Blog breaks down Wyden’s talk, plan (#ahcj09)
AHCJ board member Ivan Oransky blogged about Sen. Ron Wyden’s talk at Health Journalism 2009 on April 17.
Wyden’s Healthy Americans Act would require nearly everyone to buy health insurance. He believes the way to pay for everyone to be covered is by limiting the tax-exempt status of health insurance premiums.
Oransky lays out some details about Wyden’s plan and brings up some questions that the senator didn’t answer during his presentation.
Do audiences understand health stories? (#ahcj09)
Health journalists understand some of the key elements audiences need to better understand health stories, but they also misunderstand the impact statistical information has on audience comprehension, according to a University of Missouri researcher.
Speaking at the Association of Health Care Journalists’ annual conference, assistant professor Amanda Hinnant, Ph.D., said the results of a survey she and colleagues conducted showed that health journalists realize audiences will be more likely to understand health stories that include a human element, use graphics to illustrate important information and employ a conversational tone.
Kim Walsh-Childers, Ph.D., of the University of Florida writes about the panel - includes a link to Hinnant’s presenation.
Diabetics risking health to save money
Associated Press Business Writer Linda Johnson discovered that diabetics, and others in need of medical attention, were putting their health at risk by cutting back on insulin, medicine and monitoring as they felt the economic pinch of the global recession.
Sales of top-selling drugs and other products used to treat and monitor the disease have dropped since the economic crisis accelerated last fall, the AP analysis found. There are even signs that some patients are choosing less-expensive insulin injections over pricier pills to save money.
People with other health problems also are cutting back on care amid the recession, but diabetics who don’t closely monitor and control the chronic disease risk particularly dire complications: amputations, vision loss, stroke — even death.
Johnson found that a broad spectrum of patients were attempting to cut corners and save money. She cited a variety of anecdotal examples and wider economic metrics, all of which support her main point: Diabetics are spending less, and it’s a threat to their health.
Dr. Steven Edelman, a University of California, San Diego endocrinologist who runs a free clinic staffed by medical students, has seen a 30 percent surge the past six months in patients seeking free diabetes medicines and supplies, which the clinic has to ration. Many had been solidly middle class, but the recession took their jobs, insurance and even some homes.
Tompkins: Don’t reward station for ethical breach
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health journalism
Al Tompkins, author of the Poynter Institute’s popular Al’s Morning Meeting blog, questions the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s decision to present a Maine TV station with an Edward R. Murrow award for a series based on a trip to China that was funded by the Maine Foundation for Cardiac Surgery.
In the case of WGME, the travel was not frivolous. It highlighted very good work being done by local doctors to save lives, and it was the type of story that could generate community support. The station said it could not have afforded to cover the story if it had to pay its own tab, but I don’t buy it.
In general, news organizations should not allow the phrase “In these tough economic times …” to become reason to bend ethical rules that have guided our craft through decades of good economic times.
Moreover, the national Edward R. Murrow contest should represent the peak of ethical behavior. If RTNDA does not enforce its code of ethics in its national contest, then it misses a key opportunity to say what the association stands for.
Safety initiatives borrowed from transportation industry (#ahcj09)
Patient safety improvement and medical error prevention programs in U.S. hospitals often take their inspiration from the aviation industry’s long-standing efforts to prevent errors and from Toyota Motor Corporation’s “lean” production system, with its celebrated “stopping the line” policy, in which anyone working on the auto production line can stop it until an identified quality problem can be fixed.
Two explicit examples from Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center and Seattle Children’s were described during a panel at the Association of Health Care Journalists annual meeting in Seattle on April 17.
Independent writer Larry Beresford reports on the panel.
Preparation would lessen chaos in covering disasters (#ahcj09)
Disasters are a time of chaos and uncertainty. To perhaps lessen this chaos for reporters, a panel of experts at Health Journalism 2009 in Seattle discussed how journalists might cover and survive disasters as well as understand the medical systems in place to handle them. The panelists offered insight into the many wheels set in motion when a disaster strikes and how journalists can prepare for and understand what might happen should one hit their community.
Thomas Cullen of the Missouri School of Journalism summarizes this panel from Health Journalism 2009.
Reminder: Follow #ahcj09 on Twitter for updates
Many Health Journalism 2009 attendees are using Twitter to share what they learn as they learn it. If you’re on Twitter, follow the action using the hashtag #ahcj09 … for those of you not yet on Twitter, you can see what’s going on here.
Animal-to-human contact key to emerging diseases (#ahcj09)
A visit to the local health clinic might be beneficial for health reporters investigating animal-borne diseases, according to one panelist at the Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Seattle.
Health officials might not have a clue about how they would react to the outbreak of any number of diseases that are harmful to farm animals or humans, said William Davenhall, a global marketing manager with the computer mapping company ESRI.
“That would be an interesting story,” he said during the April 18 panel on “Tracking animal-borne diseases.” He noted: “Being prepared does not does not mean you are ready.”
Mike Sherry of the Kansas City Business Journal writes about what he learned at the panel.
Mental health reporter blogs from conference (#ahcj09)
Mental health journalist John McManamy is blogging from Health Journalism 2009.
On Thursday he went on the field trip that included the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the University of Washington and the Allen Institute of Brain Science.
On Friday he wrote about the disaster panel, the mental health panel and Sen. Ron Wyden’s luncheon address.
Obama order expected to increase speed, efficiency of stem cell research (#ahcj09)
On the same day that Health Journalism 2009 featured a panel on “Second wind for stem cell research,” The National Institutes of Health issued draft guidelines to allow government funding for stem cell research.
Lawrence Goldstein, Ph.D., a stem cell researcher with the University of California San Diego and a member of the board of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, and Chuck Murry, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, commented on the executive order, as well as on the chilling effects of President Bush’s order that limited stem cell research.
Read about what the researches said about the order and the future of stem cell research.
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Awards for Excellence in Health Care JournalismDeadline: Feb. 3
- How I did it: Falsified charts in nursing homes linked to patient care
- Access Denied: Looking at a lack of health care availability
- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
- Focus on freelancing: Tips for buying liability insurance
- Why do some patients get stuck in hospitals for weeks, months?
- Investigate health professionals and the boards that regulate them
- Presidents of AHCJ, SPJ call for more openness from Obama administration
