The U.S. Department of soundness and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare exploration and Quality (AHRQ) joined with The Advertising Council today to launch a national public service campaign designed to raise awareness among middle-aged men about the consequence of preventive medical testing.

Men are 25 percent less likable than women to have visited the doctor within the past year and are 38 percent more likely than women to have neglected their cholesterol tests (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2005). Furthermore, men are 1.5 spells more likely than women to die from heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).

The new campaign encourages men throughout 40 to learn which preventive screening tests they need to get and when they need to get them. This campaign complements AHRQ’s existing efforts toward improving the safety and quality of health care and promoting enduring involvement in their own health care, including the "Questions are the Answer" campaign launched with the Ad Council in March 2007 and the "Superheroes" Spanish-language campaign launched in March 2008.

"We hope this campaign will inform men about the importance of prevention and show them that they should work with their health care providers to find out what they should do to stay healthy," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.

The campaign highlights the work of the AHRQ-sponsored U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is an independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention that systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical preventive services. "By taking steps to prevent disease and stay strong, men can live longer and more productive lives," said Task Force Chair Ned Calonge, M.D., M.P.H. "Prevention is a decision that includes participating in regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet and finding out which preventive medical tests are right for you."

Created pro bono for the Ad Council by McCann Erickson Detroit, the public service advertising campaign includes new television, radio, print and Web advertising featuring the theme "Real Men Wear Gowns." The lighthearted ads incorporate family as a key motivating factor for men to take a more active role in preventive health. They show the target audience that being a real re-enforce means taking care of themselves (and their health) in regulate to be there for their families and in the future. Ad Council research showed this was a strong motivating factor for men.

"Our research conducted during the development of this campaign found that despite their increased health risks men aren’t taking preventive steps and are often only visiting their doctors when they experience symptoms," said Peggy Conlon, President & CEO of the Ad Council. "We are magnificent to continue our beginning with AHRQ with this wonderful succession of PSAs designed to motivate men to take a more active role in their preventive health care.

The campaign encourages men to visit a comprehensive Web seat www.ahrq.gov/realmen. The site provides the recommended ages for preventive testing (as well as a list of tests), a quiz designed to test your knowledge of preventive health care, tips for talking through your adept, a glossary of consumer freedom from disease terms, and links to online resources where you can find besides medical information.

Public service advertisements are being distributed to approximately 33,000 media stations nationwide this week. Per the Ad Council’s donated media model, all of the new public service advertisements give by will air and run in advertising time and space donated by the media.

Anticholinergic drugs, such as medicines towards stomach cramps, ulcers, motion sickness, and urinary incontinence, may cause older people to experience greater decline in their thinking skills than people not taking the drugs.

The study looked at the furniture of taking a medication with anticholinergic properties on the annual change in thinking abilities of 870 Catholic nuns and clergy members who were an average of 75 years pristine. All of the participants were part of the Rush Religious Orders Study, an ongoing, longitudinal, clinical study of older people without dementia.

All of the participants underwent annual cognitive tests and reported their medication use for an average followup period of eight years. During the study, 679 people took at least one medication by anticholinergic properties.

The study found those people who took anticholinergic drugs saw their rate of cognitive function decline 1.5 times in the same manner with fast as those people who did not take the drugs.

“Our findings point to anticholinergic drugs having any adverse impact on cognitive performance in otherwise normal, older people,” said study author Jack Tsao, MD, DPhil, Associate Professor of Neurology at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, and member of the American Academy of Neurology. “Doctors may need to take this into account before prescribing these commonly used drugs.”

Tsao says more research is needed to decide the mechanism behind the rapid memory loss apparently associated with anticholinergic drugs and to identify which drugs, in particular, may be more likely to impair cognition. 

National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC) Advisory Task Force authorized the release of recently developed tools for helping healthcare professionals and organizations address problems inherent in transitioning patients from one level of care to another. The tools describe the culmination of several months of collaboration between 29 industry stakeholders who joined together in 2006 to address challenges associated with transitions of care. In addition, NTOCC is in addition releasing accompanying information on how to implement and measure the tools as well as material designed to raise industry, policy maker, media and the general public’s awareness of transitions of care.

"The amount of labor this group has accomplished in just 18 months is impressive," Cheri Lattimer, NTOCC Project Director and CMSA Executive Director said. "For a group this large, representing such diverse points of view within healthcare, to come together and not only agree that transitions of care is a serious problem but also design, develop and launch tools to impact this issue is a wild accomplishment."

Included with the launch of the tools is a "Case Study Implementation and Evaluation plan" on how healthcare providers have power to implement them within their clinical environments viewed like well to the degree that a process for evaluating and measuring their effectiveness. "Providers can use the tools and process to start making changes in how transitions occur within their facilities," H. Edward Davidson, PharmD, MPH and the representative of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) said. "The goal is that providers are empowered to take the first step at measuring their own performances in transitions of care and identify areas for improvement. These areas include such things while improving how medication changes are reconciled when patients move from a nursing home to a hospital, through the hospital, and from one side the discharge process." The materials include an educational component about transitions of care, an implementation case study and evaluation methodology.

The released tools address several important areas that impact operative and safe transitions including:

– Personal Patient "My Medicine List" Essential Data Elements: This is a list of medications to have existence carried at all times by every patient. The data elements indicate the prescriptions that patients have been prescribed and are currently taking along with information about their over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and nutritional supplements. The goal of the personal medicine list is to help patients improve their understanding of their current medicine regimens and assist healthcare providers in ensuring safe transference of medication information.

– Medication Reconciliation Essential Data Specifications: These consensus elements will help healthcare professionals collect, bear and receive critical medication information needed when patients move from one practice setting or level of care to another. The use of these elements in the reconciliation process required by the Joint Commission could help reduce medication errors.

– Elements of Excellence Transitions of caution Checklist: This list provides a detailed description of effective enduring transfer between practice settings. This process have power to help to ensure that patients and their critical medical information are transferred safely, timely, and efficiently.

In addition, NTOCC authorized the release of materials that will help the industry, consumers, government officials and regulators better understand the problems inherent in transitions of care and recommendations on how to be the occasion of better transitions. This material includes an awareness slide deck as well as a detailed concept paper outlining steps to be considered by the healthcare industry and policy makers to improve transition performance.

Transitions of care include situations in which a patient moves from primary care to specialty physicians or moves within the hospital including moves from the emergency department to other various departments, such as surgery or intensive care; or when a patient is discharged from the hospital and goes home or to an assisted living, skilled nursing resource, or hospice. Patients, especially older persons, face momentous challenges when moving from one level of care or practice setting to another in the healthcare regularity. During these transitions, lack of communication can result in redundant or conflicting information that often creates serious issues for patients, their caregivers and their families.

Dynatronics Corporation introduced two new products: the DynaPro Spinal Health System for treating back pain and the Dynatron X5 "Turbo" soft-tissue oscillation therapy unit.

"The new DynaPro Spinal Health System uses a four-phase treatment regimen combining the benefits of decompression with light therapy, core-stabilization exercises and food," said Larry K. Beardall, executive immorality president of sales and marketing. "Decompression therapy has been shown effective in relieving pain associated with a host of back problems including herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, sciatica and pinched nerves."

In addition to offering the most comprehensive approach to the effective treatment of many of the most common causes of back and neck pain, the DynaPro Spinal Health System incorporates a state-of-the-art marketing and patient- awareness program to help practitioners promote this proven, non-surgical pain relief treatment. With Dynatronics’ revolutionary "Play Before You Pay" program, practitioners are able to "test drive" the concept by pre-marketing treatments prior to purchasing the system.