Space Coast Daily Healthcare Headlines of the Week
By Dr. James Palermo // May 24, 2014
TOPICS INCLUDE TAINTED BEEF, TOO MANY BLACK SUITS, BRINGING BACK THE ART OF MEDICINE AND MORE
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — Welcome to SpaceCoastDaily’s Healthcare Headlines. The links to health and wellness topics will cover selected national and international sources to help you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s new and useful in achieving and maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, and stay abreast of healthcare news.
RETAILERS IN FLORIDA MAY HAVE RECEIVED TAINTED BEEF
You might want to be extra careful with those Memorial Day weekend charcoal-grilled burgers. CNN reports that 1.8 million pounds of ground beef products were being recalled because they could be contaminated with Escherichia coli.
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service named retailers in 9 states, with Gordon Food Service (GFS) Marketplace stores in Florida, Surf N Turf Market in Sebring, and Giorgio’s Italian Delicatessen in Stuart listed as having possibly received the tainted products. GFS Marketplace has stores throughout Central and South Florida, including Melbourne, Orlando and Daytona Beach.
RESEARCHERS STUDY EFFECTS OF MOBILE PHONES ON TEENAGE BRAINS
A large prospective study of mobile phone use and cognitive impairments in teens is launching in Britain. According to Reuters, the researchers aim to recruit around 2,500 11 to 12 year-old school children and follow their cognitive development over two years while collecting data on how often, for what, and for how long they use mobile or smart phones and other wireless devices.
TOO MANY MEN AND WOMEN IN BLACK SUITS?
Now that healthcare reform is a reality, Dr. Kevin Campbell says, “As the number of hospital administrators and insurance company executives grow, hospital staff and services continue to be cut—nurses and doctors are asked to care for more patients with fewer resources,” and addresses the pressing question: “Which one do you think will positively impact patients more — fewer nurses or fewer dark suits?”
EXERCISE: CAN THERE BE TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?
Excessive exercise may be detrimental to one’s health according to two new studies suggesting that the relationship between health and exercise is more complicated than previously thought. The researchers’ summary suggests that for exercise “maximum cardiovascular benefits are obtained if performed at moderate doses, while these benefits are lost with (very) high-intensity and prolonged efforts.”
BRINGING BACK THE ‘ART’ OF BEDSIDE MEDICINE
In this new millennium age of medicine it seems that a physician’s diagnostic acumen is increasingly primarily dependent on the incredible anatomic resolution afforded by the plethora of scans, grams and digital imaging technology, and the electronic decision support now available to us.
Realizing that the “art” of medicine has taken a back seat to technology and hurt some doctors’ abilities to use physical exams to make accurate diagnoses, Kaiser Health News reports that some medical schools have made reviving bedside medicine a new priority.
ED VISITS JUMP AS OBAMACARE KICKS IN, DOCTORS SAY
One of the projected benefits of extending health coverage to more people under the Affordable Care Act was less need for emergency department (ED) visits.
However, an American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) survey reveals that ED visits have not decreased. In fact, 46 percent of physicians surveyed reported increases in patients coming through their doors since Jan. 1, the day coverage took effect for millions under Obamacare, with only 23 percent reporting a decrease.
The Huffington Post notes that it “underscores the challenges beyond extending health coverage to more people, including improving access to primary care and changing the habits of patients accustomed to using the emergency room as a one-stop-shop for medical care.”
As Rebecca Parker, an emergency room doctor in Chicago who is on ACEP’s board of directors, said, “Coverage does not equal access. Just because you gave somebody Medicaid doesn’t mean that there’s a place for them to go in terms of a primary care, outpatient facility.”
