Nursing News and Research

Latest Nursing News and Research

Participation in Connecticut Charter Oak Health Plan off to slow start

Fewer than 3,000 primary care physicians and one hospital are currently participating in Connecticut's Charter Oak Health Plan for uninsured adults, which began accepting applications in July, the Hartford Courant reports.

3 Aug 2008

Recovery from ante-partum bed rest - Case Western study

After weeks of bed rest during pregnancy, new mothers need to rebuild muscles and strengthen their stamina. Now a group of women will test new interventions in aiding that recovery during a pilot study at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.

29 Jul 2008

New antibiotics to fight MRSA

A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.

28 Jul 2008

Medical errors costing $1.5 billion annually

Potentially preventable medical errors that occur during or after surgery may cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year, according to new estimates by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

28 Jul 2008

Foods high in conjugated linoleic acids can enrich breast milk

Have a cookie before breast-feeding, mom? Eating special cookies enriched with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) can increase the level of these potentially healthful fatty acids in breast milk, reports a recent study in the journal Nutrition Research.

28 Jul 2008

Physical fitness levels influence brain atrophy in Alzheimer's

People with early Alzheimer's disease who had better fitness ratings had less atrophy in key brain areas associated with memory, according to research reported today at the 2008 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2008) in Chicago.

27 Jul 2008

Breastfed babies get a taste for good food

Danish researchers say babies who are breastfed get a taste for fruit and vegetables from their mother's milk and are more likely to be healthy.

24 Jul 2008

Making patients move requires the right exercise advice

It is common knowledge that regular exercise supports physical and mental well-being. Despite this and recommendations from health care providers, the majority of patients with chronic illnesses remain inactive.

23 Jul 2008

Automated de-identification of free-text medical records - privacy assured by electronic censor

Newly developed software will help to allay patients' fears about who has access to their confidential data. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making describes a computer program capable of deleting details from medical records which may identify patients, while leaving important medical information intact.

23 Jul 2008

Fish oil supplements could slow wound healing

A recent study shows that popular fish oil supplements have an effect on the healing process of small, acute wounds in human skin. But whether that effect is detrimental, as researchers initially suspected, remains a mystery.

23 Jul 2008

Nursing teams in care homes could reduce hospital admissions

Bringing a community nursing and physiotherapy team into residential care homes for older people improves quality of life and reduces hospital admissions, according to a new evaluation study's reports published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

22 Jul 2008

Healthcare assistants feel undervalued

UNISON is calling for 'just a little respect' for the vital role that healthcare assistants play in treating and caring for patients.

22 Jul 2008

Association of Academic Health Centers calls for national plan to recruit, retain health care workers

The Association of Academic Health Centers on Thursday during a briefing said that the federal government needs to help develop a national plan to recruit and retain health care workers to meet increased demand as the U.S. population ages, Cox/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Tseng, Cox/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/18).

22 Jul 2008

Study outlines measures to limit effects of pandemic flu on nursing homes

The greatest danger in a pandemic flu outbreak is that it could spread quickly and devastate a broad swath of people across the United States before there is much of a chance to react. The result could be a nation brought to its knees by a disease run rampant.

21 Jul 2008

Penn partnership designed to eliminate childhood obesity wins prize

Students from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Pediatric Acute/Chronic and Oncology Nurse Practitioner program earned first place for their research poster at the 24th Annual Pediatric Nursing National Conference in Las Vegas.

21 Jul 2008

Rural doctors say people in the bush can expect to die younger

The Australian Rural Doctors' Association (RDAA) says because of the shortage of doctors in rural and remote Australia people in the bush die sooner.

21 Jul 2008

AARP finds U.S. seniors have limited access to home and community-based aervices under Medicaid

A new report by AARP's Public Policy Institute finds mixed results and promising signs among state government efforts to balance long-term care (LTC) options under Medicaid. Unfortunately, according to the report, only four states spent more than 50 percent of their Medicaid LTC dollars for older people providing home and community based services (HCBS). In Pennsylvania, 90% of Medicaid LTC dollars for older people and adults with physical disabilities who have limited financial resources are steered to nursing homes.

14 Jul 2008

Integrating palliative care for dementia into primary care

Greg A. Sachs, M.D., has received an award from the National Palliative Care Research Center to conduct a study aimed at improving quality of life and decreasing suffering for older adults and their family caregivers. The award is one of only two pilot project support grants funded by NPCRC in 2008.

14 Jul 2008

Optimism is good for heart health, at least among men, a new study shows

University of Rochester Medical Center researcher Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., found that men who believed they were at lower-than-average risk for cardiovascular disease actually experienced a three times lower incidence of death from heart attacks and strokes.

14 Jul 2008

Online courses boost infection control skills that could prove vital in a pandemic

Online courses are helping staff to develop the skills they need to tackle hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA and C.difficile, and this expertise could also prove vital in a pandemic, according to a study published in the latest issue of the UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.

10 Jul 2008