Heart Association: Hands-only CPR works

From CNN.com
In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR — rapid, deep presses on the victim’s chest until help arrives — works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.
Experts hope bystanders will now be more willing to jump in and help if they see someone [...]

Part-Time Practice Trends Intensify Physician Shortage

From Cejka:
The imbalance in the supply and demand for physicians will continue to intensify as the U.S. population continues to grow faster than the physician workforce. Added pressure will come with the increasing number of physicians practicing medicine on a part-time basis, as reported the 2007 Retention Survey from the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) [...]

A loan-forgiveness program isn’t always enough to attract doctors to rural areas

From the Times Union:
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed a new loan-forgiveness program that would entice new doctors to rural communities like Cobleskill, and his newly sworn-in successor, Gov. David Paterson, has expressed support for the initiative.
But many in the medical community say it isn’t enough.
The program, they say, doesn’t address the overarching problems: exorbitant malpractice [...]

Avera Health Forms Avera Medical Group

From Modern Physician:
Avera Health, Sioux Falls, S.D., announced it has formed Avera Medical Group, a network of 325 physicians and 187 health professionals in communities across Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas. The 75 practices in the medical group will share branding, business operations, managed-care contracting, recruitment and retention, coding and reimbursement, information technology, property [...]

City Tries to Cut Down on Unnecessary Ambulance Calls

From the Washington Post:
The ambulances come screaming down city streets, rushing on calls to burst boils, clip hangnails and check on smelly body parts. At the cost of $700 a visit.
Meanwhile, the District’s ambulances are unavailable to help in real 911 emergencies, a problem the city’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department is trying to [...]

Study Finds Many Patients Dissatisfied With Hospitals

Here’s the NY Times Health Blog’s Take:
Many hospital patients are dissatisfied with some aspects of their care and might not recommend their hospitals to friends and relatives, the federal government said Friday as it issued ratings for most of the nation’s hospitals, based on the first uniform national survey of patients.
The survey was meant to [...]

3 dead in hospital shooting in Georgia

From MSNBC:
COLUMBUS, Ga. - A retired teacher bearing a grudge over his mother’s treatment at the hospital where she died fatally shot one of her nurses, another employee and a man outside Thursday before police shot him, authorities said.
Charles Johnston, 63, is being charged with murder and will be turned over to police after an [...]

“Give Me 5” Raises Awareness of Stroke Symptoms

From the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP):
ACEP and The Stroke Collaborative have kicked-off a nationwide public relations campaign to encourage Americans to recognize stroke symptoms, call 9-1-1, and get to the emergency department. The campaign, “Give Me 5,” features ACEP member and stroke survivor Diana Fite, MD.
The “Give Me 5″ Site: http://www.giveme5forstroke.org/ 

Safety features can impede car crash rescues

From Kansas.com
Capt. Clint Roberts makes his living cutting accident victims out of hideously mangled vehicles, but even he could hardly believe it when two people in a 2007 midsize car survived a head-on crash with a full-size pickup last year.
The Ford Fusion’s reinforced steel construction probably saved the lives of the 18-year-old driver and his [...]

Emergency Contraception Case Lands in Illinois Supreme Court

From the Wall Street Journal Health Blog:
Pharmacists shouldn’t be forced to dispense the “morning-after pill,” a form of emergency contraception known as Plan B, lawyers argued yesterday in the Illinois Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports.
Plan B, sold by Barr Labs, is simply a high dose version of the same hormones used in birth control [...]