Nurses In Low Supply
Loveland Herald Reporter
Nursing professionals are continuing to be in high demand but in low supply locally and nationwide. The shortage of nurses state-wide is also having an effect on Thompson School District and is caused by many factors including retiring baby-boomer nurses and fewer new nurses. “The population is aging in general with more chronic and acute illnesses, and they’re needing more care as they age,” said Margaret Andrews, director of the School of Nursing at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. “I think it’s a matter of the schools not being able to keep pace with numbers necessary to produce a lot of additional nurses.” The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence says the physical demands of nursing prevent people from working in the profession past their mid-50s.

Teachers Needed For Nursing Shortage
Orlando Sentinel
During the next three years, Florida Hospital will add more than 600 beds to its system in the region, with major additions being built at its main Orlando facility as well as its campuses in east Orlando, Altamonte Springs and Winter Park. There's one big problem: Adding beds is a lot easier than finding nurses to staff them. The nursing shortfall isn't the result of a lack of interest in nursing. Plenty of people want to be nurses, "but there are not enough slots in educational programs to take them," said Kim Streit of the Florida Hospital Association. "The nursing faculty shortage is more acute than the nursing shortage."

Nursing Shortage is on the Horizon in Connecticut
WTNH, CT
New Haven -- Looking for a nurse's help could become difficult in the near future. A new survey shows Connecticut could be falling short in the years to come. The question is what can be done now to ease that impact? by News Channel 8's Jodi Latina Patient Reihil Mitchell is getting her vital signs checked by a nurse at the Hospital of St. Raphael in New Haven. It's a job 26-year-old Melody Class will begin training for this fall.

AMA Fights Refusals to Fill Prescriptions
USA Today
CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association on Monday agreed to use its clout to try to ensure that pharmacists' moral objections don't block patients' access to needed medicine, including emergency contraceptives. The action was prompted by complaints from several physicians' groups who say a growing number of pharmacists nationwide are refusing to fill prescriptions for contraceptives they consider a form of abortion.

Nursing Shortage Creates Demand
Asbury Park Press
Amy Morrison has turned the nation's nursing shortage to her advantage. The 32-year-old nurse hung up her Ohio scrubs six years ago and hit the road. She's one of an estimated 20,000 U.S. "traveling nurses" who move from hospital to hospital on assignments typically lasting 13 weeks. Travel nurses help hospitals fill workforce gaps and, in some cases, keep hospital units open. Morrison's traveled for six years, working in such places as Hawaii, Alaska, New York and California. She's made 25 percent more than if she'd stayed in Ohio, she estimates, and the former farm girl has seen the country on someone else's dime. "It's a great life," she says.

Team Working on Birth Control for Men
ABC News
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Four decades after the birth control pill became available to women, researchers at the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Medical Center are working to develop a similar contraceptive for men. The research is being conducted with a $7.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Scientists will test compounds at a high-tech laboratory on the university's Lawrence campus.

Tuberculosis Exposure Even More Widespread
Officials probe student doc as nearly 4,000 need tests
Boston Herald
The number of people possibly exposed to tuberculosis from an infected student doctor has swelled to nearly 4,000 while officials probe whether the diseased woman skipped a crucial medical appointment. Testing is under way and health officials are urging former patients and hospital employees - anyone who may have had close contact with the woman - to get tested to prevent an outbreak. Officials said the TB exposure is the broadest in recent Bay State history.

FDA Tentatively OKs Generic AIDS Drug
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Two generic versions of a major AIDS drug were tentatively approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday. The agency said it was giving tentative approval to applications for nevirapine tablets manufactured by two companies in India: Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited in Guragon and Aurobindo Pharma Limited in Hyderabad. These are the first generic versions of Viramune Tablets manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim. The new generic versions won't be immediately available in the United States because of patent exclusivity rules.

Study: Extra Folic Acid May Help Memory
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Taking large amounts of folic acid improved the memory of older adults, Dutch scientists reported Monday in the first study to show a vitamin pill might slow the mental decline of aging. The research adds to mounting evidence that a diet higher in folate — a B vitamin found in grains and certain dark-colored fruits and vegetables — is important for a variety of diseases.

School children need 60 minutes or more of
moderate to vigorous physical activity daily
News-Medical.Net
School-age children should participate in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily, according to an expert panel. "The take-home message for parents is that it is very important to ensure that their children spend at least an hour a day in some form of appropriate physical activity," says Dr. William B. Strong, a pediatric cardiologist and retired professor at the Medical College of Georgia who co-chaired the panel.