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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has announced a new multimedia ad campaign, "Explore Your Treatment Options," to encourage patients to become more informed about their options before choosing a treatment for a health condition or illness.
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While "incompentence" showed up as a primary patient safety issue in the recent study "The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren't Enough to Save Lives," this problem is not specific to any one setting, says Jan Davidson, MSN, RN, perioperative education specialist at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). AORN sponsored the study, along with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and VitalSmarts, a corporate training company in Provo, UT.
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The Office of Healthcare Quality in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released "Partnering to Heal: Teaming Up Against Healthcare-Associated Infections," an interactive learning tool for clinicians, health professional students, and family caregivers.
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Language barriers slow down access to healthcare, can compromise the quality of care, and might increase the risk of harmful medical events among patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), according to data and research studies released recently by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority in Harrisburg.
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In most communities in the United States, hepatitis C (HEPc) treatment is provided by gastroenterologists. Because HEPc is now the most common cause of end-stage liver disease, and unless trends reverse will continue to be so for the foreseeable future, it is important that identification of HEPc infection be continued vigorously in the primary care community, since most at-risk persons see primary care clinicians as their point of initial contact with the health care system.
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In the Medicare population, obesity was not associated with mortality, except for those with a BMI of at least 35. However, both overweight and obesity were associated with new or worsening disability within 2 years.
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In a population-based study using hospital discharge diagnosis codes, patients with sleep apnea who underwent knee arthroplasty or open abdominal procedures were more likely to require invasive mechanical ventilation and to be diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia or ARDS than were matched patients without sleep apnea. Knee-replacement patients, but not those undergoing laparotomy, also were more likely to be diagnosed with pulmonary embolism.
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A third dipetdyl peptidase-4 (dpp-4) inhibitor has been approved by the FDA. Linagliptin follows sitagliptin and saxagliptin to the market. It is marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim as Tradjenta.
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Important differences in adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy occurred depending on the drug class prescribed with the lowest adherence noted to occur with diuretics and beta-blocker therapy and the highest adherence was observed with ARB or ACI therapy.
