Great Health Finds

That’s the question that Time Magazine asks in their excellent article, “Are Doctors Just Playing Hunches?” They take a critical look at our healthcare system and how prescription drugs are being used (or misused). For example:

Many doctors used to give anti-arrhythmia drugs to everyone who experienced irregular heartbeats after a heart attack because severely irregular beats could rapidly prove fatal. But then came the results of a randomized trial showing that patients with only mildly irregular heartbeats were more likely to die if given the anti-arrhythmia medication than their untreated counterparts were.

They explore similar problems with cholesterol-lowering medications and hormone-replacement drugs. This is an extremely important topic, and I’m really glad Time did this piece.

Evidence-based medicine has the potential to vastly improve our healthcare system. It could also play a major role in making our healthcare system more efficient and affordable, which is going to be increasingly important over the next few years.

Are Doctors Just Playing Hunches? - Link to article on Time.com, highly recommended reading!

New parents are often faced with a tough decision - Should they donate their child’s cord blood, or store it in case the child needs it one day?

Cord blood is a potential treatment for leukemia, lymphoma, and several other diseases. You can see a list of conditions that can be treated with cord blood and/or bone marrow here.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is not recommending cord-blood-banking as “biological insurance” (for future self-use). Costs are relatively high, and it is difficult to predict what percentage of children will need the blood. The AAP also warns that:

The policy also points out that if cord clamping is done too soon after birth, the infant may be deprived of a placental blood transfusion, resulting in lower blood volume and increased risk for anemia later in life. (scroll down for source)

Here are some good resources if you are looking into storing or donating your child’s cord blood, or you just want to learn about this interesting issue:

• AAP Cord Blood Statement - The AAP’s statement against “cord blood banking for future transplantation”.
• Cord Blood FAQs - From Marrow.org, the National Marrow Donor Program.
• About.com article - Deciding whether or not to bank cord blood, good overview and pros & cons.
• Cordblood.com - The Cord Blood Registry

RID is the committee to Reduce Infectious Deaths that occur during hospital stays & surgeries. These infections affect 2 million Americans and cause ~103,000 deaths per year. RID offers some simple steps to avoid this potentially life-threatening type of infection. Here are 3 of them:

• Ask that hospital staff clean their hands before treating you, and ask visitors to clean their hands too.
• Before your doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to your chest, ask that the diaphragm (or flat surface of the stethoscope) be wiped with alcohol.
• If you need a “central line” catheter, ask your doctor about the benefits of one that is antibiotic-impregnated or silver-chlorhexidine coated to reduce infections.

15 Steps to Reduce Infectious Deaths
Preventing Infections in Hospitals