World Alzheimer's Month and Day
World Alzheimer's Month is observed in September every year. World Alzheimer's Month was introduced in September 2012 after a successful pilot in 12 countries in 2010. The decision to introduce the full month, to contain the existing World Alzheimer's Day, was made to enable national and local Alzheimer associations worldwide to extend the reach of their awareness programs over a longer period of time.
World Alzheimer's Day is on September 21 each year. Although World Alzheimer's Month offers a longer period of time for Alzheimer associations worldwide to raise awareness, World Alzheimer's Day marks the pinnacle of the month.
World Alzheimer's Month unites opinion leaders, people with dementia, their carers and family, medical professionals, researchers, and the media from all around the world.
Having a globally coordinated awareness month and day sends a strong message to governments and policymakers alerting them of the fact that dementia is a serious health issue, which will have serious implications on services and health systems around the world as the world's population grows older. In addition, by focusing on a different message each year, the month can be used to educate and challenge people's misconceptions about dementia.
September provides an opportunity for Alzheimer associations around the world to gain recognition and credibility for the work they do, placing themselves in a stronger position to influence opinion leaders and governments.
For more information go to: http://www.alz.co.uk/world-alzheimers-month/about
Innovative Diabetes Self-Management Programs Identified for Urban Patients Who Speak Various Languages
Research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) identified innovative diabetes self-management programs for patients who speak various languages. The study and abstract, "Diabetes Health Information Technology Innovation to Improve Quality of Life for Health Plan Members in Urban Safety Net," appeared in the April-June issue of Journal of Ambulatory Care Management. Through an automated telephone system, the program provided 27 weeks of support in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. Participants showed improvements in diabetes self-care behaviors, suggesting that automated telephone support can play an important role in improving patient-centered diabetes care.
Extending Authorities to Additional Tobacco Products
Despite decades of efforts to reduce tobacco use, it continues to be the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. To address this public health problem, the FDA proposes extending its authority to cover additional products that meet the definition of a tobacco product under the proposed rule: Tobacco Products Deemed to Be Subject to the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (Deeming). Currently the FDA regulates cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco. Proposed newly "deemed" products would include electronic cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, certain dissolvables that are not "smokeless tobacco," gels, and waterpipe tobacco.
Once the proposed rule becomes final, the FDA will be able to use powerful regulatory tools, such as age restrictions and rigorous scientific review of new tobacco products and claims to reduce tobacco-related disease and death.
Consumers Benefit From Expanded APRN Practice
A federal agency is urging state lawmakers to think twice before putting new restrictions on advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), a move that proponents say will help increase consumer access to healthcare.
In March, the Federal Trade Commission-the government agency that works to protect consumers and prevent anticompetitive business practices-released a policy paper that warns that barriers to APRN practice could reduce the kind of free-market competition in the healthcare industry that benefits consumers. "Even well intentioned laws and regulations may impose unnecessary, unintended, or overbroad restrictions on competition, thereby depriving health care consumers of the benefits of vigorous competition," the paper states. APRNs, it adds, play a "critical role" in alleviating shortages of primary care providers and expanding access to healthcare for medically underserved populations. Expanded APRN scope of practice, it concludes, is "good for competition and American consumers."
It's good for business, too, says Micah Weinberg, PhD, senior policy advisor at the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored public policy advocacy organization in San Francisco. Access to healthcare is critical for workers and communities, he says. "If we don't have healthy communities, we don't have healthy consumers, and we won't have a healthy workforce."
Historically, physicians have operated under an extremely broad legal definition of their scope of practice, according to Barbara Safriet, JD, LLM, a visiting professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, OR. Nurses have, as a result, had to "carve out" the right to perform certain roles and functions, and they have had different results in different states, she writes in a landmark report on the future of the nursing profession that was released in 2010 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
This has led to what Safriet calls a "crazy quilt" of state laws that "makes no logical sense." In some states, she notes, APRNs are "permitted to examine patients, order and interpret laboratory and other tests, diagnose and treat illness and injury, prescribe indicated drugs, order or refer for additional services, admit and attend patients in a hospital or other facility, and get paid directly" for their services. But in others, they face a litany of restrictions on these practices. The difference, she adds, has to do with state-level politics rather than the capabilities of nurses. For the full story visit: http://www.rwjf.org
Technology: Improving the Quality of Life for Dependent Elderly Adults?
Western populations are aging. As a result, there is an increase in elderly adults living in specialized institutions. A "paradoxical side effect" of this is a feeling of solitude and isolation. Can information and computer technologies prevent this and work to improve the quality of life for such adults? Research published in Behaviour & Information Technology suggests they can.
The study examines the psychological profiles of a group of elderly adults (with a mean age of 87 years) living in residential home care units (RHCUs). The residents were introduced to software comprising three different activities: leisure games, a journal editing tool, and an intuitive emailing device. They were examined before the software use, during the introductory training stage, and afterward. The authors of the study hypothesized that the "social seclusion" that can arise from living in an RHCU can be decreased through adjusting to a new technological environment, an environment that provides residents with new skills. Despite initial reluctance from the subjects of the study, the research suggests that elderly adults observed can both grasp a technological universe and use it to improve their quality of life. The study shows that on a personal level, technology increases both the self-esteem and self-confidence of the residents. More interestingly, perhaps, the experiment also prompted the individuals to play a greater role in social activities where they helped and supported one another.
Read the full article online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144929X.2013.832382