Review of Kim's Blog

I reviewed Kim's blog and I found it very interesting to know the main types of injuires. I agree with her in stating how helpful it was to learn about injuries done to the eyes resulting from dust and flying debris. I found it very amazing to know that the smallest things such as dust can cause a major problem to the eyes becasue of their sensitivity. I also can agree with her about the damage done to the ears showing up later in life that's why I believe it to be very important for schools and facilites to run hearing test on all students, patients, and staff members.

Exposure To Sunlight May Decrease Risk of Advanced Breast Cancer by Half

I decided to do my article on decreasing risk of exposure. I found an article that was educational to me. The article was about how exposure to sunlight may decrease the risk of advanced breast cancer. I found it educational to know that vitamin D may be important in slowing the growth of breast cancer cells in women. I found it very interesting to know that it also depends on your skin pigmentation level as to how effective the exposure would be. However, there is a catch so women shouldnt try to reduce their chances of developing breast cancer by over exposing their body to sunlight because you may develop another type of cancer called sun-induced skin cancer. Therefore, I thought it would be beneficial to list other ways of increasing your vitamin D intake, multivitamins, fatty fish and fortified food; and certain cereals and fruit juices.

Science Daily; Exposure To Sunlight May Decrease Risk of Advanced Breast Cancer By Half;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018171424.htm

What You Should Know About Stroke Prevention

The quality tool that I selected for week 6 is related to stroke prevention. I have been educated about strokes prior to this article, but I was always curious to know the damage it causes its victims. I use to wnder how come a patient would die from a heart attack quicker than they would from a stroke. I thought that since the brain was a vital part to the body that if you has a stroke or a heart attack and the people who suffered from a heart attack always seemed to be better off. People who suffered from a stroke would be left paralyze on one side and that same side would be disconfigured and I always use to wonder why. For those who aren't familiar with strokes, a stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked; either by narrowed blood vessels or blood clots or bleeding in the brain. Brain cells begin to die within minutes, if they are deprived of needed nutrients which in return can count for disconfiguration of body parts. A person suffering from vision and sensory loss, problems with walking and talking, or difficulty in thinking clearly. The warning signs for a stroke includes sudden numbness or tingling feeling to one side, slurred speech blurred vision, stumbling or clumsiness which most people take lightly or think that something else is wrong. The biggest problems with prevent strokes, is ignoring the symptoms. Therefore, people need to stop ignoring because the best medicine is prevention!

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; What You Should Know About Stroke Prevention; http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/strokcon.htm

Amanda's Blog Review

I liked the article that Amanada chosed because I believe that the list is very important and well needed in certain people lives. Its very beneficial for parents that have children on alot of medications. I like the idea that the list includes the physician name and number, pharmicst name and number; and a 24 hour pharmacy. That's way if a problem comes up regarding the medicine or dosage, the person will have quick access to the information. It is also a good thing for baby sitters who have to watch over children or the elderly who may be taking multiple medications. I just believe that it's a good idea in general.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

The quality tool that I decided to talk about this week is about Alcohol abuse during pregnancy. The technical term is called Fetal Alcohol Specturm Disorders. It affects the fetus development of skeletal structures, organs, the nervous system and over all growth. I knew that alcohol could harm the fetus but I didn't know that it had such a serious impact. I thought that street drugs caused more harm to the fetus than alcohol. Many people don't think that alcohol can damage their child during pregnancy because they are informed wrong. Most people are under the impression that alcohol leave the system within 24 hours; therefore, they don't believe theirs any damage done to the baby.


Drinking and Reproductive Health, A Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Prevention Tool Kit
http://www.acog.org/departments/healthIssues/FASDToolkit.pdf

Infection Control Across the Continuum of Care

This article discuss the continuum of care by handwashing to prevent infectious diseases. I knew that it was important to wash your hands, but I didn't know how much of an impoact it has on disease control. I found out just how important it is to wash your hands, by learning that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed a new method for hand sanitization. I learned that if you wash your hands with a hand sanitizer that includes mositurizers you will increase your prevention of infection. I was shock to know that in certain areas and at certain facilities that caregivers and staff members are required to wear a mobile hand sanitizers device while providing care. I, also, learned that in long-term care facilities all staff members have to pass a test for hand washing and hand sanitization inorder to be employeed, and remain employeed after being hired. I found it very interesting to know that just by keeping your hands clean that you can prevent the body from many infections that you would never believed came from your hands


ECPN Clinical and Financial Strategies for the Extended Care Professional, Feature: Infection Control Across the Continuum of Care
http://www.extendedcarenews.com/article/1266

Ramona's Blog Review

I reviewed Ramona’s blog and I agree with her in saying that we should be ready for all type of people during a disaster because all types of people flock to a different location during a disaster. Just by volunteering in helping create databases I have seen the wide variety of people. Not only is it hard to deal with elderly people who suffer from dementia but it’s even harder to deal with scared children and depressed teens, also types of people who flocks. I believe that more people should volunteer during a disastrous time in order to learn to deal with different personalities and diseases.

