Nursing News and Research

Latest Nursing News and Research

Research seeks best mix of hope and care for leukaemia sufferers

Funding has been granted for research seeking the best care options for patients with leukaemia and other blood disorders and their families.

5 Jun 2004

New generation drug therapy targets the individual

The days of ‘one size fits all’ medicines may soon be a thing of the past for people undergoing radical drug therapies for chronic or serious illnesses.

5 Jun 2004

Drinking only bottled water associated with a two-fold risk of infection

Doing laundry using hot water and bleach may prevent infections in the home, while drinking only bottled water may promote infections, according to research.

2 Jun 2004

20 cancer survivors, loved ones and experts to join Lance Armstrong in raising cance awareness

Twenty cyclists have been selected by cancer Community leaders to join cancer survivor and five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope.

2 Jun 2004

Chocolate is good for your heart

UCSF scientists are publishing sweet results of a study examining chocolate's effects on blood vessel function in healthy people. The team reports that small daily doses of flavonoid-rich dark chocolate consumed over a two-week period improved blood vessels' ability to dilate, or expand.

1 Jun 2004

Inadequate hospital staffing affecting death rates in the birthing unit

Inadequate staffing levels and ineffective deployment of midwives are key to many adverse events and near misses in birthing units, according to an international researcher in midwifery.

27 May 2004

HEABC reaches agreement with Nurses

The Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) has reached a Framework Agreement with the Nurses Bargaining Association (NBA) under which both parties will approach negotiations to renew a Collective Agreement and discuss health policy issues related to the nursing workforce.

27 May 2004

Level of smoking by undergraduate female nursing students is higher than that of the general population

Twenty four per cent of them smoked compared with 18 per cent recorded in government figures for Australian females as a whole. (Among male nursing students the figure was 18.9 per cent compared with 21.1 per cent in the rest of the population.)

26 May 2004

Need to determine if black cohosh can improve the quality of people’s lives as some claim

It’s a common herb that more than 10 million American women use to ease menopausal symptoms. Its benefits are touted all over the Internet. Yet, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved it as a drug, and researchers are unsure of its effects on the human body. A University of Missouri-Columbia researcher is hoping to change that.

25 May 2004

People in Michigan with low incomes may be more likely to develop brain cancer

The study, which looked at more than 1,000 cases of people with brain cancer during a two-year period (1996-1997), was published in the recent edition of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

25 May 2004

Quality of life for terminally ill hospital patients could be improved with better management

The final months and weeks for terminally ill hospital patients could be made better if hospitals simply instituted a systematic process to seek the thoughts of dying patients and families on how to improve the medical care provided, say experts at a leading international medical ethics think tank.

24 May 2004

People with low incomes are more likely to develop brain cancer

People with low incomes are more likely to develop brain cancer, according to a study published in the May 25 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 May 2004

Australian neurology ward goes wireless

In a first for the Monash Medical Centre, Ward 54 is going wireless. Efficiencies are expected to increase when clinical staff use innovative hand-held devices and mobile equipment to deliver patient care.

24 May 2004

Canadian healthcare policy under the microscope

Healthcare policies and programs come and go. Yet the professionals who design the medical services we use are rarely mentioned in the general healthcare debates. That's about to change.

23 May 2004

CRT implantable defibrillators significantly reduce hospitalization rates and extend lives

Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center have announced the findings of a large-scale clinical trial for patients with late-stage heart failure. Results showed that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) from implantable pacemaker-like devices or CRT combined with an implantable defibrillator (CRT-D), when used in addition to optimal drug therapy, reduced significantly the mortality and first hospitalization rate when compared to drug therapy alone. CRT-D also substantially lowered mortality.

19 May 2004

Managing large numbers of patients from mass casualty incidents

Today’s hospitals are challenged to become better prepared to manage large numbers of patients from mass casualty incidents (MCI), hazardous material incidents (HAZMAT), or in extreme cases, attacks using weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

17 May 2004

One person per week dies in British hospitality industry from passive smoking

New figures to be presented at a Royal College of Physicians (RCP) conference today will show that every week in the UK one hospitality industry employee dies from passive smoking at work. The new figures, calculated by Professor Konrad Jamrozik of Imperial College in London, will be presented at the RCP conference called ‘Environmental Tobacco Smoke and the Hospitality Industry’.

17 May 2004

Speaking their language aids dementia patients

Elderly dementia patients from non-English speaking backgrounds communicate more with others and take fewer psychiatric medications when living in ethno-specific nursing homes, an Australian study at Monash University has revealed.

17 May 2004

Technology will help as world's population over 60 doubles

It's just a collection of bloody nuts and bolts." That was the damning reaction of a 69-year-old resident at a Scottish nursing home - let's call him William Brown - when asked if he would like a robotic pet as a companion to help relieve his boredom and loneliness. But once he realised that the robot could play games with him, he quickly changed his mind.

15 May 2004

Cancer-causing gene identified that may play a key role in the development of leukemia and other cancers

Using genetically engineered mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have identified a gene that functions as a cancer-causing gene (or oncogene) and may play a key role in the development of leukemia and other cancers in children and adults.

15 May 2004