Help! I Need Somebody!
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About 30% of employees care for an elderly relative and 54% predict that they will be in a caregiver role within the next 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A new survey shows that only 6% of employee benefit plans offer comprehensive programs for family leave, bereavement leave, or programs to assist employees in coping with a terminal illness or a family member who is terminally ill.
Three employers who offer "exemplary" benefits and programs to their employees were AT&T, Johns Hopkins University, and Fanny Mae, according to a survey by Matthew Greenwald and Associates of Washington, DC. AT&T offers a web-based support tool to help employees find services needed to help deal with a family member who has a terminal illness.
Johns Hopkins offers a consultation and referral service, and Fanny Mae employee benefits include an elder care program and an on-site geriatric case worker who offers counseling. Previous research done by MetLife estimates that "the aggregate costs of care-giving in lost productivity to American business [is] $11.4 billion a year."
http://dailynews.yahoo.com
Sometimes Cheaper IS Better!
The New England Journal of Medicine has reported that a new study shows adding the drug Aldactone to standard therapy for severe heart failure reduced deaths by 30% and hospitalizations by 36% in participating patients. The study was sponsored by Searle, maker of Aldactone, a drug long on the market.
According to the American Heart Association, nearly 5 million people in the United States suffer from chronic heart failure. The study, performed in 15 countries on more than 1,600 patients with severe heart failure was halted 18 months early by an independent oversight committee because the results were seen as so significant that it would have been unethical to continue the trial.
Despite potential hyperkalemia and gynecomastia in males caused by the drug, the lifesaving benefits much outweigh the risks. Searle officials say they hope to learn whether Aldactone has the same life-saving benefit for patients suffering from hypertension and from less severe forms of heart failure.
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/heart
"Put on Your Boxing Gloves, Cause the Bugs Are Back!"
Permethrin is apparently only partially effective against head lice in American children who have been previously treated with a common pediculicide. Dr. Richard Pollack and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public health in Boston Massachusetts tested permethrin susceptibility of head lice taken from 745 American children in Idaho and Massachusetts between the ages of 5 and 8. They compared the kill rates to those in head lice taken from 59 children between the ages of 6 and 13 living in Sabah, Borneo.
American head lice won, legs down. Some of the lice were resistant to permethrin and were not affected by increased doses. Physicians believe this is due to the treatment of lice with pediculicides containing pyrethrins or permethrin prior to this study. Something other than pyrethrins may be needed to bug these bugs!
Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine,1999;153:969-973.
Mark Your Calendars: It's Ms. Nightingale's Birthday
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May 12, 2000 marks the 180th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth.
At noon on this date, nurses from around the world will pause for a moment of silent reflection dedicated to Ms. Nightingale.
The worldwide event is sponsored by the American Holistic Nurses' Association and the Colorado Center for Human Caring.
The objectives of the worldwide commemorative moment are to:
1. honor Ms. Nightingale and her legacy to modern nursing;
2. honor the strength and wisdom of our nursing mission;
3. reconnect with the fire and the soul-the sense of calling in nursing;
4. acknowledge the interconnections and oneness of nurses in personal, political, social, and scientific domains; and
5. relight the lamp and carry the vision of caring and healing into the new Millennium.
For more information: http://ahna.org/nightingale.htm
A Sniff is as Good as an Injection
A prototype electronic inhaler delivers nebulized morphine at a rate, level, and efficacy comparable with intravenous administration of morphine, according to findings presented at the 9th World Congress on Pain. When compared with the 100% bioavailability of IV morphine, the bioavailability of morphine via the inhaled dose packet was reported to be 75%. Both methods deliver morphine to the blood within 2 minutes. The inhaler's advantage is the absence of needles.
http://pharmacotherapy.medscape.com/reuters
Is There a Fungus Amongus?
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Indoor air can be more contaminated than outdoor air and can lead to serious illness. Indoor air pollutants include chemical contaminants like paints, wood preservatives, deodorizers, cleansers, particle-board, and adhesives.
In addition to chemical contaminants, mold, mildew, dust mites, animal dander, and pollen are common even in very clean homes.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Little Old Wine Drinker, We!
Alcohol consumption may have a protective effect on the heart and prevent some forms of cancer. However, it has not been conclusively demonstrated which types of alcohol have these effects.
Dr. Serge Renaud of the Institut National pour la Sante et la Recherche Medicale in Bordeaux, France used a questionnaire to evaluate the drinking habits of 36,250 men aged 40 to 60 years. (Yes, he did have colleagues to assist him!) They found that persons reporting a moderate consumption of wine-2 to 3 drinks per day-had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes than did persons who did not consume alcoholic beverages.
Moderate wine consumption also reduced the risk of death due to cancer, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease. French men who consumed 2 to 5 drinks of wine per day had a significant (29%-33%) reduction in overall mortality relative to abstainers.
Archives of Internal Medicine, 1999; 159: 1865-1870