- High-tech patient simulators unveiled at Renown (kolotv.com)
Manikins that breathe, sweat, cry and give birth are the newest high-tech teaching tools at Renown Regional Medical Center. They simulate normal healthy human functions. They can also imitate the symptoms of a medical conditions, giving health care professionals training opportunities...Sensors can tell the coordinators if the right medications and dosage were used. If not, the patient simulator may begin to display symptoms of a reaction. Organizers hope the program gives new and experienced nurses broader knowledge. Doctors and nurses will begin training with the manikins in early May...
- Opioids: What is being done locally (kolotv.com)
America's love affair with prescription drugs began in the 90s when narcotic pain killers left the hospital and headed home in the form of a pill..."Pain killers began being prescribed at such a high rate, and the folks who were prescribing them didn't necessarily have any training," said Jennifer Delette-Snyder...of Join Together Northern Nevada..."Think of Heroin. An opioid in a pill is the synthetic form of that type of a drug,"..."A surge in painkiller prescribing has been the main driving force over this epidemic and of the heroin epidemic," said Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the CDC...This week the agency started to combat the problem by issuing new guidelines (for) the prescriptions of opioids. The guidelines say opioids should not be the default solution for pain care..."People don't realize that these opioids are lethal. No one ever takes a pill thinking that it is going to kill them and this is the type of awareness that we are trying to build," said Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Nevada Assemblywoman from District 27...Doctors in Nevada now have to log opioid prescriptions in a database. The practice prevents patients from doctor shopping as well as prevents doctors from accidentally over prescribing...Delette-Snyder says both the CDC actions and the legislature actions have the potential to save lives, but she says we need to stay the course and only look to opioids for only the most extreme situations...Physicians could go back to prescribing only Ibuprofen, but only time will tell if they will. The CDC guidelines are only guidelines. They are not a mandate.
- Physician Assistant Program coming in 2017 (medicine.nevada.edu)Physician Assistant Program - Master of Physician Assistant Studies (Proposed) (medicine.nevada.edu)
New master’s will help grow number of healthcare professionals...As our community prepares for significant population growth...the University of Nevada School of Medicine and Renown Health are continuously working together to combat the shortage of healthcare providers in our region...latest effort will be seen in 2017 with the start of a new Master of Physician Assistant program. Renown Health will be an integral partner...committing $500,000 to help kick-start the program as well as providing the expertise of Renown providers and...training sites for future Physician Assistants…This full-time program will last 27 months and include academic and clinical skills courses as well as supervised clinical practice. Students are required to have at least 2,000 hours of healthcare experience before applying and because there is no residency needed after graduation, they can immediately begin working...upon completion of the program...the first PA class would begin in June 2017 on the University's Redfield Campus and the first 24 graduates will be seen in fall 2019.
- Changes Coming To State Health Insurance Enrollment Program (kolotv.com)
If you were around three years ago when health care enrollment got underway in Nevada or better yet, tried to enroll, you know the problems that persisted for more than a year. At that time Nevada had contracted Xerox to run the system and it was a disaster...Now the state is faced with finding another entity to perform the task, and officials here say they are determined to not make the same mistakes...The (Silver State Health Insurance Exchange Board) dropped Xerox and went with the federal system to enroll residents in fall of 2014. But now comes word the feds want to charge our state for using their system..."They want to charge us 3% above the cost now; that could translate into $9,000,000," says Bruce Gilbert, Executive Director of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange..."We are not talking about building something from scratch. We are talking to other states that have a state-based market place that are successful,"...Gilbert says nothing is set in stone yet. They don’t know what the actual price the feds will be charging to use their program...When that does happen...the board will seriously be looking at other options and bids to run the state’s health insurance enrollment plan.
