Lower Wages And Benefits Of Female Health Care Workers
According to a report appearing in the January 2019 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, a study carried out by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania finds that low wages and poor benefits leave many female health care workers living below the poverty line. Projecting the survey's results across the entire U.S. population suggests that 5% of all women health care workers, including 10.6% of Black and 8.6% of Latina women health care workers, live in poverty. Overall, 1.7 million women health care workers and their children lived below the poverty line in 2017, accounting for nearly 5% of all individuals living in poverty in the U.S. The researchers also found surprisingly high numbers of female health care workers surveyed lack health insurance. Overall, 7% , projected to represent more than 1 million women nationwide, were uninsured, including more than 10% of Black and Latina women employed in health care.
Physical Therapy In Relation To Opioid Usage
According to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Duke University School of Medicine published on December 14, 2018 in JAMA Network Open that was based on an analysis of private health insurance claims for care and prescriptions between 2007 and 2015, patients who underwent physical therapy soon after being diagnosed with pain in the shoulder, low back, or knee were approximately 7 to 16% less likely to use opioids in subsequent months. For patients with shoulder, back, or knee pain who did use opioids, early physical therapy was associated with a 5 to 10 % reduction in how much of the drug they used, the study found. Amid national concern about the overuse of opioids and encouragement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other groups to deploy alternatives when possible, the findings provide evidence that physical therapy can be a useful, nonpharmacologic approach for managing severe musculoskeletal pain.
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CORNER
Robotic Activity Support System For Elderly Patients With Dementia
A robot created by Washington State University (WSU) scientists could help elderly patients with dementia and other limitations to live independently in their own homes by performing basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADLs). The Robot Activity Support System, or RAS, represents a collaboration between a smart home and a mobile robot. It functions by using sensors embedded in a WSU smart home to determine where its residents are, what they are doing, and when they need assistance with daily activities. RAS combines the convenience of a mobile robot with the activity detection technology of a WSU smart home to provide assistance in the moment, as the need for help is detected. A description of the project appears in advance in the May 2019 issue of the journal Cognitive Systems Research. Technologies that automatically assist with activity of daily living may relieve some of the strain on the health care system as well as caregivers, allowing individuals to remain functionally independent and age in place.
Research On Roundworms May Lead To Motor Function Improvement In Humans
As animals and humans age, motor functions progressively deteriorate. Millimeter-long roundworms called nematodes exhibit aging patterns remarkably similar to those of other animals and they live only about three weeks, making them an ideal model system for studying aging. A report on January 2, 2019 indicated that research from the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute has uncovered a cause of declining motor function and increased frailty in tiny aging worms and a way to slow it down. The findings, published that day in Science Advances, identify a molecule that can be targeted to improve motor function and indicate that similar pathways may be at play in aging mammals as well. Age-dependent motor activity decline is a prominent feature of normal aging. Motor deficits represent one of the main risk factors for falling in elderly humans, which leads to injury and mortality. It would be beneficial to delay or slow motor aging to improve the quality of life and, ideally, to extend a life span, which has remained a challenge. Using C. elegans as a model, targeting aging motor neurons can slow motor aging and promote longevity.
More Articles from TRENDS December 2018 - January 2019
CALLING UNCLE SAM AND ALEXA
Discusses how Federal programs and technology developments in the private sector have an impact on health care. Read More
PRESIDENT’S CORNER—ASAHP MEMBER FOCUS
Brooke Hallowell, Dean of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies at Springfield College, is featured in this issue of TRENDS. Read More
FEDERAL BUDGET AND THE OPERA
An inability to appropriate funds in a timely manner often leads to a shutdown of portions of the federal government apart from the annual operatic aspects of trying to agree on how much to spend and for which purposes. Read More
HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS
Describes how regulations and challenges to parts of health reform legislation are referred to the federal courts to reach a resolution. Read More
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Indicates proposed goals by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education on how to rethink higher education in general and accreditation in particular. Read More
AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONICALLY
Faculty Attitudes On Academic Technology
State Strategies For Establishing Connections To Health Care for Justice-Involved Populations: The Central Role Of Medicaid
Public Health Trends Plaguing The U.S. Population Read More
DETECTING BS IN HEALTH CARE
A noticeable amount of BS exists in the world including in health care, but a detection instrument is available to root out preposterous claims. Read More
PHYSICAL THERAPY AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY GUIDELINES
A settlement made it possible to revise therapy guidelines to increase the number of visits with beneficiaries to improve patient care. Read More