Pregnant in Prison: Maternity Care for Incarcerated Women
When thinking about maternal health access, one group of women are often forgotten, even silenced – incarcerated women. According to the two part TV series “Babies Behind Bars,” the number of women in US prisons has climbed 400% over the past 30 years. It is estimated that the majority of these women are in jail for non-violent crimes. Each year, 6-10% of all incarcerated women are pregnant.
Adequate maternal care for inmates has multiple components. Do they have access to prenatal care? Are they allowed more food? If they sleep on a top bunk can they be moved to a bottom bunk? Is access to mental health servi...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Advocacy Childbirth Children Choice Source Type: blogs
September Man of the Month: Dr. Neel Shah
September’s Man of the Month is Dr. Neel Shah. Dr. Shah gave us permission to crosspost his article below which was first published in June on The Conversation. Dr. Shah was also recently featured in this Boston Globe article. In the article below he makes the argument that giving birth outside a hospital with a midwife could be safer and cheaper for many American women.
Are hospitals the safest place for healthy women to have babies? An obstetrician thinks twice
There is a good chance that your grandparents were born at home. I am going to go ahead and assume they turned out fine, or at least fine enough, since yo...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 10, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Choice Man of the Month Quality Source Type: blogs
Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice Series Overview
Each day there are approximately 353,000 babies born globally, according to UNICEF. America is actually lagging behind most industrialized countries in its maternal health quality indicators. Why is it that despite America’s high medical standards, the maternal death rate appears to be rising? While 99% of maternal death occurs in the developing world, September 2010 data ranks the US 50th in the world for maternal death.
In measuring maternal health there are multiple factors to consider: maternal death rates, infant death rates, perceived experiences of care, cost of care, and more. While statistics and numbers are imp...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 8, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Childbirth Children Parenting Source Type: blogs
Maryland’s Maverick Health Care Overhaul: A Physician Perspective
Beginning last year, the state of Maryland embarked on an extraordinary new experiment — one that could be a model for the nation. In partnership with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Governor Martin O’Malley’s statewide hospital commission announced in January 2014 that it would address escalating health care costs by tackling the arms race of medical care. The Commission unveiled the framework for a new plan that will pay hospitals for quality over quantity, enabling them to profit from providing more appropriate—rather than simply more—care.
The proposed change of incentives ha...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 20, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Martin Makary and Seth Goldstein Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Hospitals Organization and Delivery Population Health Public Health Quality AHRQ fee-for-service Martin Makary Martin O'Malley Maryland Patient Safety Prevention RVU targets Source Type: blogs
The High Costs Of Nepal’s Fee-For-Service Approach To Health Care
Go to just about any clinic, pharmacy, or hospital in Nepal with a head cold. Your symptoms are invariably caused by a virus, for which time is the only remedy, rather than antibiotics, steroids, or vitamins. Despite the substantial harms and lack of benefit of such medications, you will most likely receive them all.
If you are feeling particularly unwell, you might also get intravenous fluids, perhaps some antacid medications, and certainly some amount of analgesics like paracetamol or diclofenac. You will emerge from your consultation 1,500 Nepalese rupees poorer, despite not having received anything of particular benefi...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 20, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Duncan Maru and Senendra Uprety Tags: Costs and Spending Equity and Disparities Featured Global Health Health Professionals Hospitals Organization and Delivery Payment Policy Population Health Public Health Quality Duncan Maru fee-for-service globalization Kathmand Source Type: blogs
You’ll be shocked to see what an emergency C-section is really like
The scalpel hits the skin immediately, splaying it open with one smooth swipe. Two more swipes through yellow globular fat and I hit the glistening white fascia layer. If this weren’t an emergency, I would stop to carefully cauterize the small bleeding blood vessels in the fat layer, but there is no time for that now. I nick the middle of the fascia, until I see the deep burgundy of the rectus muscles underneath. Quickly, I then slide my fingers under the fascia and with two forceful movements, I spread the fascia and muscles open with my fingers.
Thankfully, she’s not had a C-section before or I would have to ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 7, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Heather Rupe, DO Tags: Conditions OB/GYN Surgery Source Type: blogs
Can a surgeon operate while sitting down?
A loyal reader alerted me to news of a lawsuit brought by an obstetrician in South Carolina who is suing a hospital for suspending his privileges. He had performed a cesarean section while sitting on a stool because he had a foot fracture secondary to diabetes. Several witnesses said that the doctor “had been unable to properly view the surgical field, unable to properly handle the baby and unable to address hemorrhaging.” The patient later developed a serious infection.
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 30, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Skeptical Scalpel, MD Tags: Physician Surgery Source Type: blogs
Project: Genetics
I've come to the conclusion that I have "Left-side-of-the-body-itis",having had to have had 2 cataract surgeries,1 L.arm ulnar nerve surgery,1 tonsillectomy, 1 C-section, 1 L.eye muscle surgery for double vision,& I'm not entirely sure where the pancreas really is in me but I'm guessing it's toward the left. Also 1 messed up Lumbar Disk affecting strength and motility on the Left Leg although that has much improved,& I'm now in matenence phase (chiropractic) for that. However,I now have a messed up ligament in my left shoulder and it hurts to do anything with it. I told my chiropractor today that I wanted to get it...
