Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctors Telling Patients To Hit The Gym, Not The Pharmacy
When Dr. Michelle Johnson scribbles out prescriptions, the next stop for many of her patients is the gym, not the pharmacy. Doctors treating chronic health problems increasingly are prescribing exercise for their patients - and encouraging them to think of physical activity as their new medication. (Ngowi, 3/14)
The Zika virus is not yet known to be circulating in the continental United States. But already, fear of the infection has come home for many pregnant women and their families who journeyed abroad before the risks were known. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that nine pregnant women were known to have become infected while traveling. Yet many more are coping with the possibility of exposure, reaching out to their doctors for blood tests and ultrasounds, obsessing on news coverage and trying to manage their worry. (Beil, 3/14)
Hospitals may be cracking down on handwashing for doctors, nurses and other staffers, but they're missing a big source of superbug spread, a new study finds: Patients. Researchers at the University of Michigan found close to a quarter of the patients they tested had some sort of drug-resistant germ on their hands when they were discharged from the hospital to a post-acute care facility such as a nursing home, rehabilitation center or hospice. (Fox, 3/14)
Oncologist Theodora Ross discusses the hereditary nature of cancer and her own predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer, which led her to have a double mastectomy and to have her ovaries removed. (3/14)