Business as Usual from the AMA in Opposing Health Care Reform

In keeping with its long history of successfully opposing health care reform, the American Medical Association (AMA) is, surprise, doing it again. And here's a recent AJN editorial on some nurse-led solutions to improving care and reducing costs that should be part of any reform plan: "nurses can help to build the infrastructure we’ll need if we’re to shift from an emphasis on acute care to one on health promotion, chronic care management, and primary care . . . . "

Of Interest on the Web – June 2, 2009

By DeclanTM, via Flickr.

The most recent “Change of Shift,” a regular nursing blogosphere roundup (“the carnival dedicated to nurses and nursing”), is up over at Code Blog. We appreciate the mention of our recent post about virtual nurses in a virtual ICU.

How can we have health care reform without first controlling costs? In this week’s New Yorker, Atul Gawande undertakes a fascinating and in-depth comparison of the very different health care approaches of two American towns. Leave your preconceptions at the door.

Speaking of quality control, here’s Health News Review’s analysis of a recent story in the Washington Post about screening and treatment of major depressive disorder in teens (the story gets a 4 out of a possible 10).

And, for those of you in the mood, here’s one nurse’s blunt message to new interns. A brief excerpt:

I worked as a neurosurgical nurse many years ago at a teaching hospital in the Midwest, and twice a year a new crop of interns descended upon our unit. It was the best show in town. The spectacle began with the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. Holier Than Thou, strutting on to the unit with his entourage marching behind him.

Virtual Nurses in a Virtual ICU – Will Technology Trump Staffing?

Virtual Reality Headset Prototype (circa 1968). Photo by Pargon, via Flickr.

If you want to know what the ICU of the future will be like, think of an extremely ill patient connected to myriad tubes and monitors; watched by cameras; every sigh, snore, or change in breath sound picked up by an audio feed.

Then remove the patient, leaving just monitors, speakers, and video screens. […]

Assessing the News About Health – Notes from a Conversation with Gary Schwitzer

Asked what the major issues in health care reporting are right now, Schwitzer said that, after analyzing 780 stories from the major newspapers and networks that feed Americans their news on health care, he and his colleagues have found that "72% of stories fail to adequately address costs." "71% fail to adequately quantify benefits."

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