VeriChip Expands Hospital Infrastructure
Business Wire
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of Applied Digital announced that Trinitas Hospital, a leading healthcare facility based in Elizabeth, New Jersey has agreed to implement the VeriMed(TM) microchip system and will initiate a clinical evaluation program of the System in its two Emergency Departments for rapid patient identification purposes. Upon implementation, each facility will be able to scan patients to obtain their VeriChip ID Number and utilize the associated database information.
State Faces Thin Medical Ranks
DetNews.com
LANSING -- Michigan faces a shortage of doctors and nurses in the next several years, prompting a push by state health and education officials to promote the medical profession and head off an already disturbing predicament for some people. "We are at the point sometimes that patients are being held in ER and recovery rooms waiting to get beds or go home," said registered nurse Becky Baldwin, who works in an anesthesia unit at a hospital in southwest Michigan. The situation could get worse.
Macon State College to Expand Nurse Program to WR Campus
Macon Telegraph
PERRY -- The Houston County Hospital Authority voted unanimously Wednesday to partner with Macon State College to offer an associate of science degree in nursing at the college's Warner Robins campus. The authority approved $60,000 for a 12-month period to employ at least one additional faculty member to support the expansion. Houston Healthcare also will increase its clinical opportunities for students. The program will begin in January with an enrollment of 40.
Ahead of the pack: Grow-your-own nurse
approach keeps Platte Valley in front
Brighton Standard-Blade
While many hospitals across the country struggle to resolve a growing nursing shortage, Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton quickly fills vacancies, handpicking the best-of-the-best nursing school graduates. The growing 58-bed community hospital takes a proactive approach with a number of different programs from tuition reimbursement for student nurses, to clinical scholar programs that ease the burden on nursing instructors. Collectively, the hospital's effort is a type of grow-your-own-nurse approach that keeps Platte Valley ahead of the pack.
Nursing Program At Community College Gets A Boost
KSBY, CA
The nursing shortage on the Central Coast is in critical condition, but a new program at one local college is hoping to change that. Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo has partnered with six local hospitals to raise more than $100,000 a year to allow the school to hire more nursing teachers. The idea-- more teachers, more nursing students. Currently, some of those students are on a waiting list for nursing classes for a year or more.
Autistic Boy Dies After Unproven Treatment
State police are investigating
ABC News
PITTSBURGH -- An autistic boy died after receiving an unproven treatment that some people believe may cure the neurological and developmental disorder. Officials said they do not know for sure what killed Abubakar Tariq Nadama, 5, who died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack following his third treatment of chelation therapy at a suburban medical clinic. During the treatment, chemicals are administered under the skin or orally. The chemicals bind to heavy metals in the body, and patients excrete the chemicals through urine. The Food and Drug Administration has approved chelation only for acute heavy-metal poisoning that is confirmed by blood tests. Critics call the treatment risky and say there isn't enough evidence to link autism to mercury or lead toxicity. State police also were investigating.
3,100 Reported Ill From N.Y. Water Park
New York Newsday
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- More than 3,100 people in 32 counties have reported being sickened with a gastrointestinal illness related to a state-run water playground, health officials said Thursday. The Sprayground at Seneca Lake State Park closed Aug. 15, and officials continue to investigate how cryptosporidium ended up in two storage tanks that supply water for the park near Geneva.
Study Links Daydreaming, Alzheimer's
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS -- Scientists who set out to explore changes in the brain as Alzheimer's disease progresses got a surprise: a possible link between daydreaming and the degenerative brain disease that robs memory, language and thought. A new Washington University study shows the part of the brain used to daydream is the same where Alzheimer's disease develops — in some people — later in life. It suggests the normal brain activity of daydreaming fuels the sequence of events leading to Alzheimer's.
Canada Reinstates Attention-Deficit Drug
The Associated Press
TORONTO -- An attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug that was forced off the market last February by Canadian Health officials is being reinstated, the drug's maker, Shire Pharmaceuticals, announced Wednesday. Adderall XR will be reinstated on the Canadian market effective this Friday, but it will take a bit longer before the drug is available again across the country, company spokesperson Matt Cabrey said in an interview.
