4/18/2005 3:02:00 PM
To: Business and Health Editor
Contact: Carri Cummings, 916-341-0472; 916-502-1131 (cell) or carri@zieglerassociates.net; Susan Herold of Consumers Union, 202-462-6262
SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Sacramento regional leaders today launched an ambitious effort to get free information on the cost and effectiveness of prescription drugs into the hands of consumers -- especially seniors, low income residents and the uninsured -- to help Californians stretch their health care dollars in an era of spiraling drug prices.
The information is provided by Consumer Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumers Reports, through its innovative Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs program. The grant-funded project is a pioneering effort to provide consumers with information in one place on the safety, effectiveness and costs of prescription drugs. Currently, the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs evaluations are available only on the Web at http://www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org. But pilot projects in Sacramento and Atlanta will determine how to get printed copies of the materials into the hands of those without Internet access.
Read more...US Newswire
A blueprint for a sepsis protocol.
Author: Shapiro Nathan I NI
From: Academic emergency medicine
Date: 20054
Volume: 12
Issue: 4
ISSN: 1069-6563
Pages: 352-359
Clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Author: Cappell Mitchell S MS
From: The Medical clinics of North America
Date: 20053
Volume: 89
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0025-7125
Pages: 243-291
Parenteral dihydroergotamine for acute migraine headache: a systematic review of the literature.
Author: Colman Ian I
From: Annals of emergency medicine
Date: 20054
Volume: 45
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0196-0644
Pages: 393-401
NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among dialysis patients, but the treatment for dialysis patients with CVD is not as effective as it is in the general population, according to new guidelines published by the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) in a supplement to the April 2005 issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. The guidelines, Cardiovascular Disease in Dialysis Patients, warn that CVD is also prevalent in the pediatric dialysis population, dialysis patients are more prone to side-effects of treatment and that more research is needed to help better manage CVD in dialysis patients. More than 300,000 Americans receive dialysis to treat kidney failure.
"This guideline highlights those aspects of CVD care that are different in dialysis patients when compared to the general population," said Alfred K. Cheung, M.D., co-chair of the NKF work group that developed the guideline. "Because of these differences, practitioners cannot solely rely on existing CVD guidelines for the general population to treat CVD in dialysis patients."
Read More...Yahoo News
30 Mar 2005
While the discipline of family medicine has always been predicated on a core assumption that interpersonal continuity of care - the ongoing relationship between an individual doctor and patient - is important, individual studies measuring its impact on health care outcomes and cost have yielded conflicting results.
In a critical review that synthesizes the findings of 41 research studies, researchers found a significant association between interpersonal continuity and improved preventive care and lower rates of hospitalization.
Although even fewer studies addressing the association between continuity and cost exist, a review of 20 studies found an association between interpersonal continuity and lower cost variables.
Interpersonal Continuity of Care and Care Outcomes: A Critical Review
By John W. Saultz, M.D., et al
Read more...Medical News Today
Best practice guidelines in pediatric/adolescent weight loss surgery.
Author: Apovian Caroline M CM
From: Obesity research
Date: 20052
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
ISSN: 1071-7323
Pages: 274-282
Best practice recommendations for surgical care in weight loss surgery.
Author: Kelly John J
From: Obesity research
Date: 20052
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
ISSN: 1071-7323
Pages: 227-233