Hot Topics, Guidelines & Standards: February 2008

February is American Heart Month. Go Red for Women is a movement that works toward a reduction in coronary heart disease and stroke in women. The movement is working hard to change the perception that heart disease is a “man’s disease” by teaching more women how to talk to their doctors about heart disease.

2008 Recommended Immunization Schedule
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) have issued the 2008 Childhood Immunization Schedule. There are three schedules that reflect current recommendations for use of vaccines licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and include numerous changes from the 2007 schedule.

ECRI Institute Launches Comparative Effectiveness Resource Center Web Site
Comparative effectiveness initiatives may have significant impact on a sweeping range of constituencies—from providers, payers, industry, and regulators—to patients and their advocates. Competing drugs, medical devices, and clinical procedures are all in play. This educational Web site is intended to help you understand the issues involved in this complex topic. The site provides access to a range of resources, from national policy conference recordings to perspectives from leading experts.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has recently published the following new/updated documents:

• Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer (Committee Opinion)
• Surgery and patient choice (Committee Opinion)
• Elective and risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (update) (Practice Bulletin)

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has released guidelines on evidence-based interventions to improve the palliative care of pain, dyspnea, and depression at the end of life and a position paper on achieving a high-performance health care system with universal access.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has released their annual Clinical Practice Recommendations.

The Center for Outcomes and Evidence has released a new evidence report on the impact of gene expression profiling tests on breast cancer outcomes.

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Excerpted and edited, from ECRI Institute, HCS Update. http://hcs.ecri.org/news/

ECRI Institute's Healthcare Standards Directory is available at the Rudolph Matas Medical Library, Ready Reference , W 22 AA1 H42 2007.