Money and Values: For Healthcare Workers, It ’s Time They Align
By WYNNE ARMAND and CHRISTIAN MEWALDT
It shouldn’t be controversial to say that promoting the well-being of patients and our community should be at the core of our decisions in health care — even when competing factors exist. Yet we have grown increasingly uncomfortable to realize that we’ve been investing in companies whose products — including fossil fuels — are at the crux of diseases we treat.
In 2018 alone, fossil fuel combustion-produced particulate matter was responsible for an estimated 9 million deaths worldwide, according to a recent publication by researchers from Harvard University an...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 23, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: The Business of Health Care Christian Mewaldt Finance Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital retirement fund Wynne Armand Source Type: blogs
Addressing "Temporary" Insanity
I just googled “temporary vaccine waiver” under “news” and got 31,900 hits. Then I ran the same exercise for “Pfizer and BioNTech Announce Collaboration with Biovac to Manufacture and Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine Doses within Africa.” I got 1300 hits. That’s upside down and unfortunate since it’s th e Pfizer/BioNTech announcement that’s going to save lives. (Source: drugwonks.com Blog)
Source: drugwonks.com Blog - July 23, 2021 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs
Violent protests in a young African democracy closes a hospital
I had an uneasy weekend. On the one hand, I was watching the COVID-19 figures around the country and in my region of KwaZulu-Natal. We are waiting for the third wave to hit our hospital. Last week we stopped planned surgeries and reviewed our planning and capacity to deal with the surge. On the otherRead more …Violent protests in a young African democracy closes a hospital originally appeared inKevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 20, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/basil-stathoulis" rel="tag" > Dr. Basil Stathoulis < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Emergency Medicine Orthopedics Source Type: blogs
Alcohol, Smoking, Drugs: How Technology Can Help
The global statistics on substance use are disquieting. Globally, about 3 million people die every year from alcohol abuse. Tobacco kills up to half of its users – over 8 million people annually. And the UN’s 2021 World Drug Report estimated that around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in 2020, while over 36 million people suffered from drug use disorders.
Disruptive technologies could act only as additional tools for managing preventive or reactive treatment for both victims and physicians next to therapy. Alcohol content-measuring wristbands, smart lighters, nicotine tracking wearables, stop smoking apps, virt...
Source: The Medical Futurist - July 15, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: berci.mesko Tags: E-Patients Future of Medicine Future of Pharma Health Sensors & Trackers Portable Medical Diagnostics Security & Privacy Telemedicine & Smartphones Virtual Reality alcohol digital health Innovation smoking technology VR health Source Type: blogs
The Skill Level of Immigrants Is Rising
Alex NowrastehA major immigration debate over the last several years is whether the U.S. immigration policy should be more meritocratic by attracting higher educated workers. President Trump supported such a system if it were pared with many fewer legal immigrants coming in while Democrats are mostly supportive of increasing all types of immigration. Although Congress did not pass a law to create a more meritocratic immigration system, new immigrants to the United States are increasingly skilled. In other words, the U.S. immigration system is becoming more meritocratic on its own.The United States is an increasingly at...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 9, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Embracing the Data Revolution for Development: A Data Justice Framework for Farm Data in the Context of African Indigenous Farmers
This article examines the challenges... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - July 6, 2021 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
An Economic Case for Waiving Intellectual Property Rights on COVID Vaccines
Gopal Krishna Roy (Jawaharlal Nehru University), An Economic Case for Waiving Intellectual Property Rights on COVID Vaccines, SSRN: India and South Africa approached World Trade Organization (WTO) to negotiate the temporary waiver of Intellectual Property (IP) rights on COVID-19 vaccines... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - July 2, 2021 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
A Focus on Microscopes: See Eye-Catching Images
Have you ever wondered what creates striking images of cells and other tiny structures? Most often, the answer is microscopes. Many of us have encountered basic light microscopes in science classes, but those are just one of many types that scientists use. Check out the slideshow to see images researchers have captured using different kinds of microscopes. For even more images of the microscopic world, visit the NIGMS Image and Video Gallery.
