2.19
Health Sciences
End of life care quality remains a problem—nurses may be a solution
A new study from the School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research describes the quality of end of life care in nearly 500 U.S. hospitals, utilizing nearly 13,000 bedside nurses as informants of quality.
The road to more hand transplants
Over the past 20 years, more than 85 amputees around the world have received a hand or bilateral hand transplant—including two adults and one child at Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Healing with words, through writing workshops for cancer patients
Writing a Life, organized by the Abramson Cancer Center and held at Kelly Writers House each month, provides such patients the opportunity to creatively examine and express their experiences.
Telemedicine today, and the future of virtual health care
From the Connected Care Center central hub for ICU patients, to telegenetics, Penn practitioners are looking to the future of convenient care.
Boots on the ground for the opioid task force
Opioid addiction is a “public health emergency,” according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Overdose deaths involving opioids—both prescription and illegal—have increased fivefold between 1999 and 2016.
Personalized gene editing is a family affair
A new stem cell-based test aims to decrease the uncertainty of gene variants and their affect on a patient’s health.
Injection improves vision in a form of childhood blindness
A new treatment for patients with a form of congenital retinal blindness has shown success in improving vision, according to results published today in Nature Medicine led by researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute in the Perelman School of Medicine
Going out of the box to learn to treat exotic creatures
Veterinary students interested in wildlife, zoo, and exotics medicine get creative—and driven—to get the training opportunities they need to advance.
Podcast series charts a path for Latin Americans in science
Concerned about the scarcity of Latin Americans in scientific careers, doctoral students Kevin Alicea-Torres and Enrique Lin-Shiao took action to prime the pump. On their Spanish-language podcast, “Caminos en Ciencia,” they chat with Latinx scientists who discuss their career paths and provide advice for young scientists-to-be.
Solving sports medicine’s trickiest equine mysteries
The Equine Performance and Evaluation Facility has made diagnosing equine performance on a clinical level much more accessible since it opened six years ago.
In the News
Science
Poor sleep could clog your arteries. A mouse study shows how that might happen
The Perelman School of Medicine’s Namni Goel weighed in on a new study that found that poor sleep can clog arteries.
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Men’s Health
Why gene editing may hold the promise of a herpes cure
Sita Awasthi of the Perelman School of Medicine discussed the challenges researchers face in pursuing a cure for herpes. In spite of advances in CRISPR technology, Awasthi emphasizes the continued need for a preventive vaccine.
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Reuters Health
Hospitals serving more minorities may offer less palliative care
The Perelman School of Medicine’s Kate Courtright commented on new findings that hospitals that primarily serve minorities provide their patients with less palliative care than other hospitals.
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The Wall Street Journal
How community health workers could create less-costly, higher-quality care
A study by Shreya Kangovi of the Perelman School of Medicine offered evidence that a comprehensive community health worker program, similar to those implemented in countries with shortages of doctors and nurses, could be effective in the U.S.
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Men’s Health
So, Meghan Markle is using a ‘doula’—What’s the deal with that?
The Perelman School of Medicine’s Sindhu Srinivas commented on the increasing number of doulas employed by hospitals. Obstetricians “can’t be in the room the whole time, but doulas can, which can help women feel more supported,” said Srinivas.
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