News Flashes about Healthcare
OLIVE OIL MAY PROTECT AGAINST CANCER
The report in the Annals of Oncology on January 10 states that oleic acid may have a role in prevention. For some reason, oleic acid cuts the levels of Her-2 neu. Oleic acid also increases the effectiveness of Herceptin. Based on the "Mediterranean diet", rich in olive oil this appears to be a promising new avenue of research for breast cancer. Annals of Oncology is published monthly by the European Society for Medical Oncology.
www.annonc.oupjournals.org
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CLINICAL TRIALS
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced that additional information will be provided beyond the information required by law. Current law requires manufacturers to report trials that deal with serious, life-theratening diseases and conditions. The new policy will allow PhRMA members to post, voluntarily, information about other clinical trials, relating to any diseases or conditions. It is hoped that this new policy will allow patients and physicians easier access to information about available clinical trials.
www.clinicaltrials.gov
STAFF SATISFACTION and PATIENT CARE
An article in Pyscho-Oncology, Volume 14, Issue 1, Page 61 states that healthcare workers get the most satisfaction from direct patient care and worry about lack of staffing. Increased workloads result in stress for staff members and their own perception that they can not safely and effectively take care of the patients to the best of their ability under these working conditions. It is important for hospitals and healthcare facilities to adequately staff and maintain the morale of staff members to ensure quality patient care and a good working environment.
MEDICAL REPORTING
As most of you know, I am a firm believer in questioning all media releases - on paper, on TV, online, on the radio. Here is a copy of a newspaper article that addresses this issue. This is from Globe and Mail, Canada's newspaper. It was submitted to another online group that I belong to by long time advocate and author, Musa Mayer. How can we improve medical reporting? Let me count the ways - by ANDRE PICARD
This is a time of year for resolution and reflection. It's a fitting time to turn the tables and, instead of casting a critical eye on a specific aspects of the health system, to look at how well (or poorly) the media report on health news.
In a recent edition of the British Medical Journal, Gary Schwitzer, a former medical correspondent at CNN and now a professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota, presented his "10 troublesome trends in TV health news."
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