By Jennifer Larson, contributor Sep 14, 2018
What
recent medical developments or other healthcare news might affect your
practice, or your patients?
Staff Care offers the following
summaries of hot topics in medicine to help permanent and locum
tenens physicians and advanced practitioners stay informed.
Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Rates Have Plateaued
There’s
still work to be done in terms of getting people to change their behavior to be
more heart-friendly. According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates have
plateaued, despite the efforts of the five-year Million Hearts 2022 initiative
to target people with risk factors. The report, entitled Vital
Signs: Prevalence of Key Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors for Million Hearts
2022, reviewed U.S. data from 2011-2016. The researchers noted that
some subgroups of people have even logged an uptick in CVD mortality recently.
In order
to turn the tide, researchers note that the medical community will need to
focus more on successfully implementing strategies that are proven to reduce a
person’s risk of developing (and dying from) cardiovascular disease. For
example, there are still 54 million adults who could benefit from a smoking
cessation program, and many adults still do not have their blood pressure and
cholesterol under control. “Evidence-based strategies for preventing acute
cardiovascular events exist, with 213 million opportunities for better risk
factor prevention and management,” the report’s authors noted. “It will require
a concerted national implementation effort to prevent one million acute
cardiovascular events by 2022.”
Hurricane Florence Responsible for Rare
Hospital Evacuations
As
Hurricane Florence approached the East Coast this week, bearing down on the
Carolinas and surrounding states, government and health officials urged
citizens to evacuate. A few hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the
region also had to make the difficult decision to move their patients, even
some that were critically ill. The Grand Strand Medical Center in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina, was among those evacuated. Charleston’s Post
and Dispatch newspaper reported that these evacuations put a
strain on local ambulance services and patients, with some transfers taking
several hours.
The
Myrtle Beach Sun News website reported that Grand Strand completed their evacuations
late Wednesday night, Sept. 12, transporting more than 300 patients to more
than 32 facilities in South Carolina and other southeastern states. The medical
center is now operating a 24/7 family reunification phone line for those hoping
to locate loved ones.
Job Outlook Bright for Hospital-Based Physician
Assistants
The
American Academy of PAs (AAPA) has good news for physician assistants who work
in hospitals. According to the recently released 2018
AAPA Salary Report, PAs who work in hospitals tend to get more
opportunities for leadership development and better benefits than PAs who work
in doctors’ offices. They also tend to earn more money.
Currently
there are more PAs practicing in physician practices--about 46%, compared to
34.9% who work in hospitals. But those hospital-employed PAs earned a median
base salary last year of $107,000, compared to the $101,000 earned by the PAs
working in physician practices.
Challenges and Opportunities on the Horizon
with a Changing Workforce
In a
recent article for NEJM Catalyst
titled “Growing
Ranks of Advanced Practice Clinicians — Implications for the Physician
Workforce,” David I. Auerbach, PhD, Douglas O. Staiger, PhD, and
Peter I. Buerhaus, PhD, RN, analyzed the growing role of the advanced practice
clinician and how that trend may impact the physician workforce.
“The
number of NPs and PAs is growing rapidly, in part because of shorter training
times for such providers as compared with physicians and fewer institutional
constraints on expanding educational capacity,” the researchers wrote.
As a
result, more and more practitioners entering the workforce in the next 12 years
will fall into one of those categories, they predicted. And medical practices
will have to adjust. “Physicians, NPs, and PAs will all need to be trained and
prepared for this new reality,” they noted.
RELATED: NP and
CRNA Scope of Practice: 2018 Updates & The
Future of PA Practice Authority
FDA: Teen E-Cigarette Use Reaching Epidemic
Levels
The Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) is sounding the alarm about what Commissioner
Scott Gottlieb, MD, calls “an epidemic of e-cigarette use among teenagers.”
“E-cigs
have become an almost ubiquitous ‒ and dangerous ‒ trend among teens,” he wrote
in a recent statement
in which he announced a new coordinated
tobacco compliance effort, one that is the largest that the FDA has ever
undertaken.
The FDA is
cracking down on the makers of five e-cigarette brands including JUUL, a brand
especially popular among teens. The FDA is now requiring these manufacturers to
produce and submit plans for how they will reduce and prevent the use of their
products by teenagers. Additionally, Gottlieb noted that the FDA is even
considering a ban on flavored products that especially appeal to kids. “We know
that the flavors play an important role in driving the youth appeal. And in
view of the trends underway, we may take steps to curtail the marketing and
selling of flavored products. We’re now actively evaluating how we’d implement
such a policy,” he wrote.
RELATED: Educating
Patients on the Risks of Vaping
Hot Topics in Medicine: As of September 14,
2018
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