Useful Links for Understanding Health Care Reform
At Slate, a guide of sources to help those of you who’ve got the gumption (and time) begin to navigate the overwhelming amount of information and misinformation about health care reform.
Findings – June 25
And the UK's Nursing Times reports on a BMJ study that concludes that "osteoporosis bone density monitoring 'cannot be justified.'" (For more on this topic, see this recent AJN article on the marketing of osteoporosis, written by consumer advocate Maryann Napoli.)
The Art of the Possible: AJN Meets with Rose Hoban, Journalist and Former Nurse
Health care journalist Rose Hoban used to work for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, of which she says that "most of the projects are, on many levels, run by nurses" (partly, she says, to keep specialist physicians free to practice their specialties).
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
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.