Lack of oversight contributes to Army suicides
Filed under: Government, Hot Health Headline, Studies
The Army reported that 143 active duty soldiers killed themselves in the last year, the highest number since the statistics started being kept in 1980. This year’s numbers are on track to break that unfortunate record. Gregg Zoroya of USA Today reports that an Army investigator blames at least part of this rise to a lack of day-to-day oversight by commanders accustomed to leading amidst the intensity of the battlefield rather than the less-obvious perils of the barracks.
The investigator’s solution is simple: commanders need to interact with their troops more, to keep in touch and keep their eyes out for risk factors.
Zoroya also noted another contributing factor to the climbing suicide rate:
Along with soldiers who engage in risky behaviors, McGuire says, the Army has a greater number of troops who entered the service with pre-existing anxiety or depression or who have stopped taking their behavioral medication in order to meet entrance requirements.
Soldiers concerned they may be at risk can try this online mental health self-assessment designed specifically for members of the armed services.
Study advocates evidence-based medical guidelines
In USA Today, Steve Sternberg covers a study which found that guidelines used to treat cardiac patients are often not based on conclusive research.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the use of evidence-based medicine has improved patient care,” says Sidney Smith of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an author of the study and an expert on medical guidelines. “The trouble is, we need more evidence.”
The study’s authors, Sternberg said, advocate a strong scientific basis for every health-care decision. The American Heart Association, he reports, is starting a “Get with the Guidelines” program to encourage evidence-based treatment.
“Doctors say the study highlights a disturbing lack of scientific evidence underlying complex treatment questions, including how much aspirin to prescribe for heart attack prevention, how best to treat heart valve disease and when to choose angioplasty over bypass surgery.
Research shows that patients do best when doctors follow guidelines based on scientific evidence. This push for evidence-based medicine has come to define a new era in medical care, one in which doctors and hospitals are judged on their performance — and their grade depends partly on how true they are to medical guidelines.”
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