familymednews.com
Every day, a school bus drops off as many as 45 children at a community eye clinic on Chicago’s South Side. Many of them are referred to the clinic after failing vision screenings at their public schools. Clinicians and students from the Illinois College of Optometry give the children comprehensive eye exams, which feature refraction tests to determine a correct […]
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Health workers fighting Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo have run into an invisible but powerful hurdle—a belief system that deems the disease to be a curse or the result of evil spirits. Some people are refusing medical care and turn instead to preachers and prayers to chase away the threat, they say. The pastor of an evangelical church […]
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Josephine Rizo survived chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, but breast cancer treatment wrecked her finances. Money was already tight when doctors told the Phoenix resident she had an aggressive form of the disease. Then she took a pay cut after going on disability leave, and eventually lost her job and insurance coverage. During treatment, Rizo got swamped with more than $50,000 […]
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Hospitals caring for children with serious, chronic illness are highly dependent on public payers, according to a new study. The research found that proposals to dramatically reduce federal expenditures on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) could destabilize current specialty care referral networks serving all children, including the majority of privately-insured children in greatest need of high quality, specialized, […]
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Despite steady declines in death rates in recent years, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in wealthy countries. In a new study, Yale researchers collaborated with investigators in Europe to examine lung cancer care and survival rates for patients with one of the most common forms of the disease. Led by professor of medicine and of epidemiology […]
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3-D printing is an emerging technology that is impacting the way cardiologists treat patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), according to a review paper published today in JACC: Basic to Translational Science. The prevalence of CHD is approximately nine per 1,000 live births, and overall survival rates have steadily increased for even the most complex diseases; however, these patients face […]
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New research shows that stroke patients are increasingly being transferred out of smaller community and rural hospitals and sent to larger medical centers for their care and rehabilitation. While this is a positive sign for patients who need more advanced treatments, the trend has drawbacks in terms of cost and points to the need to improve the coordination of care […]
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Researchers have found that more than one-third of patients who denied that their self-inflicted gunshot wound resulted from a suicide attempt most likely had indeed tried to kill themselves, and commonly were sent home from the hospital without further mental health treatment. The findings indicate there are significant barriers to treatment for people who have made suicide attempts, and highlight […]
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A key factor in reducing the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially life-threatening complication of type 1 diabetes, in children at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, is having a regular health care provider, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a common chronic childhood disease. If untreated, it can result in […]
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All children have moments of moodiness, but family medicine doctors and pediatricians may doubt their abilities to tell the difference between normal irritability and possibly bigger issues, according to Penn State researchers. When the researchers interviewed a group of health care providers, they found that the primary care providers and pediatricians were less confident than the child and adolescent psychiatrists […]
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