States Prepare for Health Law, Like It or Not
SAUSALITO, CA (ASRN.ORG) --The Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer is a strong opponent of President Obama's health care law, calling the ruling, “an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty”. Yet her administration is quietly designing an insurance exchange — one of the most essential and controversial requirements of the law. Officials in a handful of other Republican-led states say they are also working to have a framework ready by Nov. 16, the deadline for states to commit to running an exchange or leave it to the federal government to run it for them. That is just 10 days after Election Day, which is likely to decide the future of the law.
RNs Cautioned on Antipsychotic Drugs
SAUSALITO, CA (ASRN.ORG) -- Registered Nurses may not know it, but the 5th and 6th best selling drugs in the U.S. are Abilify and Seroquel, two relatively new and powerful antipsychotics. In 2011 alone, they and other antipsychotic drugs were prescribed to 3.1 million Americans at a cost of $18.2 billion, a 13 percent increase over the previous year, according to the market research firm IMS Health.
When a Nurse Counts Wrong in the OR
SAUSALITO, CA (ASRN.ORG) -- On an overnight shift in 2005, Sophia Savage, a nurse in Kentucky, felt a crushing pain in her abdomen and started vomiting. The next day she underwent a CT scan, which led to a startling diagnosis: A surgical sponge was lodged in her abdomen, left behind, it turned out, by a surgeon who had performed her hysterectomy four years earlier. Ms. Savage’s doctor ordered immediate surgery to remove the sponge.
Breakthrough Study Offers New Treatment Options for Breast Cancer
SAUSALITO, CA (ASRN.ORG) -- Researchers have unveiled what they believe is a hallmark study for breast cancer patients and the doctors who treat them. Their findings, published Sunday in the journal Nature and the New York Times, are expected to pave the way for new treatment options in the coming years.
Panel Reminds RNs to Screen for Alcohol Misuse
SAUSALITO, CA (ASRN.ORG) -- Registered Nurses should screen their adult patients to determine whether they are misusing alcohol, and provide counseling when risky behavior is detected, a panel of medical experts reaffirmed recently.
