Category: Hospital News
One in four patients discharged from the hospital develop medical problems, problems sometimes so serious that they end up going back to the hospital again. In many cases, these complications could have been prevented with better discharge education and planning. Hospitals, for example, could have done a better job educating patients about new medications they [...]
In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, talks about what hospitals—and you—can do to prevent hospital-acquired infections.
The Western Washington Chapter of a Physicians for a National Health Program, a group that supports the establishment of a single-payer health-care system for the United States, will hold its monthly meeting this Wednesday evening, Dec. 17. The meeting will focus on responding to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team’s call for community discussions [...]
The Western Washington Chapter of a Physicians for a National Health Program, a group that supports the establishment of a single-payer health-care system for the United States, will hold its monthly meeting this Wednesday evening, Dec. 17. The meeting will focus on responding to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team’s call for community discussions on health-care [...]
When choosing a hosptial you can now go online to see how they are ranked for quality and safety at a number of websites. But how useful are these rankings to the consumer? Not very, a new study suggests. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Health Affairs. Michael Rothberg, an assistant [...]
Asian-Pacific Islanders are 16% more likely to die than whites in U.S. hospitals from serious, but treatable complications, according to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Why this is so is not known but experts speculate that Asian-Pacific Islanders go to hospitals that give lower quality care, may receive poorer quality of care [...]
Virginia Mason CEO Dr. Gary Kaplan estimates that as much as half of the $2.3 trillion Americans spend on health care does nothing to improve health, according to a Washington Post article on efforts to curtail health-care waste.
Dr. Catherine Wilfert developed the idea that it was possible to prevent the AIDS virus from spreading from an infected mother to her uninfected newborn by giving an anti-HIV drug to the mother just before and to the child right after delivery. The approach can cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 80% and [...]
Dr. Catherine Wilfert developed the idea that it was possible to prevent the AIDS virus from spreading from an infected mother to her uninfected newborn by giving an anti-HIV drug to the mother just before and to the child right after delivery. The approach can cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 80% and is credited [...]
John Howie, Chef and Owner of the Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar in Bellevue, will be cooking up a special Thanksgiving feast for the families of newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center.
Gingko biloba, a popular herbal preparation used to prevent or treat memory problems, failed to prevent the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s diseases in a large study of older men and women. The study appears in today’s issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association Gingko biloba is one of the most popular [...]
WHAT: This free support group is open to all patients who have had gastric bypass surgery at Virginia Mason. We will cover information on healthy eating and exercise and special topics. Patients interested in gastric bypass that have not yet had surgery are welcome, but be reminded that this group is meant to primarily support [...]
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Seattle Times Health News
Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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