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Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 30, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Matt Mills Tags: Cells Molecular Structures Tools and Techniques Cellular Imaging Cool Images Cool Tools/Techniques Source Type: blogs
AI-Powered App Interprets HIV Test Results
This study is a really strong partnership with AHRI that demonstrates the power of using deep learning to successfully classify ‘real-world’ field-acquired rapid test images, and reduce the number of errors that may happen when reading test results by eye,” said Rachel McKendry, a researcher involved in the study, in a UCL announcement. “This research shows the positive impact the mobile health tools can have in low- and middle-income countries, and paves the way for a larger study in the future.”
Study in Nature Medicine: Deep learning of HIV field-based rapid tests
Via: UCL (Source: Medgadget)
Source: Medgadget - June 22, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Diagnostics Informatics Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Whiteness
We have the classic race vs. class debate going on in the comments. I have also received (and not published) a mind-boggingly absurd comment arguing that slavery was not a fundamentally racist institution. Let me say first that in my view it really isn ' t possible in the United States to separate the issues of class and race. The basic reason why we have never developed an effective workers ' party and had a relatively weak labor movement and a very limited socialist tradition compared to most of western Europe is because the working class has been divided by race. Yes, there have been attempts to organiz...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 21, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Amazon Eliminates Marijuana Screening for New Hires
Jeffrey Miron and Pedro Braga SoaresAmazon recentlyannounced that it will no longer include marijuana in the company ’s drug screening program for new hires (other than for positionsregulated by the Department of Transportation). Amazon says marijuana will instead be treated like alcohol, which means “impairment checks” on the job site and testing for all drugs and alcohol after job incidents.Drug screening and testing arewidespread in the US, covering nearlyhalf of all workplaces. But Amazon ’s announcement, and the recent spate ofmarijuana medicalizations and legalizations, have prompted discussion of who should ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 8, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey Miron, Pedro Braga Soares Source Type: blogs
VacciNation: exploring vaccine confidence with people from African, Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Pakistani backgrounds living in England
This report, produced together with Traverse, explores vaccination confidence among people from African, Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Pakistani backgrounds living in the UK. Its research uncovered five ways to increase public confidence: allow for agency; independence of institutions; focus on transparency; localise the approach; and address ambiguity.ReportPress release (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - June 8, 2021 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Covid-19 Equality and diversity Source Type: blogs
Heads in the sand
I ' ve written before about the prospect -- nay certainty -- that substantial parts of the globe will become uninhabitable, or at least not habitable by anything like the number of people who live there now, because of heat and drought. This is in fact already driving people from parts of the Middle East and Africa, but I have to think Americans will finally take noticewhen it happens to Nevada, Arizona and California. Seriously folks,there is no solution to this. One farmer in the linked story is planning to drill wells and irrigate with groundwater, but in case you didn ' t know, that is also a finite resource. And ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 7, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Human exceptionalism
It seems to be something of a fad to claim that humans aren ' t actually exceptional. Other animals can think and learn and plan and communicate with each other, there ' s nothing special about us, at least no more than the extent to which every species is unique, yadda yadda. I think this is an utterly vapid argument. Sure, every species is unique, but our impact on the planet is vastly greater than that of any other organism. Yes of course, photosynthetic organisms created and sustain our oxygen-rich atmosphere, but that ' s been the case for more than 2 billion years. That ' s the stable background of life on eart...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 3, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Is There A Future For Drones In Healthcare?
The threat COVID has posed ever since it first appeared influenced how healthcare operates on many levels. It triggered a rapid expansion in health technology – some obvious, like the rise of telemedicine or at-home lab tests, others filled a much-needed immediate void. The demand for safe solutions inclined the development of robotic support in hospitals – and drones.
I must admit, I expected the rise of drone-based solutions years ago (and I wasn’t alone with my expectations). By now, we are just at the very beginning of using drones in healthcare. And still, even now, when COVID-19 clearly showed the necessity ...
Source: The Medical Futurist - June 3, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: Judit Kuszkó Tags: Covid-19 Forecast Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Future of Medicine Healthcare Design Healthcare Policy Portable Medical Diagnostics Robotics Security & Privacy Telemedicine & Smartphones drones telehealth medical drones mon Source Type: blogs
