Stitches are better than staples when it comes to fewer postsurgery problems for women who have cesarean deliveries, according to U.S. researchers. The study showed lower wound separation and complication rates for women who had sutures.

Increasing educational requirements for registered nurses and faculty shortages will increase the demand for flexible online nursing programs. A higher-education consultant said establishing an online nursing degree program is a low-risk venture for nursing schools.

ClearCount Medical Solutions secured FDA approval in December for its SmartWand-DTX, a system that uses RFID technology to allow users to track surgical sponges during low-risk surgical procedures. The company also signed a deal with a major distributor to market its products.

Keeping surgical patients at a normal body temperature throughout the perioperative period can improve patient outcomes, according to nurse experts. Nurses use a variety of ways to keep patients warm, including forced-air warming gowns, blankets, socks and circulating-water mattresses.

Nursing has been slow to adopt peer review as part of its quality of care strategy, according to a report in HealthLeaders Media. A nursing peer review would examine a quality of care issue, allowing a committee of nursing peers to determine reasons for the incident and what lessons could be learned from it.

The HHS has introduced the country's first health security strategy focused on managing large-scale health threats. "The National Health Security Strategy is a call to action for each of us so that every community becomes fully prepared and ready to recover quickly after an emergency," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The strategy includes 10 objectives for achieving health security.

A study of almost 90,000 Europeans found higher total dietary fiber intake was associated with weight loss and reduced waist circumference and increased fruit and vegetable fiber intake was linked to improvements in waist circumference.

U.S. researchers reported that obesity can affect a person's quality of life just as much as smoking. The study included 3.5 million adults and found quality-adjusted life years lost to obesity are equal to or exceed those lost to smoking.

Job growth in U.S. health care, specifically in nursing, is expected to be strong over the next decade, according to an NPR report. Nursing is also attractive because of its job security, high median salary -- about $62,450 -- and the fact that it's a large occupation with flexible hours. However, experts and working RNs caution that the days can be long and the patients can be tough.

Among the top medical stories from the past decade are the global coordination resulting from the SARS outbreak, halting the Women's Health Initiative trial of postmenopausal hormone therapy, Vioxx and contaminated food raising concerns about drug and food safety, and the approval of Gardasil, the first cancer vaccine.

The University of South Dakota is considering extending its nursing program from an associate program to a four-year bachelor's degree. The university says the move comes in response to the state's nursing shortage, which will require it to add more than 400 nurses each year through 2016.

The Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted the top health care issues in 2010 will include major efforts to reduce costs, adopt health IT, and focus on fraud and abuse recovery. The group also expects more physician groups to join health systems and the number of alternative care delivery models to increase.

Christine Bromley spent years teaching her cardiac and diabetes patients how to eat right and finally discovered one secret that every dieter can use: a 9-inch plate. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., nurse began her own business, One Helping Helps Many, that sells the dinner plates designed to maintain portion control.

The Senate voted 61-39 in favor of a proposal that would require health insurers to cover preventive services for women, including mammograms. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., introduced the proposal as an amendment to the health care reform bill.

Almost 40,000 applicants were turned away from U.S. nursing schools this year, mainly because of faculty and resource shortages, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Data from 511 schools showed enrollment in baccalaureate nursing programs did increase 3.5% from 2008 to 2009, the ninth year in a row for enrollment gains.

New England chief nursing officers say nurses who want to move up to management or administrative positions should let their supervisors know what they want to do and find a mentor to help them. Getting involved with clinical committee work, keeping a positive attitude and going back for additional education can also help nurses move up the job ladder.

The U.S. government has given medical and nursing schools more than $22 million to teach students about alternative medicine, according to an Associated Press report. Critics said the money pays for programs that teach unproven treatments, but the government said physicians need to know about popular remedies to provide nonjudgmental and competent advice to patients.

A checklist is a low-tech way to reduce hospital infections, but the problem is getting nurses and physicians to use them. Dr. Peter Pronovost, a Johns Hopkins researcher who led a study showing the benefits of a checklist, said the "power and politics and hierarchy" of getting nurses to ensure physicians followed a checklist can make their use more difficult.

Formal training for nurse preceptors is expanding and even can be found online. The role can provide professional fulfillment as well as a direct impact on care quality. However, "not everyone can be a preceptor. Some people are very clinically strong, but they cannot teach."

Nurses and other health educators at the 2009 Women's Health Forum in Arkansas urged women to take control of their health care and not ignore symptoms. Family nurse practitioner Corinne Hiser said women are so used to taking care of others they forget to take care of themselves and they don't realize that women often don't have the same disease symptoms as men.

U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Hospitals" rankings list the top 10% of facilities in best nursing care, based on patient satisfaction surveys, with the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix and New England Baptist Hospital in Boston topping the list. The report also lists the hospitals judged to be the worst 10% for nursing care.

Many women leave the doctor feeling that their symptoms and concerns haven't been taken seriously, and many women eventually diagnosed with a serious autoimmune disease have been told it's all in their head, experts say. Here are the signs and symptoms for the seven most commonly misdiagnosed women's health problems, including polycystic ovary syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome.

