May 2012 - NPR Health Blog - The Network of Care

Patients Crusade For Access To Their Medical Device Data

Heart implants supply doctors with data that can tell them a lot about a patient's health. But that information isn't directly available to patients. Now some patients are on a mission to get faster access to information about their hearts. Read...

Published Fri, May 25 2012 9:41 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Need A Nurse? You May Have To Wait

A new poll finds 34 percent of patients hospitalized for at least one night in the past year said "nurses weren't available when needed or didn't respond quickly to requests for help." We asked nurses why that might be. Stories poured...

Published Fri, May 25 2012 12:48 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Dispatchers' CPR Coaching Saves Lives When Every Minute Counts

Your chances of surviving a sudden heart attack may depend on where you live, in part because of the 911 dispatcher. If a dispatcher gives CPR instructions over the phone, the rate of survival goes up. There's now a push to make it universal, but...

Published Fri, May 25 2012 12:47 AM by Shots - Health Blog

What's Up, Doc? When Your Doctor Rushes Like The Road Runner

When it comes to time, there is a stubborn feeling among patients that doctors are in too big of a hurry. That is troubling – and frustrating – to physicians who feel that they are already packing more into every work day and are stretched thin by paperwork...

Published Thu, May 24 2012 1:01 PM by Shots - Health Blog

Doctors Look Likely To Resist Change On PSA Tests

Johns Hopkins researcher round that nearly three-quarters of primary care doctors they surveyed said their patients expected regular PSA screening to continue. The findings suggest there will be Read More...

Published Thu, May 24 2012 11:51 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Call For Emergency Action On Polio Eradication

Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan are the only three countries left where poliovirus remains endemic. But work to put the paralyzing virus on the ropes there is in danger of failing. The setbacks have spurred a renewed focus on defeating the disease....

Published Thu, May 24 2012 8:48 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Medical Marijuana 101: You Can't Smoke That On Campus

Even in states where medical marijuana is illegal, it's still not OK on college campuses. That's because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and colleges don't want to jeopardize their federal funding by letting students use their...

Published Wed, May 23 2012 11:52 PM by Shots - Health Blog

By Putting Patients First, Hospital Tries To Make Care More Personal

Fauquier Hospital offers services not usually found in your average hospital. Not only is every one of its patient rooms a private one, it offers food cooked and delivered to order and hand massages. But experts say it's the actual involvement of...

Published Wed, May 23 2012 2:20 PM by Shots - Health Blog

Will Men And Their Doctors Change Course On PSA Tests?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said the harms, such as false alarms and unnecessary surgeries that leave some men impotent and incontinent, outweigh the benefits of routine PSA blood testing for prostate cancer. But it's far from clear that...

Published Wed, May 23 2012 12:33 PM by Shots - Health Blog

Compensating Organ Donors Becomes 'Talk Of The Nation'

There's a persistent shortage of organs for transplantation in this country, and it's getting worse. Federal law bans financial incentives for organ donations. Is it time to reconsider? Some calls and emails from listeners illuminate the range...

Published Wed, May 23 2012 10:21 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Dangerous Gut Bacteria Move Outside Hospitals, Infect Kids

Clostridium difficile is a nasty bacterial infection that used to strike mainly older hospitalized patients taking antibiotics. In findings presented at a conference this week, Mayo Clinic researchers say it's now cropping up in communities, and infecting...

Published Wed, May 23 2012 6:54 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Health Insurance Cutbacks Squeeze The Insured

More than 1 in 5 Americans had a problem getting insurance to pay for a hospital, doctor or other health care in the past year, according to a new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Read More...

Published Wed, May 23 2012 12:22 AM by Shots - Health Blog

Easier Colon Cancer Test Works Well, But Colonoscopy's Still King

Over the past decade or so, sigmoidoscopy has been largely abandoned by doctors in the U.S. in favor of colonoscopy to detect and prevent colon cancer. But sigmoidoscopy is easier on patients and is also effective in finding precancerous polyps. Read...

Published Tue, May 22 2012 3:01 PM by Shots - Health Blog

Woman Charged In Death Of Fetus Is Out Of Jail

Shuai, a Chinese immigrant who lives in Indiana, is still facing charges of murder and feticide following a failed suicide attempt in Dec. 2010, when she was 33 weeks pregnant. Read More...

Published Tue, May 22 2012 2:19 PM by Shots - Health Blog

Shoddy Drugs Threaten Malaria Treatment

From 20 to 42 percent of the malaria medicines examined in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were crummy or counterfeit. The poor quality of the medicines threatens people's health and raises the odds for drug-resistant disease. Read More...

Published Tue, May 22 2012 11:29 AM by Shots - Health Blog

May 2012 - NPR Health Blog

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