Articles Tagged With:
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Vitamin D Supplementation to Prevent Respiratory Infections?
In June 2024, the Endocrine Society released new evidence-based guidelines suggesting that all children up to 18 years of age should receive vitamin D supplements, both to prevent rickets and to prevent respiratory tract infections. However, careful review of the data suggests that widespread implementation of this recommendation might not be warranted in North America.
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Ethical Concerns for Study Participants with Opioid Use Disorder
Individuals with opioid use disorder are a vulnerable population who face some unique risks when participating in research.
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Trichinella Outbreak from Eating Bear Meat and Cross-Contaminated Vegetables
A family outbreak of trichinellosis occurred after a feast of bear meat and vegetable kabobs that was caused by a species of Trichinella that is resistant to freezing.
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Some Hospitals Still Restrict Family Presence
Many hospitals still have not lifted restrictions on family presence during resuscitation/invasive procedures that were implemented during the pandemic, raising ethical concerns. A year out from the end of the global pandemic, it is time for family presence to be reestablished to reflect a culture of patient and family-centered care, according to an updated practice alert from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
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Ethical Concerns if AI Tools Assist Surrogate Decision-Makers
Surrogate decision-makers are faced with a formidable task: To make decisions based on the ethical principle of substituted judgment. “The idea is supposed to be, when these surrogates are making decisions, they are not supposed to choose what they want,” says David Wendler, MA, PhD, head of the section of research ethics in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. The surrogates instead must ask: What decision would the patient make?
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Newer Antibiotics for Resistant Gram-Negative Infections: Why Are Clinicians Not Using Them?
A retrospective cohort study on adult inpatients with difficult-to-treat resistant pathogens found clinicians used older, generic antibiotics with suboptimal safety profiles in almost 80% of cases.
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Financial Conflicts Cloud Joint Replacement Technology Study Findings
As an associate editor for an orthopaedic journal, James A. Browne, MD, noticed that an increasing number of economic analyses were being published dealing with new technologies in joint replacement. “These studies, when sponsored by industry or conflicted with financial interests, are very likely to support the sponsor’s new technology — and may be little more than a sophisticated marketing effort,” concludes Browne.
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Barriers to Ethical Informed Consent with Hereditary Cancer Genetic Testing
Demand for hereditary cancer genetic testing is increasing rapidly as the result of advancements in technology and growing awareness of the utility of testing in cancer prevention and treatment. Clinicians have an ethical responsibility to ensure patients can make a fully informed decision about undergoing genetic testing.
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Ethicists Offer Unique Skills to Address Workplace Violence
For hospitals attempting to address workplace violence, the focus typically is on concrete interventions: Providing de-escalation training, adding metal detectors, or bolstering security. What is less well-understood are the ethical implications of violence.
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How Is the Ethics Service Doing? Data Are Necessary to Know
Unlike clinical areas, which are required to track a large number of healthcare quality measures, many ethics programs have little data to demonstrate their effectiveness. One reason is that assessing an ethics consult is not as straightforward as tracking the rate of hospital-acquired infections or surgical complications.