A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria. In an era of "superbugs," such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA), and an increasing public awareness and concern over bacterial infections, this type of modeling, if used to develop policies and treatment protocols, may reduce dual drug-resistant infections in hospitals.
Actress Alicia Cole, a working member of the Screen Actors Guild for 14 years, is known for the many portraits of doctors and nurses, including roles on General Hospital, Young and the Restless, and more. But a year ago, Cole switched from playing a doctor to becoming a real-life patient after contracting Necrotizing Fasciitis (NF), 'Man-eating Flesh Disease'. This lead to six additional surgeries and countless close calls. This also lead Cole to stage a fight to bring awareness of this disease and to the rise in preventable hospital acquired infections.
Colorado is one of just five states that do not license home healthcare providers, and the state health department says the inability to set minimum standards of care and perform inspections is resulting in increasing instances of deficiencies. Abuses by home caregivers have been revealed in a new state report that is prodding lawmakers to seek more oversight of the industry. Recent legislation would require agencies providing nursing, physical therapy and basic caregiving in patients' homes to be licensed by the state.
There are 29 medically based fitness and wellness centers all over Greater Cleveland, according to the Medical Fitness Association, a nonprofit organization whose board of doctors reviews the centers and offers advice to make them more effective. They range from loose affiliations between hospitals and local recreation centers, to rehabilitation centers where patients can continue to use the facilities at low cost, to full-service free-standing monuments of fitness that compete with, and can cost more than, most health clubs. The increasing popularity of these centers mirrors a national trend toward an appreciation of the wellness concept, that prevention is indeed the best possible medicine. There are now more than 800 fitness centers affiliated with hospitals in the country, according to the MFA, a number that continues to rise each year.
California for the first time is requiring that hospitals report to local health authorities certain kinds of staph infections that result in death or a stay in the intensive-care unit. Until now, there has been no state requirement for reporting staph infections. As a result, disease trackers have had a hard time calculating the severity of the problem. The new reporting requirement, however, is limited to cases that start outside hospitals or nursing homes in otherwise healthy people--leaving out about 85 percent of life-threatening encounters with the most feared bug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.
In the year since a Prince George's County boy died of a dental infection, lawmakers say Maryland has begun addressing the structural problems and funding shortages that are blamed for breakdowns in the state's Medicaid system. At a congressional hearing, Maryland officials won praise for initiating changes in the troubled program, which in recent years provided dental services to fewer than one-third of the 500,000 poor children statewide entitled to care.