News/Commentary
By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor
The “hand-off” is caregiver jargon for the point at which the patient is transferred from one place to another (from hospital room to the OR, for example) or from one caregiver to another (the day shift to evening shift, which is typical).
Good handoff systems are one key to superior patient care, as […]

News Brief
A new study shows the dramatic impact on the loss of a spouse in the first month after the death occurred as it affects admission to nursing homes—-men and women were affected equally.
Using Finnish data, the researchers looked at what happened from the point of loss to five years out. The study, in the […]

News Brief
The magazine has posted online its new rankings of children’s hospitals using a different methodology and providing more information than in the past.
U.S. News and World Report
“U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals rankings cover 173 hospitals in 16 adult specialties and 50 children’s hospitals, using a new and enhanced methodology, in […]

News Brief
The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports that 20 of 50 states have begun posting child care safety records. Thirteen
In the newspaper’s Work and Family column by Sue Shellenberger, recommends entering the name of the facility and location. Only licensed providers are included—-which lets out home-based, small child care providers who, she writes, “typically care […]

News Brief
State and federal policies, says this report from the prestigious Commonwealth Fund, need to improve child health system performance for all U.S. families.
Only 13 states can lay claim to the statement, “This is the best place to raise children.”
Click on the interactive map link below. You will see also that there are regional patterns […]

News Brief
According to The Wall Street Journal, Consumers Union plans to rate hospitals—-and the non-profit already ranks health plans, drugs and some medical treatments.
The medical treatment ranking will show how hospitals treat patients on a 0 to 100 scale, zero being most conservative and 100 being most aggressive for nine serious conditions, such as cancer. […]

News/Commentary
By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor
The president of the United States has been described as an abuser of alcohol and other substances over a period of more than 25 years in a new, and already controversial, book due out next week.
This subject is not a new one for this president, who faced questions about substance abuse as […]

News
Heart disease is the number one killer. Was. Is. Will be for some time to come, most likely.
As mothers often say, “How many times do I have to tell you?” The answer? Apparently, hundreds of times, based on what this study says about our gross ignorance of warning signs. Worse, the ignorance is found among […]

News Brief
Patient literacy is a measure used by physicians to assess how well patients can understand the information they are given and how well they can use that information to make the best decisions possible for themselves.
The assumption is, of course, the better educated the patient, the more patient-literate that person will be.
In the interests […]

News Brief
This study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reviews childhood obesity data for the last 25 years.
The data show that there was no increase this year, an encouraging development.
The findings are being greeted with guarded optimism by experts.
Nevertheless, a plateau is better than another increase in childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity has medical […]