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Image Credit: Ford Motor Company

Capitalizing on Americans’ interest in health and wellness, automakers are looking at medical technology as the next option that may interest new car buyers. Auto manufacturers are developing on-board applications that can monitor blood glucose levels or cardiac rhythms, check high pollen levels, ease a driver’s stress level, and warn of dangerous conditions that can put the driver at risk. For car buyers who are concerned that fluctuations in their health may affect their ability to drive safely, there may be an app for that.

Being a nurse is all about lending a helping hand, and Cindy Tryniszewski, Executive Director of Elsevier/MC Strategies, is doing just that in her work with Project Helping Hands. Last month, the Journal of Emergency Nursing published an article from Cindy on Project Helping Hands and their mission.

For some time, it was bacteria on the cell phones of health care workers that were thought to present a risk of nosocomial infection to patients. A new study reveals that it’s actually the bacteria on patients’ cell phones that is more troubling.

In what many believe to be a discovery that will reverse standard medical practice in the months and years to come, a recent study found that 20% of women being treated for early-stage breast cancer received no benefit from surgical removal of cancerous lymph nodes. 

The results are in: Although some have argued that increasing the number of nurses can be costly, not having enough can put patients at risk. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has provided some answers about how patient mortality is related to low nurse staffing levels. The study supports what many have long believed...

Not surprisingly, job satisfaction is an important predictor of staff retention among nurses. But what role does belonging to a union play in terms of job satisfaction and staff retention? Previous studies have revealed a puzzling relationship: unionized RNs reported lower job satisfaction, but their retention rate was higher. A new study has attempted to explain why.

A recent research study published in the online journal Science revealed that testing doesn’t just assess what we know, it may actually help us learn. The research found that students who studied material and then tested on it retained about 50 percent more knowledge a week later than students who used other study methods. 

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major public health problem responsible for approximately 60% of skin infections seen in emergency departments. A growing number of cases affect children. Invasive MRSA infections, which are even more serious, result in an estimated 18,000 deaths a year. Earlier this year, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) issued its first-ever clinical practice guidelines for treating MRSA infections in adults and children.

Between 2000 and 2005, the incidence of hospitalizations for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) nearly doubled. So did the fatality rate from this infection. Risk factors for CDI (such as the use of certain antibiotics and gastric acid suppressors, age over 65, and hospitalization) are so common that CDI poses a continuing danger. To help reduce that danger, recent research has identified ways for you and your colleagues to prevent and manage CDI.