Meeting Minutes

I found taking minutes to be very interesting during our class discussion and I wanted to know the effective way to take minutes because of how far you can go in a business just by taking great minutes during meetings. The article I found related to taking minutes during a department meeting for the Department of Consumer Affairs. They reporter took records on everything that went on during the meeting and she discussed objectives that were discussed during the last minute and had not had any follow-up activity. I found it interesting how they did their budgeting plan and who all had an input and who was the final decision maker. I liked the layout and format of this report because it was easy to read and follow each member suggestion and it included everybody in the meeting. I would like to get the experience in taking meeting just to find out how good I would be at it.


Board of Behavioral Sciences: Meeting Minutes

The Heart Truth for African American Women: An Action Plan

I selected this article because I wanted to become educated on heart disease, considering the fact hat it is the number one killer among women in the United States. I learned that out of all of the women affected by heart disease, African Americans women are at the top of the list. Even though, we are affected the most by the disease we can decrease our rate by 82% just by creating and living a healthier lifestyle. In case you are wondering, a heart disease is a disorder of the blood vessels of the heart that can lead to a heart attack. I found it very interesting to know that women 55 years and older have an increase chance of developing heart disease because after menopause the body no longer produces estrogen. For some reason, I did not know that estrogen had anything to do with heart disease. The leading causes of heart disease are smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, physical inactivity, and diabetes. I thought that diabetes would have the greatest impact on the disease; however, I was wrong. Smoking has the greatest impact and if you can stop smoking you decrease your risk by more than half.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The Heart Truth: Women & Heart Disease

Review of Allison's Blog

I reviewed Allison’s blog on Nutrition Care Alerts: Warning Signs & Action Steps for Caregivers in Nursing Facilities. I agree that the nurse should report all observations of the patient’s care. It should be documented for medical rules and policies but also for patient knowledge and family awareness. A lot of nursing home patient’s relatives like to know what’s going on with the love one that they have in the home and having documentation of step-by-step observation will keep down a lot of confusion between the relative and the nursing staff. I also agree that more people should be aware of how to treat a patient. For example, if a patient’s primary nurse isn’t there to help aid the patient then another nurse or family member should be able to assistance that patient because a lot of problems will occur if the patient is without something vital due to staffing absences.

Essentials of Public Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Tool Kit

I have become very interested in medical errors and reporting of medical errors that I found a quality tool that addresses a similar issue, reporting infections. This article is about the publication of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Did you know that the reporting of infections disease does not have a standard rule to follow? I didn’t know that. I thought that there were rules and policies for everything. I have learned that the legislative is now trying to develop a standardized approach to help aid in more accurate reporting of HAIs. They are getting the state, infection prevention, risk management; and healthcare epidemiology all involved in developing a better method for reporting HAIs. Did you know that HAIs is a major public health problem in the USA affecting 5 to 10 percent of hospitalized patients annually, resulting in 2 million infections, 90,000 deaths and adding $4.5 to $5.7 billion in healthcare costs? I had no idea because I only thought that infectious-communicable diseases had to be reported annually not healthcare-associated infections. No one knows why theirs a problem with reporting HAIs but its believed to be because of the time frame the reports go out. Half believe it should be quarterly to dismiss any records that are out-of-date and half believe it should be annually to assure robust denominators and stable rates. I personally do not know enough to determine whether it should be quarterly or annually but I do know that whichever one will eliminate the problem of inaccurate reporting is the one they should go with.

Healthcare-Associated Infection Working Group of the Joint Public Policy Committee
Essential of Public Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Tool Kit
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ar/06_107498_Essentials_Tool_Kit.pdf

The Sorry Works! Coalition: Making the Case for Full Disclosure

One of the biggest hidden secrets in the medical industry is becoming the hottest topic in law firms all around, medical errors. I became very interested in medical errors after watching the video in class related the same matter. I found an article about an established group, Sorry Works, that’s dedicated to making the process better for physicians, patients, and victims; if possible. “The Sorry Works Coalition, an organization of doctors, lawyers, insurers, and patient advocates that is dedicated to promoting full disclosure and apologies for medical errors as a ‘middle-ground solution’ to the medical malpractice crisis.” I was very shock to know that when a doctor or nurse makes a mistake that they try to hide it. I was under the impression that if a mistake occurred under medical staff then they would admit their fault and have no problem in doing so. However, I have learned better. I found out that the physicians use to follow a method called “deny and defend.” This method failed because it angered the victim’s family even more and resulted in more lawsuits and it gave the facility a bad representation because it gave off the impression that a cover up was involved. They are now trying to change the old process and develop a new process where the medical staff admits their mistake and apologize to the family and try to make the situation better for future patients. What shocked me the most out of the whole article was the statement a lawyer made “if a doctor apologizes for an error and offers compensation, but the compensation is rejected, and a lawsuit is initiated. So, the doctor will go to court, looking like the person who tried to do the right thing by apologizing and making a fair offer but was rebuffed.” I am left wondering is that really what goes on during these lawsuits. How dare the doctors be portrayed as the victims while the real victims are left out alone! I believe that more hospitals should adopt the Sorry Works Coalition at their facilities.

Joint Commission
Journal on Quality and Patient Safety: The Sorry Works! Coalition: Making the Case for Full Disclosure
http://www.jointcommission.org/NR/rdonlyres/5E597FEF-6F86-480D-A1E2-CDD6CB491D3E/0/Sorry_Works.pdf