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A policy that empowers frontline nurses to temporarily halt admissions when their units dont have enough nursing staff to care for more patients has significantly slashed the nursing vacancy rate at a Wisconsin hospital. Roger Resar, MD, Physician Change Agent at 300-bed Luther Middlefort Hospital/Eau Claire, reports that the two-year-old policy also increases throughput and improves patient care.
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Information technology can substantially reduce medical errors and translate into major cost savings, says Janet M. Marchibroda, MBA, Chief Executive Officer for the eHealth Initiative/Washington, D.C. Marchibroda, speaking at the Third Annual Health Legacy Partnership (HELP) Conference and eHealth Initiative Annual Meeting, The technology exists, she says, But it requires that the communities to work together to realize the greater good that can come from sharing information to support better patient care.
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In common discourse we use survival and mortality interchangeably to refer to death. In fact, survival and mortality have very specific, and very different, definitions to a clinical investigator.
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In this review of outcomes from cardiopulmonary resuscitation among non-ICU inpatients in 3 urban teaching hospitals, no patient who had an unwitnessed cardiac arrest survived to discharge.
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Chadda and Associates explored the hypothesis that noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) would unload the respiratory muscles and improve cardiac and hemodynamic function more effectively than continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
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Many people experience the winter-time blues. Some people may feel down, have less energy, put on a few pounds, or have difficulty getting out of bed in the mornings during the dark, short days of winter.
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New FDA Approvals
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APhA awarded contract to establish Support Center; Wyeth stops producing two vaccines; Pharmacist participation in rounds cuts errors; Warnings strengthened on three medications; Certain medication errors more likely to be harmful.
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As expected, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given loratadine (Claritin) over-the-counter (OTC) status. Loratadine, the only nonsedating antihistamine available OTC, is approved for seasonal allergic rhinitis.