December 14, 2009

Deciphering the Mammography Recommendations

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: December 13, 2009

December 14, 2009 in Educational | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

November 05, 2009

Teen girls diagnosed with STI more likely to seek treatment for partners after watching video - But adherence to medication and follow-up remain poor

Post Date: 04-Nov-2009

 

A study at Johns Hopkins Children's Center found that girls diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) who watched a short educational video were three times more likely to discuss their condition with their partners and to ensure partner treatment than girls diagnosed and treated without seeing the film.

Reporting online ahead of print in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, the Hopkins team says disclosure and partner treatment are critical in preventing the sexually transmitted infection that causes PID from getting passed back and forth between the two partners, minimizing the risk for repeat and chronic infections and preventing further spread outside the original pair.

The six-minute video, produced by Hopkins Children's, shows teen girls diagnosed with PID coping with various aspects of care and discussing such issues as notifying one's partner, urging him to get treated, completing a two-week course of antibiotic treatment, returning for follow-up care and abstaining from sexual activity during the treatment.

Girls who saw the video before they were discharged from the ED or the urgent care center were no more likely to finish their medication, return for follow-up and abstain from sex during treatment than those who didn't see it. However, researchers report that a full two-thirds of the 121 girls, ages 15 to 21, did finish their medication — which they got free of charge before they left the medical treatment site — a marked improvement from the times when girls with PID were discharged and just sent to a pharmacy with a prescription.

"The good news is we got these girls to talk to their partners and get them treated, which is great, but there is clearly a whole lot of work to be done to prevent and treat these infections," says lead investigator Maria Trent, M.D., M.P.H., pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Hopkins Children's.

The most alarming finding was the abysmal follow-up rate — 24 percent overall — among this subset of female teens who are at high-risk for repeat STIs and unwanted pregnancies, researchers say. Indeed, fewer than one-fourth of the girls in this study reported using contraception, while nearly half had been pregnant in the past and more than half had a history of STIs.

Continue reading "Teen girls diagnosed with STI more likely to seek treatment for partners after watching video - But adherence to medication and follow-up remain poor"

November 5, 2009 in Educational , STD | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

October 06, 2009

A revolutionary way to easily access educational fact sheets for your clients

The California Family Health Council has recently introduced a revolutionary new product! HealthEdworks is a subscription service that allows physicians, nurse practioners, physicians assistants, nurses, health educators, family life educators, peer providers, outreach workers, medical assistants, medical interpreters and everyone else working in the reproductive health field to access high quality, attractive, and easy-to-read reproductive health education fact sheets.

This is a wonderfuly convenient service because you can print, from your own computer, the fact sheets you want on an as needed basis.  No more stacks of outdated fact sheets taking up room in a back closet!  The topics range from contraception, std's and cancer to ways parents can start the sex conversation with their kids. All of the fact sheets are offered in English and Spanish, and some are offered in as many as 14 different languages (Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian (Khmer), Chinese, Hindi, Hmong, Korean, Laotian, Punjabi, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese) to help better serve diverse populations.

HealthEdworks  fact sheets are field tested to maximize readability and ensure patient understanding.  The CFHC puts a strong focus on health literacy, so everything is written in a 6th grade or below reading level.  Plus, new information and fact sheets are constantly being added and updated so you are never stuck with outdated information.

To sign up for a subscription, visit www.healthedworks.org. 

October 6, 2009 in CFHC , Educational | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

September 16, 2009

Planned Parenthood President Richards Links Abstinence-Only Sex Education, High Teen Births, STI Rates in Texas

Post Date: 16-Sep-2009

In a speech Monday on sex education in Texas, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said that grassroots support is essential to making improvements in reproductive health and education, theSan Antonio Express-News reports. Richards was a guest speaker during the Faith & Freedom Speakers series, which was co-sponsored by the Texas Freedom Network and Planned Parenthood of San Antonio and South Central Texas. She said, "Grassroots action is what makes the difference. We've got to be agents of change in America." She added that the "country is changing" but that President Obama "can only do so much."

Richards, the daughter of late Texas Gov. Ann Richards (D), founded the Texas Freedom network 14 years ago. The not-for-profit organization promotes public education and religious freedom in a way that counters religious conservatism. The group has lobbied the Texas Legislature in support of comprehensive, medically accurate sex education in public schools.

Kathy Miller, president of TFN, said the group conducted a study this year that found that more than 95% of state schools only offer abstinence-only education programs. She said, "At the same time, for six years in a row, Texas led the nation in multiple births to teens," adding, "We've been in the top three in the nation in teen births."

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September 16, 2009 in Educational , Public Policy , STD , Teen Pregnancy | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

September 09, 2009

FDA Panel to Vote on HPV Vaccine for Boys, Another One for Girls

Post Date: 08-Sep-2009

WASHINGTON -- FDA staffers say the quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (Gardasil) appears to be as effective in preventing certain strains of HPV in boys as it is in girls.

Their advice was released in advance of a hearing of the Vaccines and Related Biologics Committee, a panel of outside experts that will meet Wednesday to vote on a recommendation that the agency approve the vaccine for boys.

