Reducing deadly infections in the hospital

The March 2010 Consumer Reports magazine has an article titled, "Deadly Infections." How can hospitals reduce deadly infections? The Consume Reports article actually talks about central lines and calls out the fact that it adds about $42,000 when an ICU patient gets a central line infection. The article has a picture of central line locations, but neglects one of the most common sites - the groin. The femoral vein is a common site during emergent situations, but it's also a common site for medical students, interns, and residents who are not confident in placing a central line in the chest/neck area.

As we see further advances in medical care, we may see innovative ways to reduce hospital infections in patients who are critically ill. Hand washing still remains a critical infection control measure. I personally believe that the use of digital alerts can significantly help reduce the risks for infections in the hospital.  More hospitals will be incorporating electronic health records (EHRs) and computerized order entry (CPOE) as they leverage ARRA funds.

Maternal age and autism risk for their children

According to this story on CNN, the journal Autism Research has published findings from a 10-year study of 4.9 million births in the 1990s that showed a link between autism and the mother's age at conception. Older mothers' kids have higher autism risk. Here's a snippet from the story:

In the latest study, researchers found that mothers over the age of 40 had 51 percent higher odds of having children with autism compared with mothers between the ages 25 and 29.

Here are the story highlights:

• Study: Risk of having child with autism increases with maternal age
• Prior studies indicate babies born to older women have higher risks of health problems
• Autism rates up 600 percent over past two decades
• Older mothers account for only 5 percent of autism increase

There's no doubt that the topic of autism has gained tremendous public interest over the past several years.We probably all know someone who has autism or a child with autism. What do we really understand about this condition and will we see a drug that can effectively "cure" autism? When it comes to autism, there are probably more myths and misconceptions floating around compared to accurate evidence-based information. As medical technology continues to get more advanced, what more will we learn about autism? Perhaps we'll find a way to prevent autism or even cure it in the future.

PDR Network expands REMS services

PDR “REMS- up” Executive Team
Top Medical / Regulatory Experts Join PDR Network Management Team

 

( Montvale, NJ) – Feb. 9, 2010 – The PDR Network, already the largest distributor of FDA-approved drug information, Alerts and REMS programs to physicians, has added two top regulatory and risk executives to its management team and expanded its REMS and pharmaceutical risk offerings.

Christine Côté, MD, has joined PDR Network as the Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Côté has over 24 years experience at Johnson & Johnson and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, where she held several senior regulatory, clinical and strategic positions including Chief Scientific Officer for J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutica division. Also during her time at J&J, Dr. Côté was directly involved with the creation of the Health Care Notification Network, now operated by PDR Network, which sends drug Alerts and REMS programs to U.S. physicians electronically, replacing paper notifications and traditional Dear Doctor Letters.  

John Loucks has joined PDR Network’s senior management team as the Vice President of Sales. Mr. Loucks was previously the Chief Customer Officer for Relsys, the drug safety solutions company recently acquired by Oracle Corporation. During his time at Relsys, Mr. Loucks assisted in the development, sale and implementation of Relsys’ Argus Safety™, which is the number one drug safety system used by pharmaceutical manufacturers worldwide.

Dr Côté and Mr. Loucks join the team at PDR Network as part of the expansion of medication risk and REMS services that communicate directly with all prescribing U.S. physicians. PDR Network is the largest distributor of FDA-required REMS programs for pharmaceutical firms, having delivered over three million REMS and drug Alerts to physicians and other prescribers in the past two years.

For more information about PDR Network, visit www.pdrnetwork.com.

Crestor (rosuvastatin) is the first statin to receive FDA approval for primary prevention

Crestor (rosuvastatin) is the first statin to receive FDA approval for primary prevention of heart disease. According to MedPageToday, the indication is for the following:

The new indication would be for men 50 or older and women 60 or older who have fasting LDL of less than 130 mg/dL, a highly-sensitive CRP of 2.0 mg/L or greater, triglycerides of less than 500 mg/dL, and no prior history of heart attack or stroke, or coronary heart disease risk.

The FDA has been discussing the results of a significant study called the Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) study. The results of the JUPITER study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November 2008 (and since it's now in the public domain, you can click here to read the full study). Considering that this is a paradigm shift regarding the use of statins, the FDA wanted plenty of time to go through the data before they approve a new indication.

The funny thing is that my wife and I were talking about primary prevention, normal lipid levels, hs-CRP, and primary prevention the other day. My cholesterol levels are fine, but what about my hs-CRP? Should I be on a statin? Any statin, or a specific statin?

Crestor (rosuvastatin) in marketed by AstraZeneca.

Meet me on Wed (March 2) at the Meet the Bloggers session at #HIMSS10

If you're attending HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) this year in Atlanta, Georgia, then make sure to swing by the Social Media Center on Tuesday March 2 and say hello from 3:30 pm to 5 pm. I'll be participating in the "Meet the Bloggers" session and I look forward to meeting some of you.

I was invited to participate last year in "Meet the Bloggers," but I couldn't make it out to Chicago.  Last year, the "Meet the Bloggers" was part of the HIMSS Tech Lab. Considering that the buzz word/phrase these days is "Social Media," I'm glad to see that HIMSS has properly named a section the Social Media Center. Here's some more information about that center:

The Social Media Center is the destination to explore and connect with HIMSS Groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Attendees will meet industry bloggers, make new health IT connections, and maximize their networking activities at HIMSS10 and beyond. Educational sessions range from basic social media use to more advanced topics in this emerging space. Attendees can stop by for one-on-one discussion and instruction when center sessions are not in progress. Also, be sure to have a photo taken in the center’s HIMSS Fan Page Photo Booth.

You can get more information about Meet the Bloggers here:
http://himssconference.org/education/socialmedia.aspx

TIGER (Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform)

Are you familiar with TIGER (Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform)?

The Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform (TIGER) Initiative aims to enable practicing nurses and nursing students to fully engage in the unfolding digital electronic era in healthcare. The purpose of the initiative is to identify information/knowledge management best practices and effective technology capabilities for nurses. TIGER's goal is to create and disseminate action plans that can be duplicated within nursing and other multidisciplinary healthcare training and workplace settings.

The TIGER Initiative is working to catalyze a dynamic, sustainable, and productive relationship between the Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI), with its 20 nursing informatics professional societies, and the major nursing organizations including the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Association of Nurse Executives (AONE), the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and others which collectively represent over 2,000,000 nurses.

The Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) is working on third phase of implementation, integrating the TIGER recommendations into the nursing community along withi colleagues from all disciplines across the continuum of care.

Learn more about TIGER by visiting: http://www.tigersummit.com/

Taking social media to the next level at #HIMSS10

Many of us have made contacts in the world of social media. We've seen photos of people on Twitter and Facebook. We've even connected on the phone. However, nothing replaces a face-to-face meeting and I'm looking forward to connecting with some people at HIMSS this year. Over the past 12 months, I've made many connections in the world of health IT and I'm eager to put a real face to these Twitter user names.

Make sure to join me at the Meet the Bloggers session on Tuesday, March 2 at 3:30 pm – 5 pm. I'll be on the panel and I look forward to seeing you at the Social Media Center at HIMSS10. Make sure to meet the other bloggers on Mon and Wed.

For more information about the Social Media Center and Meet the Bloggers at HIMSS10, click here.

Visit Dr. Kim online

Not me, but a different Dr. Kim who works at Wrightstown Family Medicine.  If you search for "Dr. Kim" online, you'll find thousands of people named Dr. Kim.

This Dr. Kim is a family physician and she's married to me.

Visit: http://www.wrightstownfamilymedicine.com/