Preliminary results from two studies published online last week by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) show that a single dose of the H1N1 vaccine will offer protection for most adults within three weeks of vaccination [1-2]. This is good news in the fight against H1N1, since the vaccine won’t be ready until the start of flu season. On Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that some vaccine may be available as early as the first full week in October [3].
Need For Less Sleep Associated with Gene Mutation
September 2, 2009 | by
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have discovered the first gene involved in regulating the length of human sleep. The study, published recently in the journal Science, identified a genetic mutation that is associated with a short human sleep phenotype [1]. The finding may help scientists better understand the regulatory mechanisms of sleep and lead to treatments for a variety of sleep disorders.
Physician Failure to Report Abnormal Test Results to Patients
July 9, 2009 | by
A new study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine finds that, on average, physicians fail to report clinically significant abnormal test results to patients – or fail to document that they had informed them – in one out of every fourteen cases [1]. In some practices, the failure-to-inform rate is as high as one in five abnormal results.
Researchers at Cornell University’s Weill Cornell Medical College analyzed 5,434 patient records from 23 physician practices across the country, selecting 11 blood tests and 3 screening tests (mammography, Papanicolaou smear and fecal occult blood) commonly performed in the outpatient setting. They consulted with physicians in the appropriate specialties to define a range of clinically significantly abnormal values for each test. For each abnormal result then identified, the scientists searched the patient’s medical record for 13 types of events that occurred in most cases within 90 days suggesting that the patient had been informed. These events included a note stating that the patient had been informed, a repeat of the abnormal test or if a consultation or procedure was performed.
Tackling Heart Disease Together or Alone: The Behavioural Science of Self-Management
June 24, 2009 | by
Heart disease is the leading killer in the U.S. and throughout most of Europe. People’s behaviour can protect and reduce risk of heart disease, and interventions to help people “self-manage” exist. But what is the best way to “self-manage”? A recent study shows that group programmes and self-directed programmes have remarkably different effects [1].
Self-management interventions exist for many health problems. They are notoriously difficult to define. One thorough definition is that it relates to activities undertaken by the person who has a “chronic” or “long-term” condition such as asthma, multiple sclerosis or arthritis. These activities include problem solving, decision making, resource utilization, the formation of a patient-provider partnership, action planning and self tailoring [2]. Interventions or programmes are designed around these activities to help support people to manage their own illness. The idea is that following attendance at a programme of some sort, the activities and skills learned will be continued to be used, thus improving health, maintaining fitness and/or quality of life and reducing the risk of future acute episodes of ill health. These interventions are popular for many reasons, including the relatively low cost to health service providers as interventions can be delivered by health-care professionals or by people with the relevant condition who have been trained, or a mixture of both. Self-management interventions also allow people with long-term conditions to be meet in a group with people with similar conditions. The experience of being in a group, knowing one is not alone and sharing stories is thought to play some part in the effectiveness of self-management interventions. But to what extent is this true?
