morning for doctor-ordered tests on her brain. She suffers from chronic pain and seizures from an inoperable brain tumor and doctors didn't give her very long to live, she said.
At least one-third of hospital patients older than 70 leave more frail than when they arrived, and many become too weak to go home. Nursing home care or rehabilitation often are needed, and even then, research suggests more than two-thirds remain weaker a year after being in the hospital. Elder-care experts say conventional hospital care focusing on treating disease rather than preventing frailty contributes to the problem. Advocates say hospitals need to revamp old-fashioned models of patient care—from getting patients out of bed to offering better food and homey surroundings.