News Briefs
News Briefs
Hand washing deters antibiotic resistance
During the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a group of international disease specialists released a plan to diminish the growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Stuart B. Levy, MD, president of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), described the problem of antibiotic resistance as a societal issue. According to APUA, the most common defense against the spread of antibiotic resistance can be regular hand washing with soap and water.
The plan calls for action from both patients and caregivers. It encourages physicians to use narrow-spectrum antibiotics whenever appropriate, reserve broad-spectrum antibiotics for more serious conditions, and continue monitoring the development of new infections. Patients are urged not to demand antibiotics from physicians, to understand that antibiotics are not necessary to treat viral infections such as the common cold, and that antibiotics should not be used to prevent illness. More information can be found on the APUA’s Web site, www.apua.org.
Infusion therapy CE goes on-line
Hadaway & Associates, providers of educational opportunities and consulting in infusion therapy with an emphasis on performance improvement, is now registering participants for the first infusion therapy continuing education course offered via the Internet. The new course, "Assessing Vascular Access Needs," runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 3, and will be available at www.hadawayassociates.com.
"Our new on-line course is designed to employ the full capacity of computers and the Internet to connect people," says Lynn C. Hadaway, principal, Hadaway Associates in Milner, GA. "This course will provide a convenient way for healthcare professionals to earn contact hours using threaded e-mail discussion from the convenience of their own home or workplace."
On-line students can work from any location at any time they choose. The course employs an asynchronous learning network that allows participants to sign on to the Web site, read, download assignments, and participate in discussions about the issues.
Upon approval by the National League for Nursing, the course will be worth eight contact hours. To earn those hours, on-line students will need to post messages at least once per week and complete an evaluation form. The process meets the definition of distance education and learning used by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training.
"On-line learning is best suited for people who enjoy working independently with technology. They should be able to manage their time and instructional tasks well," Hadaway says. "This form of distance learning is also good for those who enjoy voicing their opinions but who may be hesitant to do so in a face-to-face situation." On-line learning also allows time for participants to critically examine issues, formulate a reasoned response, and post a message with as much information as they care to include. Other students can then choose to read all or parts of the responses.
Introductory registration fee for the course is $50. For this first course, registration must be done by mail, fax or phone. However, online registration will be available with the course offering scheduled to begin in January.
For more information, contact: Lynn Hadaway, Hadaway and Associates, P.O. Box 10, Milner, GA 30257. Telephone: (770) 358-7861. Fax: (770) 358-6793.
ALARIS Medical Systems offers free software
The Medical Device Communications Industry Group (MDCIG), a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization, recently announced the release of software source code to facilitate implementation and adoption of the IEEE 1073 Medical Information Bus (MIB) Standards.
ALARIS Medical Inc. will share the software source code it developed to facilitate the use of IEEE 1073 (MIB) Standards, a new communications standard for medical devices, with the medical device community free. The software is available at www.ieee-isto.org/mdcig.
MDCIG is a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization, and was formed to encourage medical device suppliers and health care providers to adopt these new standards, which are designed to allow clinicians to link patient-connected medical devices to a monitoring or hospital information system. By sharing the software source code, ALARIS Medical is offering a significant advantage to other medical device manufacturers who want to implement the IEEE 1073 Standard.
Software demonstrations at Massachusetts General Hospital and at the 1999 Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation annual meeting indicate the system transits information about infusion status, rates, volumes, battery, and alarms seamlessly.
ALARIS Medical Inc., through its operating company, ALARIS Medical Systems Inc., distributes intravenous infusion therapy systems to more than 120 countries. For further information, contact Barbara Burkett at ALARIS Medical Inc., 10221 Wateridge Circle, San Diego, CA 92121. Telephone: (619) 458-7038. Web site: www. alarismed.com.
Infu-Tech distributes to Access Med Plus
Access Med Plus has selected Infu-Tech Inc., a provider of home infusion therapy and specialty pharmaceuticals and medical services to patients in their homes, to distribute specialty pharmaceuticals, including Synagis, a specialty drug for treating Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which affects newborns and infants under age 2.
"Infu-Tech serviced Access Med Plus’ 250,000 members in Tennessee during last year’s RSV virus season," says Jack Rosen, Infu-Tech’s CEO. "Because of our Reach program, which ensures patient compliance with the drug, we were able to keep hospitalization to less than 1.6% of the population serviced. We are pleased that our ability to provide an excellent outcome for the membership has resulted in a renewed contract for this year’s season."
Infu-Tech’s new Web site, www.Smartmeds. com, will feature specialty pharmaceuticals like Synagis. Patients and physicians can buy pharmaceuticals on-line, receive health care and disease management support, and interact with medical professionals.
"This site will make it easier for people to manage not only their medical needs with specialty pharmaceuticals, but also to receive the latest medical information based on our years of accumulated knowledge and experience in managing chronic diseases," Rosen says.
Infu-Tech has managed care relationships with enrollees of more than 70 HMOs, large employer groups, Medicare and Medicaid. The company is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, and markets its products and services in 27 states.
Needlestick legislation creates new opportunities
California’s pioneering safety needle law has affected the business climate, as well as the health care community. Because all health care facilities in California are now required to provide needle devices with engineered sharps injury protection designed to eliminate or minimize needlestick injuries and exposures to bloodborne pathogens such as HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, new technologies have been devised.
Retractable Technologies Inc. has agreed to provide its VanishPoint syringes to all Kaiser Permanente health facilities.
VanishPoint devices use technology that automatically retracts the contaminated needle directly from within the patient into the empty device barrel after an injection or blood drawing. The device is easily activated with one hand, which always stays behind the needle until the used needle is securely encased in the barrel. Automated retraction virtually eliminates the risk of accidental needlesticks from contaminated needles, as well as the possibility of reuse.
Following California’s lead, 26 other states have now passed or introduced laws requiring that health care facilities to provide their workers with safety-engineered needle devices. In addition, congressional representatives Peter Stark (D-CA) and Marge Roukema (R-NJ) have introduced national legislation that uses the California law as a model. The Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act has bipartisan support, as well as the backing of the secretary of labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The Web site for the Service Employees International Union, www.seiu.org, monitors the legislative activity on needlestick prevention.
In another worker-safety action, Biomedical Disposal Inc. of Norcross, GA, has been notified by California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board that use of its advanced technology needle destruction units was "authorized and encouraged" as a method of compliance to that state’s bloodborne pathogen regulations.
Most satisfied with health care coverage
The 1999 Health Confidence Survey (HCS) reports that most Americans are happy with their health insurance, but managed care enrollees are less satisfied than those covered under fee-for-service plans. The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) measured public satisfaction with current health insurance by plan type, and found that:
• 64% were extremely or very satisfied with traditional fee-for-service health plans.
• 49% were extremely or very satisfied with the less-restrictive preferred provider organization-type health plans.
• 35% were extremely or very satisfied with the more restrictive health maintenance organization-type health plans.
EBRI is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization based in Washington, DC. Founded in 1978, its mission is to contribute to, encourage, and enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education. The organization does not lobby and does not take positions on legislative proposals.
The Consumer Health Education Council, a nonpartisan, council of private and public organizations formed to undertake and encourage initiatives aimed at raising public awareness about health care coverage, cosponsored the 1999 study.
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