Our health literacy is at the center of healthcare changes the whole country may face very soon. Do you dread going to the doctor? Dread can come from not understanding the process. Do you mistrust the healthcare system? Mistrust follows on the heels of dread, when processes are not understood. A new Institute of Medicine, IOM expert … Continue reading »
Freedom of information sharing is a right we take for granted in science. And in biomedical research we felt secure about that right, until this year. This is the year everything changed. Information sharing is the subject of a new National Academies Press publication, just out and freely available at the link: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13295 . The experts debate the best … Continue reading »
Are men and women different? When it comes to the body, yes. Aside from the obvious, we have differences in diseases. For example, the H1N1 flu affected pregnant women more than other people during the pandemic. And women have more cases of lupus and osteoporosis than men. The health and disease of our heart, muscles, … Continue reading »
What is the largest part of the healthcare workforce in the U.S.? Nursing is. With over 3 million workers, nursing leads the healthcare workforce in numbers. But nurses’ roles will have to change with healthcare reform. Nurse training has evolved with the times. Has it changed enough? The top read report in the past year, of … Continue reading »
Top 10 Reading List An ocean of new reports came out over the past year, 75 at the IOM (Institute of Medicine) alone. What will be on the top of the 2012 ”to read” list? Will your reading goals include science this year? Here is one slice to look at: the top IOM reports people read over … Continue reading »
How safe is drilling offshore – meaning in the ocean – for oil? When 11 workers died in a horrifying explosion, we all wanted to know. The disaster at the Macondo Well-Deepwater Horizon in the U.S. had us taking a closer look. Oil and water, tremendous pressure, fire. Like an experiment, the exploratory well failed … Continue reading »
What does science promise in 2012? For chimpanzees, maybe a more hopeful future. Take a look at what the IOM (Institute of Medicine) gave us in 2011. 75 reports and summaries came out. The IOM reports to congress and to us, the public. They use some of the top scientists today. They have a goal of advising the nation, improving health. … Continue reading »
