The Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), is launching a pioneering initiative to support local public health nurses and their health departments in each of Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns, focusing on building a stronger and more responsive public health workforce to enhance health outcomes statewide.
The program, funded by the state with an initial $3.5 million over 28 months, addresses a critical need for training for some 300 public health nurses to address the diverse needs of local public health departments. UMass Nursing promoted the launch of the Public Health Nurse Consultant Program at the Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA) Annual Conference, on Nov. 13-14, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
Researchers used artificial intelligence to predict the activity of thousands of genes in tumors based on routinely collected images of tumor biopsies. It could guide treatment without costly genomic tests.
The AI algorithms increasingly used to treat and diagnose patients can have biases and blind spots that could impede healthcare for Black and Latinx patients, according to research co-authored by a Rutgers-Newark data scientist.
Those ever-present TV drug ads showing patients hiking, biking or enjoying a day at the beach could soon have a different look: New rules require drugmakers to be clearer and more direct when explaining their medications' risks and side effects. The FDA spent more than 15 years crafting the guidelines, which are designed to do away with industry practices that downplay or distract viewers from risk information. Many companies have already adopted the rules, which become binding Nov. 20. But while regulators were drafting them, a new trend emerged: thousands of pharma influencers pushing drugs online with little oversight. A new bill in Congress would compel the FDA to more aggressively police such promotions on social media platforms.
Since Leapfrog reported Hospital Safety Grades in fall 2022, when HAI rates were at their highest peak since 2016, average HAI scores have declined dramatically: Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) decreased by 38% . Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) decreased by 36% , and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) decreased by 34% .