The panel will also vote on whether to recommend what could be the first Gardasil competitor, GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix, for use in girls and women.

Although Gardasil has been used for three years to ward off four strains of HPV (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) and prevent certain cancers and genital warts in females ages 9 to 26, its manufacturer, Merck, is seeking approval to use the vaccine in males ages 9 through 26 to prevent genital warts caused by HPV types 6 and 11.

HPV in males can produce skin warts, genital warts, penile intraepithelial neoplasia, penile cancer, anal intraepithelial neoplasia, anal cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, but Merck's current application is just for the prevention of genital warts.

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September 9, 2009 in Educational , Pharmaceutical Products , STD , Women’s Health | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 01, 2009

Sexual Abuse Linked to Somatic Disorders

Public Release Date: 01-Sep-2009

Sexual abuse is associated with an increased risk of somatic disorders, in which patients report physical symptoms or complaints with no clear underlying cause, a review of nearly two dozen studies concluded.
Patients with a history of sexual abuse, as children or adults, were more likely to experience gastrointestinal disorders (OR 2.43; 95% CI 1.36 to 4.31), nonspecific chronic pain (OR 2.20; 95% CI 1.54 to 3.15), psychogenic seizures (OR 2.96; 95% CI 1.12 to 4.69) and chronic pelvic pain (OR 2.73; 95% CI 1.73 to 4.30), according the report in the August 5 Journal of the American Medical Association.
"Building greater awareness of the association between sexual abuse and somatic disorders may lead to improved health care delivery and outcomes for sexual abuse survivors," Ali Zirakzadeh, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, and colleagues wrote. "As a group, survivors of abuse have higher medical care use and incur greater costs compared with the general patient population."

Surveys have determined that the incidence of sexual violence in the United States is 2.5% for women and 0.9% for men, according to the review, and researchers have estimated that one in 15 adults has experience forced sexual intercourse. Studies have also estimated that 16% of men and 25% of women in the United States are survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

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September 1, 2009 in Educational , Infectious Awarables , Women’s Health | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

July 23, 2009

Reps. Ryan, DeLauro To Introduce Bill To Reduce Need for Abortion

Public Release Date: 23-July-2009

Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) on Thursday will be joined by leaders of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and NARAL Pro-Choice America in announcing the latest version of a bill that aims to reduce the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancies, among other measures, Time reports (Sullivan, Time, 7/23).

Ryan and DeLauro first introduced a version of the bill in 2006 (Crary, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 7/22). However, this version "represents a dramatic break from nearly four decades" of political debate since Roe v. Wade, as both conservative antiabortion-rights groups and abortion-rights advocates have expressed support, according to Time (Time, 7/23).

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July 23, 2009 in Abortion , Contraception , Contraceptives , Educational , Health Care , Medical Access , Public Policy , Teen Pregnancy , Women’s Health | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

July 21, 2009

HIV Testing in NYC Bathhouses

Public Release Date: 2-July-2009 

As the number of HIV cases in the U.S. soars -- especially among gay and black men, and particularly in New York City -- one physician is going where few have gone before in terms of prevention efforts: straight to the late-night gay scene.

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis runs the first-ever HIV testing venue at a New York bathhouse in Chelsea. In a private room at the back of the club, Daskalakis -- a professor of infectious diseases at New York University -- administers rapid HIV tests that deliver results in 20 minutes.

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July 21, 2009 in Diagnostic & Pregnancy Tests , Educational , Health Care , HIV/AIDS , Medical Access , STD | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

July 16, 2009

Study Describes Views on Sexual Abstinence Among Small Group of 11-14 Year-Olds

Public Release Date: 25-June-2009

Summary of "'That's Nasty' to Curiosity: Early Adolescent Cognitions About Sexual Abstinence," Ott/Pfeiffer, Journal of Adolescent Health, June 2009.

Multiple studies have shown that abstinence education programs have no effect on adolescents' sexual behavior. One possible reason for this is that abstinence education programs, which typically use adult cultural models of adolescent sexuality, fail to connect with early adolescents' cognitions and cultural models of sex and abstinence.

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July 16, 2009 in Educational , Teen Pregnancy , Women’s Health | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

June 22, 2009

Lack of Medical School Training on Abortion Contributes to Decline in Providers, Salon Opinion Piece Says

Public Release Date: 15-June-2009

Salon contributor Kate Harding on Monday examined how a lack of training in medical schools is affecting the availability of abortion providers in the U.S. Harding reports that 87% of all U.S. counties and 98% of rural counties have no abortion services.

In addition, nearly two-thirds of physicians who perform abortions in the second trimester are older than age 50 and "bound to retire sooner rather than later," she writes. Harding also cites figures from PBS' "NOW" showing that the number of abortion providers has dropped by one-third in recent decades -- from 2,680 in 1985 to 1,787 in 2005.

Continue reading "Lack of Medical School Training on Abortion Contributes to Decline in Providers, Salon Opinion Piece Says"

June 22, 2009 in Abortion , Educational , Health Care , Medical Access , Women’s Health | Permalink | TrackBack (0)