Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US

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A recently published article in BMJ estimates that medical error is the third biggest cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer. The authors mention that medical errors leading to patient death may be under-recognised in many countries, such as the UK and Canada, and call for a scientific approach and a revision of how national statistics are measured to enable a more appropriate recognition and a better understanding of the related deaths.

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: SSgt. Derrick C. Goode, U.S. Air Force – http://hq.afnews.af.mil

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Is Physician Burnout a Looming Public Danger?

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Physician burnout should not be considered as a mere professional problem, as its repercussions may affect patients. Dr Art Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center, noted in a recent video published on Medscape that over 50% of doctors feel burned out. They suffer from compassion fatigue, are unable to empathize with patients, and may commit more potentially harmfully errors as a result. What types of solutions can we propose to improve the conditions and healthcare environments in which physicians work?

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: Kilbosh CC BY-SA 3.0

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Picks of the Week: Stomach cancer, fluconazole, and a few systematic reviews!

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Sharing news within Among Doctors network is a way of appraising and curating evidence, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge with your trusted network. Let’s have a look at what news have been shared lately:

  • Diet, nutrition, physical activity and stomach cancer
    The World Cancer Research Fund released a new report on stomach cancer linking for the first time drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight to an increased risk of developing stomach cancers.
  • FDA evaluating study examining use of oral fluconazole in pregnancy
    FDA is evaluating the results of a Danish study that conclude there is a possible increased risk of miscarriage with the use of oral fluconazole for yeast infections.
  • Cochrane Systematic Review: A comparison of different antibiotic regimens for the treatment of infective endocarditis
    Limited and very low quality evidence suggested that there were no conclusive differences between antibiotic regimens in terms of cure rates or other relevant clinical outcomes.
  • Association between anticholinergic medication and cognition, brain metabolism, and brain atrophy in cognitively normal older adults
    Anticholinergic medication use was linked with risk for future progression to mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Cochrane Systematic Review: Mobile phone-based interventions for smoking cessation
    The current evidence supports a beneficial impact of mobile phone-based smoking cessation interventions on six-month cessation outcomes.
  • Exposure to advertisements and electronic cigarette use among US middle and high school students
    The odds of electronic cigarette use increased with greater exposure to electronic cigarette advertising, with Internet advertisements having the strongest effect.

Do you wish to comment on these news or share your own? Join Among Doctors here and start exploring the physician-exclusive social network right away!

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Alcohol, processed meat and being overweight linked to stomach cancer, report says

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The World Cancer Research Fund released a new report on stomach cancer. For the first time, drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight have been linked to an increased risk of developing stomach cancers. In particular:

  • There is strong evidence that consuming approximately three or more alcoholic drinks per day increases the risk of stomach cancer.
  • There is strong evidence that consuming foods preserved by salting increases the risk of stomach cancer. Research mainly relates to high-salt foods and salt-preserved foods, including pickled vegetables and salted or dried fish, as traditionally prepared in east Asia.
  • There is strong evidence that consuming processed meat increases the risk of stomach non-cardia cancer.
  • There is strong evidence that being overweight or obese increases the risk of stomach cardia cancer. Being overweight or obese was assessed by body mass index (BMI).

Read the report and comment the story on Among Doctors

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WHO Report on Eliminating Malaria

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A year after the World Health Assembly resolved to eliminate malaria from at least 35 countries by 2030, WHO is releasing a World Malaria Day report that shows this goal, although ambitious, is achievable. Since the year 2000, malaria mortality rates have declined by 60% globally. In the WHO African Region, malaria mortality rates fell by 66% among all age groups and by 71% among children under 5 years. But reaching the next level—elimination—will not be easy. Nearly half of the world’s population, 3.2 billion people, remain at risk of malaria. Last year alone, 214 million new cases of the disease were reported in 95 countries and more than 400 000 people died of malaria.

Read the report and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: United States Mission Geneva – Flickr: World Health Organization Headquarters and Flag, CC BY 2.0

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Preparing the doctor of the future: Medical school and residency program evolution

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Medical education is in an era of transformation, and medical schools are beginning to innovate to prepare new physicians for the emerging new model of care. Findings from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions’ surveys of physicians, health care consumers, and health system CEOs show that physicians’ expectations are changing. The analysis found that hospital CEOs report needing more innovative leaders and clinicians, as well as employees with technology and data analytics skills; consumers expect to partner with doctors; physicians report anticipating that they expect to need new business, health information technology, and communication skills to practice effective value-based care. Together, these findings suggest that an evolving market environment is demanding new competencies: business acumen, data analytic skills, and broadened interpersonal relationship skills, including enhanced communication and leadership skills.

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 opensource.com

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Picks of the Week: Zika and microcephaly causal link confirmed

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The last week, a great breadth of noteworthy scientific news was shared on Among Doctors. Let’s have a look at the most important ones:

  • The CDC confirms that the Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly
    In a special report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that on the basis of the available evidence, the Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and possibly other serious brain anomalies.
  • Microbes and Alzheimer’s Disease
    Thirty-three researchers and clinicians point out the potential link of infection to Alzheimer’s disease in a recently published editorial.
  • WHO: Global report on diabetes
    The first WHO Global report on diabetes demonstrates that the number of adults living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults.
  • Antibiotic multiresistance in E.coli and K.pneumoniae in urinary tract infections: A 12-year analysis
    Data of a large sample size of urinary strains isolated over a 12 year period and demonstrates that multi-drug resistance is an increasing phenomenon of particular importance in the main urinary-tract-infections-causing species.
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The CDC confirms Zika virus causes microcephaly

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On the basis of the available evidence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that the Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and possibly other serious brain anomalies. In a special report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the authors checked the existing evidence against the seven Shepard’s Criteria for proof of teratogenicity in humans, concluding that a causal relationship does exist and calling for an intensification of the efforts toward the prevention of adverse outcomes caused by congenital Zika virus infection.

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Photo credit: By Muhammad Mahdi Karim (www.micro2macro.net)

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Coffee consumption associated with 26% lower risk of colorectal cancer

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Regular coffee consumption may be inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer in a dose–response manner. In this study published in the April issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, coffee consumption was associated with 26% lower odds of developing colorectal cancer. The inverse association was also observed for decaffeinated coffee consumption alone and for boiled coffee

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The role of infection in the Alzheimer’s disease causation

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Thirty-three researchers and clinicians point out the potential link of infection to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a recently published editorial. They refer to the “many studies, mainly on humans, implicating specific microbes in the elderly brain, notably herpes simplex virus type 1, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and several types of spirochaete, in the etiology of AD.” Despite the wide breadth of supportive evidence, the authors say that topic is often dismissed as controversial, and urge further research on the link of infectious agents to AD including trials of antimicrobial therapy.

Read the editorial or comment the story on Among Doctors

 

 

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