- UNSOM Health Watch: The Future of Medical Education in Northern Nevada (kunr.org)
Dr. Cathy Goring has seen many changes while practicing medicine in Reno. In this interview, she provides both the history and the planned future of medical school education in Reno. Goring is Chair of the Internal Medicine Department at the school of medicine as well as an academic hospitalist at Renown Health. Leading the discussion is Anne McMillin with the University of Nevada School of Medicine. (10:30 min podcast)
- Nevada’s graduating medical students matched to residency programs (rgj.com)Nevada native staying local, staying rural (medicine.nevada.edu)Medical students celebrate Match Day at Las Vegas ceremony (reviewjournal.com)School of Medicine’s Class of 2016 learns residency match results (medicine.nevada.edu)
University of Nevada School of Medicine matched 64 of its graduating class with residency programs all over the country Friday morning. The reveal on where students will do residency programs was a surprise until each opened boxes listing programs...Kaleb Wartgow was one of the nearly 30,000 medical students in the U.S. matched to residency programs at hospitals around the country...But Wartgow...from the 2016 graduating class of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, is likely just one of a few absolutely sure he wants to someday practice family medicine in rural Nevada...He was one of 64 from...the...class of 2016 that found out Friday where they will spend the next few years of training. Wartgow, who grew up in Gardnerville and is a 2006 graduate of Douglas High, said he hopes to someday practice medicine in Smith Valley...
- Health officials say major Zika outbreak unlikely in Nevada (reviewjournal.com)Zika Virus (cdc.gov)
Health officials say a disease believed to have caused a major increase in birth defects among Brazilian-born babies is unlikely to flourish in Nevada, though travelers could bring it to the state...As of Thursday, 31 cases of Zika virus disease have been confirmed in the United States, but all are related to travel outside of the country, Southern Nevada Health District Disease Investigation and Intervention Specialist Tony Fredrick said. There are no known cases in Nevada...Travel could bring infected people from these regions to the Silver State, said James M. Wilson, director of the Nevada State Infectious Disease Forecast Station at the University of Nevada, Reno...Trapping efforts in Southern Nevada have not shown any sign of the Aedes species of mosquito, which is believed to have been the primary cause of most recent infections...
- Nevada State Board of Pharmacy April Newsletter (bop.nv.gov)
- Darla Zarley Appointed to Board
- Does That DEA Number Really Match?
- FDA Approves Naloxone Nasal Spray to Prevent Opioid Overdose Deaths
- Selected Medication Safety Risks to Manage in 2016: 1) Patient Information – Placing Orders on the Wrong Patient’s Electronic Health Record; 2) Communication About Drug Therapy – Confusing the Available Concentration as the Patient’s
- Dose on Electronic Records
- FDA Provides Training Videos on MedWatch Resources and Breakthrough Therapy
- Reading Medicine Labels Helps Reduce Acetaminophen Overdoses
- Over-the-Counter Children’s Medicine
- Recalled Due to Incorrect Dose Markings
- FDA Offers Webinars on Online Drug Information Resources for Students and Clinicians
- Eye-Opening NTSB Analysis
- Northern Nevada HOPES expands to new facility (kolotv.com)
Northern Nevada HOPES, a Reno medical facility, has a new $13 million facility. The clinic itself has been around for 20 years…"This building is going to give us an opportunity to expand our services and serve so many more people," said Sharon Chamberlain, CEO of Norther Nevada HOPES…HOPES has been serving Northern Nevada since 1997…The whole family can get treatment here. All the way from their medical needs up to their counseling and psychological needs… The new facility is state-of-the-art with separate patient exam rooms for adults and children. In the building, x-rays as well as blood work can be done on site. The clinic also offers case management so patients don't fall through the cracks… HOPES will be able to serve 10,000 patients a year…The clinic has moved into the new facility, but it is not completely paid for yet. HOPES is looking for an additional $2 million to pay off their loans…Normal services at the clinic are paid for through a combination of grant funding, health insurance and pharmacy fees.
- Medical Students Offer Free Clinic at UNR (kolotv.com)
The Student Outreach Clinic at the University of Nevada, Reno has been around for 20 years. Yet, there's still a lot of people that don't know about it. The clinic provides free health care to patients, regardless of their ability to pay. So, whether you have insurance or not, you won't have to pay out of pocket in most cases. If you do have to pay for a visit, it's usually a minimal fee...the problem for people here locally is that...We are really under-doctored in northern Nevada in most specialty areas, especially in the primary care area. So, getting in to a physician may be something that's really difficult to do," he says...The entire clinic is run by students, most of which are in their first or second year of medical school, which means they're getting valuable hands-on experience that they wouldn't otherwise get.