Articles

 

The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced $159.1 million in grants to healthcare workforce training programs, with the largest share— $106 million—going to support nursing education.

 

The rest of the funds will be spent on training geriatric specialists and improve the performance and recruitment of underrepresented minority students.

 

 

For cancer patients in dispersed urban and rural areas, telephone-based care management and home-based automated symptom monitoring may provide an effective means of managing pain and depression.

 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new one-vial formulation of docetaxel injection concentrate (Taxotere, sanofi-aventis). This new formulation eliminates the initial dilution step, as well as the second vial containing the diluent. With the one-vial formulation, the pharmaceutical ingredients and the 1-hour intravenous infusion administration remain unchanged.

 

Hypofractionated (HF) whole breast irradiation (WBI) is effective for many patients with early-stage breast cancer, according to new evidence-based guidelines issued by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

 

The guidelines, published online in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology∙Biology∙Physics, the official ASTRO journal, define appropriate fractionation of WBI.

 

Changes in the US healthcare system are needed to overcome continuing racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, according to the American College of Physicians (ACP).

 

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, Updated 2010, which updates a policy paper released in 2003, outlines recommendations on how to close the gap between racial and ethnic minority patients and their white counterparts.

 

Oncology nurses are increasingly concerned about invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in their patients, particularly those who receive stem cell transplants or high-dose chemotherapy, a survey by ONSEdge reveals.

Among the key findings of the survey are:

The majority of patients 70 years or older with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have a poor prognosis and may not benefit from intensive chemotherapy, a study by M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers indicates.