Key Findings – Healthcare

“Smart” Patient Monitors Changing ICUs

In hospital settings, change is sometimes slow to occur. Yet, small changes can have a big impact on many levels. Take for example, all those intimidating bulky, beeping machines wired to patients in the intensive care units. Thanks to “smart” technologies, mobile patient monitors are starting to appear in many hospitals and could make those mammoth machines a thing of the past.

While most hospitals continuously monitor patient vitals only in ICUs, sleek new wireless monitors worn on patients’ wrists allow nurses to monitor them in a regular room or wherever they are in the hospital. These real-time monitoring devices also eliminate the need for nurses to wake up patients in the middle of the night, and more accurately calculate alarm thresholds using algorithms, reducing “alarm fatigue” (7 in 10 hospital alarms turn out to be false). In addition, the devices save all the information to the patient’s electronic health record for doctors to review as time permits. Now that’s smart technology!

(http://singularityhub.com/2013/11/08/mobile-med-tech-revolution-hits-hospitals/)

Bullets

• On the rise for 30 years, melanoma is the most common cancer in the U.S. among people ages 25-29. In 2013, 76,000 new cases of melanoma were diagnosed resulting in approximately 9,000 deaths. However, when melanoma is detected early survival rates are almost always 100%.(WebMD.com)
• Women under 55 are less likely to seek help for atypical heart attack symptoms – shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, back pain – and more likely than men to die from a heart attack. Women who are depressed have two to three times higher risk of heart disease than other women. 80% – 90% of heart disease is preventable, even for women who have had a heart attack. The key is to know and address your risk factors; high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle and stress. – (WebMD.com)

• 50 million people in the U.S. are affected by all types of arthritis. By 2030 this number is projected to reach 67 million. (cdc.gov)

• Americans drink nearly the same amount of calories from alcohol as they do from sugar-sweetened drinks according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.(huffingtonpost.com)

• Researchers at Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (Rebecca Puhl, PhD) found that the most effective public health campaigns are empowering and solutions-oriented, not focused on body weight and obesity. (experiencelife.com)