Source: The D-Log Cabin - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Authors: HVS Source Type: blogs
Blood Sugar and Pregnancy
(CNN) – If you are a woman and you and your partner are planning a pregnancy, it’s important to have your blood sugar levels in control before conceiving.
When a woman becomes pregnant, a glucose screening test is done. If those results reveal elevated blood glucose levels, a glucose tolerance test can help determine if both mom and baby could be at risk.
Dr. Sharon Bergquist, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory University, said:
If a woman develops gestational diabetes throughout their pregnancy or has diabetes going into a pregnancy, that high blood sugar, if it’s not controlled, can lead to complications, bot...
Source: Cord Blood News - June 1, 2015 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: joyce at mazelabs.com Tags: babies brain development Cord Blood medical research parents pregnancy stem cells Uncategorized affordable cord blood banking blood sugar cerebral palsy cord blood banking fees cord blood treatment for Leukemia cord clamping du Source Type: blogs
Sleeping for Two: Sleep Changes During Pregnancy
by Cari Nierenberg, Live Science Contributor
Being pregnant can be a tiring experience for a woman’s body. Both the physical discomforts of pregnancy as well as the emotional stress of this major life change can cause sleep problems and keep a mother-to-be awake at night.
Feeling exhausted is a common complaint during the first and third trimesters. But women might be caught off guard by how worn out they feel in the early months of pregnancy.
“A lot of women are totally surprised by how fatigued they feel during the first trimester,” said Kathy Lee, a professor of nursing at the University...
Source: Cord Blood News - May 28, 2015 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: joyce at mazelabs.com Tags: babies brain development Cord Blood medical research parents pregnancy stem cells Uncategorized affordable cord blood banking cerebral palsy cord blood banking fees cord blood treatment for Leukemia cord clamping due dates heal Source Type: blogs
Vitamin Overdose and Pregnancy
During pregnancy, it is important to get the proper nutrients to foster healthy fetal development. You may be tempted to take a multivitamin in addition to other supplements. However, vitamin overdose can occur when an individual takes more than the recommended daily amount of a vitamin. This can result when taking more than one multivitamin, or when taking individual vitamins in addition to a multivitamin.
While any vitamin can be toxic if taken in large amounts, calcium and iron pose the greatest toxic risks when taken in excess. Taking a multivitamin during pregnancy is important, although it is best to talk with your d...
Source: Cord Blood News - April 23, 2015 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: joyce at mazelabs.com Tags: babies brain development Cord Blood medical research parents pregnancy affordable cord blood banking breast feeding C-section caesarian cerebral palsy due dates healthy pregnancy new baby parenting vaginal birth after caesari Source Type: blogs
Joint Commission Implements Mandatory Universal Patient Helmet Regulations.
Baltimore, MD - In an effort to reduce injuries and deaths related to in-hospital falls, the Joint Commission notified hospitals last week of strict new universal helmet regulations for all hospitalized patients, without exception.Patient death or serious injury associated with a fall while being cared for in a health care setting has been a recognized since 2002 as one of 27 original never events as defined by the National Quality Forum (NQF). The complete list was revised in 2011 to include 29 never events, but falls by confused old naked men have continued to result in serious injuries despite end...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - April 12, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
Both of Them
Disruptive Women is embarking on an exciting week…Tuesday we head to NYC where we will be emceeing XX in Health as their retreat takes over the boy’s club (The Harvard Club). Then on Thursday we will be talking to women in tech at MassMEDIC. So as we interact with new disruptive women this week we wanted to reflect back and run some powerful posts from the past. Be sure to check the blog all this week for some of our favorites.
Do ever think of animals or fictional characters can well represent the personalities of new people you meet?
I often do. It helps me remember them and their personality. When I...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 1, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Source Type: blogs
How a C-Section Changes Your Body
When I discovered I was pregnant with twins, my husband and I burst into tears of joy, followed by utter panic. Two of them? I soon realized that carrying multiples meant I would likely wind up having a C-section (a typical procedure for twin pregnancies). However, the idea of a potentially long and painful labor and delivery—times two—was scary, so I was relieved when my obstetrician suggested we go with a C-section.
But the experience wasn’t all spinal taps and roses: In addition to a long and painful recovery, I was left with a surprising post-surgery souvenir: a brand new pooch that hovers right above my C-sectio...
Source: Cord Blood News - March 5, 2015 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: joyce at mazelabs.com Tags: babies blood disorder brain development Cord Blood medical research parents pregnancy stem cells affordable cord blood banking breast feeding C-section caesarian cerebral palsy due dates healthy pregnancy new baby parenting Source Type: blogs
The Payment Reform Landscape: Tying It All Together
Throughout 2014, Health Affairs Blog has been generous in allowing us to share our insights and opinions on a monthly basis as we examine the evidence for different payment reform models. Along this journey, we’ve taken an in-depth look at how well different payment models are proving to enhance the quality and affordability of care.
We’ve taken a few detours to explore some of the building blocks of a higher-value health care system, like price transparency. And we took some time to share findings from our 2014 National Scorecard on Payment Reform, which revealed the commercial sector is moving toward more value orien...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - December 2, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Suzanne Delbanco Tags: All Categories Consumers Health Care Costs Payment Policy Quality Spending Source Type: blogs
