Hospitals and Fast Food
Fast food and health care seem an unlikely pair, but a new study shows that fast-food franchises are selling their wares in some of the most health-conscious of places — hospitals.
More than a third of the nation’s 16 top hospitals boast onsite regional or national fast food franchises, according to a University of Michigan Health System and Ann Arbor VA Medical Center survey.
Michigan Health System research fellow Peter Cram said the high-calorie havens might send mixed messages to hospital patients, visitors and employees.
Cram and his colleagues performed a telephone survey of the 16 top hospitals listed in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2001 ranking of “America’s Best Hospitals.”
The six hospitals on the list that have at least one fast food restaurant include:
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis;
The Cleveland Clinic;
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina;
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore;
UCLA Medical Center; U
University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
New York Presbyterian Hospital closed a Burger King franchise in 1999, but reopened the restaurant as a hospital-owned franchise.
The study reported: Mark Fendrick, MD, a co-author of the letter as well as co-director of the Consortium for Health Outcomes, Innovation, Cost Effectiveness Studies or CHOICES at UMHS, points out hospitals are businesses and they have certain needs they need to address.
“I realize these hospitals need to address important economic issues such as customer satisfaction, employee retention, and financial viability, and I believe fast food restaurants in hospitals offer patients and their families a sense of comfort,” says Fendrick, also associate professor of health management and policy at the UM School of Public Health. “However, if hospitals and the medical profession are to remain respected leaders in health promotion, we should re-visit the idea of serving fast food in the very place that we care for our most seriously ill.”
Note from Al — my wife once worked for a hospital that considered allowing a heart surgery unit to be sponsored by a sausage company!
West Nile Moves West
The CDC says in Southern states, where balmy weather often stretches well into the fall, the mosquito-borne virus is moving closer to becoming a year-round threat.
Mosquitoes spread West Nile from infected birds to humans, who can then develop deadly encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. Humans cannot pass the virus to one another.
West Nile was first detected in New York in 1999. Last summer was the most severe so far, with 66 human infections and nine deaths reported.
Sporadic infections have been detected as far west as Illinois, Arkansas and Louisiana, and health officials said migratory birds will probably carry the virus even farther west this season. It remains somewhat of an unpredictable virus,” said CDC infectious-disease expert Dr. Stephen Ostroff. “There is no reason that the virus wouldn’t continue to expand its geographic range within the United States.”
No human cases have been identified so far in 2002.
The CDC urged people to report dead birds to health authorities and to protect themselves against mosquito bites by getting rid of standing water and wearing insect repellent and long sleeves.
West Nile cases have mostly been confined to the summer months, when mosquitoes thrive. But humans were infected as late as December last year in Georgia, and birds tested positive in February this year in Florida.
CDC says, “Most people who become infected with West Nile virus will have either no symptoms or only mild ones. On rare occasions, infection can result in a severe and sometimes fatal illness known as West Nile encephalitis (an inflammation of the brain). The risk of severe disease is higher for persons 50 years of age and older. As June 1, 2001, there have been 149 total human cases of West Nile virus illness reported and confirmed in the US, including 18 fatalities.”
More than 100 species of birds are known to have carried the virus.
Shorter Hours for Doctors in Training
Finally, there is some reform in the works for medical residents. Until now, residents have worked grueling shifts amid growing concerns that they are too tired to do their job well. This is a good story for you to localize with a medical school or even an Emergency Room. Every doctor will know what you are talking a about.
The Washington Post said last week, “The group that oversees doctor training in the United States announced (Thursday) that it will impose strict new limits on work hours for medical residents in response to mounting evidence that workweeks of up to 120 hours are detrimental to young doctors and perhaps their patients as well.
The first national standards address long-standing concerns that the grueling hours trainee physicians work endanger patient care, an issue that has received new attention because of reports that thousands of people die annually from medical mistakes.
Under rules adopted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the normal resident workweek would be limited to 80 hours. The standards also impose mandatory rest periods of 10 hours between shifts, one day off per week, restrictions on moonlighting and closer faculty supervision.
