RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

(Report via Officialwire)A new disinfectant is effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi and prions, and could help reduce deadly infections in hospitals, German researchers say.

Researchers at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin developed a rapid-acting, practical formula for disinfecting surgical instruments, which works against a wide range of pathogens, including those that tolerate ordinary disinfectants.

(Report via Reuters)The number of children aged 2 to 5 who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs has doubled over the past decade, according to research released on Friday.

The research suggests that while it is still rare to prescribe powerful psychiatric drugs to 2-year-olds, the practice is becoming more frequent.

(Report via Fierce Healthcare)Care transition projects have been on the rise since CMS highlighted the them last year in its Care Transition Project, in which 14 communities nationwide worked to eliminate unnecessary hospital readmissions, according to an article in this month’s Hospital & Health Networks Magazine. Where CMS focuses, insurers usually follow, and this seems to be becoming a trend with care transition and readmissions.

(Report via Fierce Healthcare) Physicians tend to procrastinate on end-of-life talks with terminally ill patients, sometimes to the point where no other treatment options are available, a recent survey of doctors nationwide indicates, according to HealthDay.

(Report via HealthDay) New research in mice suggests that loss of smell could serve as an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.

People with Alzheimer’s are already known to suffer from loss of smell. But the new research pinpoints a direct link between development of amyloid plaques — the bits of gunk in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease — and a worsening sense of smell.

(Report via Healthleaders Media)Hospitals and long-term care facilities should be on the lookout for serious complications and risk of death resulting from use of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) systems that can cause fatal bleeding and infections, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a Medwatch Safety Alert issued this week.

(Report via Newswise) A fleet of robots is now rolling through the supply chain tunnels underneath Rush University Medical Center transporting linens, supplies and trash. Rush has acquired 14 automated guided vehicles (AGVs), mobile robots that can move supply carts around campus. Once programmed and activated, the AGVs travel on their own without human assistance along designated paths guided by lasers.

(Report via Fierce Healthcare)Two new studies published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine find that hospitals can prevent costly and deadly infections on patients getting ready to go into surgery, the New York Times reports.

Screening methods and various other pretreatment practices were shown to have significant effects as far as reducing infection rates of surgery patients. According to the Times, out of all the patients who suffer from post-surgical infections, more than half of those infections originate from bacteria already on those patients’ noses or skin.

(Report via Fierce Healthcare) There are interesting iPhone apps that are fun to play around with, and then there are iPhone apps that serve a clear clinical purpose. Vigilance is the latter.