The number of health Web sites has increased from about 35 in 2005 to almost 500 due in part to the popularity of social networking and the desire of patients to make informed decisions about their health. One health-focused social networking Web site is Inspire, which allows its 130,000 members to share their health issues and experiences with treatment options.

French researchers developed a mathematical model to show how a so-called superspreader who did not wash his hands and traveled throughout a hospital could increase the nosocomial infection rate. The increase in infection rates from the single superspreader was equal to 23% of all other staff not washing their hands.

Researchers said adults who are officially retired but still work part-time were less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, heart disease and other serious ailments. The study, which included more than 12,000 people, also showed people who continue to work a little bit were less likely to show signs of functional decline.

U.S. health experts said data from 11 studies show indoor smoking bans have reduced the rate of heart attacks by up to 47%. The report, created by the Institute of Medicine for the CDC, said the risk of heart attack has been reduced even among nonsmokers because they are not exposed to secondhand smoke.

Oncology nurse Theresa Brown writes in a New York Times blog post about a colleague who watched a physician admonish a patient for choosing hospice and not the aggressive cancer treatment he recommended. Brown says health care providers may feel the need to save patients but must be brave enough to allow some of them to make their own choices about life and death.

HealthGrades' annual Hospital Quality in America Study found patients at top-rated U.S. hospitals had a 51.5% lower risk of death than hospital patients in general. The company based its evaluation on 17 procedures and diagnoses at 5,000 U.S. hospitals and said that while mortality rates generally have declined in recent years, a "quality chasm" persists.

A CDC study on 1,400 adults and 500 children hospitalized with the H1N1 flu across 10 states showed that 55% of the patients who died from the flu had other medical conditions and most were younger than 65 years old. Asthma, immunosuppression, chronic lung disease and chronic heart disease were the most common underlying conditions among adults, while children had asthma, chronic lung diseases, neurological or neuromuscular diseases, and sickle cell or other blood conditions.

Heart disease in women should be called ischemic heart disease because it is different from the coronary artery version most common in men, cardiologists said. They said the change could help focus attention on the greater symptom burden, functional disability and adverse outcomes experienced by women.

Hospitals are adopting a "manufacturing mindset" toward reducing costs and are training staff to identify and cut out wasteful spending. Kansas University Hospital has formed in-house partnerships that look for cost savings and North Kansas City Hospital has restructured its supply chain processes.

Lawmakers in New York and New Jersey are considering a total of 10 bills that would require all new registered nurses to obtain a bachelor's degree in nursing within 10 years of initial licensure. Some experts are concerned about the impact on nursing education because faculty shortages already force many nursing schools to turn away applicants.

Eight retired Texas nurses who formed a group called the Nightingales volunteer each week at Baylor Hospital at Plano, providing an extra personal touch for patients and families. The hospital's chief nursing officer, Ellen Pitcher, came up with the idea, realizing that retired nurses were an untapped resource and could help patients, families and the nursing staff.

Some herbs, vitamins and supplements can be harmful if taken in large doses or with certain prescription medications, experts say in this CNN review. People should read supplement labels carefully and always tell their health care provider about any supplement or natural remedy they are using

The CDC said U.S. life expectancy is now at almost 78 years for a child born in 2007, an increase of three months from 2006. Researchers said declining death rates for almost all leading causes of death helped push the number upward. The data showed a slight, but not statistically significant, rise in the infant mortality rate to 6.77 infant deaths per 1,000 births.

Violence against nurses and other health care workers is a common occurrence, and Oklahoma is among 16 states taking action this year to prevent it. The ANA reports 14 other states already had such legislation or programs in place. The Oklahoma law, which took effect in May, makes assaulting nurses, paramedics, physician or other staff a felony punishable by up to two years in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Hospitals in New Jersey are using new operating room procedures to improve patient safety and help avoid so-called never events. Nurses at Phelps Memorial complete a checklist in the holding area to prevent mistakes, and Kingston and Benedictine hospitals use time-outs before surgery to allow nurses and physicians to make sure there are no mistakes.

Elsevier has rolled out a Web-based application that would help nurses avoid CMS' list of 10 "never events." The tool allows nurses to review evidence-based nursing content, guidelines, books, journals, news and patient education information.

Nurse- and nurse practitioner-run clinics across the U.S. have helped to reduce emergency department visits, hospital admissions and health costs, according to the National Nursing Centers Consortium. The group said there are about 250 nurse-managed health centers in the country, many providing needed access to care for the poor and uninsured.

Americans are spending about $34 billion a year on alternative health care that is not covered by insurance, according to a CDC survey. Data showed that the figure is 25% higher than a decade ago and represents 11% of all out-of-pocket health care spending. The survey found that 38% of adults and 12% of children used alternative therapies in the past year.

A study showed that obese people may be more susceptible to having an increased response to repeated eating, similar to a drug addiction. Researchers gave a "sinful" snack to obese and non-obese women and found healthy-weight women wanted less of the treat over time while the obese women wanted more.

Health care recruiters advise nurses to learn all they can about the hospital or facility where they want to work before heading to a job interview. In very competitive markets, they say it might be wise to consider relocating, taking a lower paying job or going back to school to make yourself more marketable.