Morning Report: Health stories in the news

Giving primary-care doctors time to give care

P-I reporter Vanessa Ho writes about efforts by Group Health Cooperative and Swedish Medical Center to give family doctors more time to see patients. Patients get 30 to 60 minutes a visit, instead of the standard 15, and better care. Doctors get to practice better medicine and have more satisfying work-life. The idea is to provide patients with a “medical home” where their care can be coordinated  and problems headed off before they can become serious.

To learn more:

• Post-Intelligencer: Doctors get the time they crave with patients
• Watch the American Academy of Family Physicians’ video on medical homes:

Opinion: Saying “Whoa!” to nanotechnology

Seattle Times staff columnist Jerry Large  says its time to stop and take a careful look at the potential risks posed by nanotechnology.

Nanotech involves manufacturing materials on the atomic scale. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. A DNA molecule, for example, is 2 nanometers in diameter. Materials made using nanotechnology have many useful properties and already some 600 products containing nanotech materials are on the market from lipstick to electronics. But how safe are they?

Large’s cites a recent report by the National Research Council, which says the government needs to to a better job evaluating the safety of nanotech materials.

Large quotes David Eaton, a University of Washington professor of environmental and occupational-health sciences and the chair of the expert panel that put together the report , saying the government’s current effort “does not present an overarching research strategy needed to gain public acceptance and realize the promise of nanotechnology.”

To learn more:

• Jerry Large: Progress may not always be
• National Research Council’s press release on the report, which has links to the full report online
• Wikipedia: Nanotechnology
• Watch a video on nanotechnology and cancer treatment from the National Cancer Institute

Strong support for health-care reform: Poll

A majority of Americans want quick action on health-care reform, according a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. The poll found 63% of Democrats and 52% of Independents wanted “major changes right away,” the Post reports. Among Republicans 44% wanted a major shake up but did not want immediate changes. 

To learn more:

• Washington Post: Optimism High About Obama Policies, Poll Finds

Flu bug resistant to popular flu drug

The CDC reports that a strain of the influenza virus circulating in the U.S.A. is resistant to Tamiflu (oseltamivir), the drug most commonly used to treat the flu. The CDC urges doctors to choose another drug or add a second drug in addition to Tamiflu when treated influenza.

To learn more:

• CDC alert: Seasonal Flu
• Reuters: U.S. flu shows resistance of flu drug

Tags: Flu, Health-care Reform, Influenza, Nanotechnology, News, Primary-care

Category: Health-care Policy, Hospital News, Infections