States Navigate Ethical, Legal Minefield To Create ‘Crisis Standards Of Care’
Health departments across the country are developing guidelines for medical care during a public health crisis. In other news, patients are receiving CT scans even when their injuries do not warrant them, fewer than 1 in 4 high school students are getting tested for HIV despite CDC recommendations and a violence prevention program aims to address problematic issues in its patients' lives.
The Associated Press:
States Hone Health Crisis Plans To Activate In Catastrophes
The scenarios are grim: A pandemic influenza swamps the availability of hospital ventilators. A chemical spill exhausts antidote supplies and decontamination abilities. A terror attack overwhelms ambulances and trauma centers. A big earthquake, wildfire or hurricane throws emergency rooms into crisis. At the prodding of the federal government, state health departments nationwide are hurrying to complete "Crisis Standards of Care" plans to guide medical professionals in such catastrophes and determine what should trigger them. It's no easy task: Plan architects must navigate the ethical and legal minefields that would arise if there are more patients than providers at hospitals, clinics and other medical settings are set up to handle in usual fashion. (1/19)
NPR:
People With Minor Injuries Are Increasingly Getting CT Scans
If you fall off a curb, bop your head and go to the ER to make sure you're OK, there's a good chance you'll be trundled off for a CT scan. That might sound comforting, but people with injuries minor enough that they get sent home are increasingly being given computed tomography scans, a study finds. That's despite efforts to reduce the unnecessary use of CTs, which use radiation and increase the lifetime risk of cancer. (Shute, 1/19)
Earlier KHN coverage: Heavy Use Of CT Scans Raises Concerns About Patients’ Exposure To Radiation (Boodman, 1/6)
The Associated Press:
HIV Testing Uncommon In Teens Despite Recommendations: CDC
Fewer than 1 in 4 high school students who’ve had sex have ever been tested for HIV, a troubling low rate that didn’t budge over eight years, government researchers say. Young adults fared slightly better, although testing rates have declined in black women, a high-risk group. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an influential preventive health panel recommend routine HIV testing at least once for teens and adults. They also advise at least yearly screening for high-risk patients including those with multiple sex partners, gay or bisexual boys and men and injection drug users. (Tanner, 1/19)
Kaiser Health News:
For Hospitals, Treating Violence Beyond The ER Is Good Medicine And Good Business
Ask David Ross to describe an average day on the job. He says it doesn’t exist. Ross is a violence intervention specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Though he isn’t a doctor, he’s been working at the hospital as part of its Violence Prevention Program for close to 10 years. His team works with patients who are victims of violent injuries — stabbings, gunshots or physical assaults — and who physicians flag as candidates for the program’s assistance. His challenge is to figure out the factors in their lives that put them at risk of violence. The work he does is time-consuming, and the relationships he builds with these patients can last months and even years. (Luthra, 1/20)
