Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospitals Work To Eliminate 'Alarm Fatigue' From Constant Monitor Alerts
The Wall Street Journal: At The Hospital, Better Responses To Those Beeping Alarms
In hospitals, alarms on patient-monitoring devices create a cacophony of noise day and night—beeping, pinging and ringing so often that doctors and nurses ignore them, turn them off or just stop hearing them. Now, hospitals are adopting solutions to silence or eliminate unnecessary alarms, while ensuring that staffers don’t miss alerts that could signal a life-threatening crisis. Smarter technology and more-precise monitoring practices are helping prevent false alarms, alert nurses to true emergencies, and identify deteriorating patients before an alarm signals a crisis. (Landro, 1/4)
The Baltimore Sun: Autopsy Finds Concussion-Related Brain Changes In 25-Year-Old Former Football Player
Researchers have found the hallmarks of chronic traumatic encephalopathy throughout the brain of a 25-year-old former college football player who sustained more than 10 concussions during about 16 years on the gridiron. The unnamed athlete, described in a report published Monday by the journal JAMA Neurology, is the youngest patient to get a definitive diagnosis of widespread CTE. (Healy, 1/4)
The Baltimore Sun: Vaccine For Common Respiratory Infection Shows Promise In Trials
Now a vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, as RSV is formally called, is showing promise in early trials at the Johns Hopkins University, giving researchers and doctors hope of stemming the leading cause of hospitization for children less than a year old. Every year, the virus sends an estimated 2 million children under age 5 to the doctor and 57,000 to the hospital, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Cohn, 1/4)
The Wall Street Journal: New Weapons In The Fight Against Multiple Myeloma
Few types of cancer research have witnessed more progress in the past decade than the fight against the blood cancer known as multiple myeloma. There are 10 multiple myeloma treatments on the market, including three that won Food and Drug Administration approval during a remarkable 15-day span in November. Other medications in the pipeline hold promise to meet patients’ hopes for even further gains. (Winslow, 1/4)
