Education researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have secured a federal contract to open and operate a national center to combat growing mental health concerns in K-12 schools.
UW Health is calling for people with irritable bowel disease to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine study.
IBD is a blanket term for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The drugs used to treat those two conditions can leave patients immunosuppressed, which raised concerns about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines for those patients. “Our goal is to, as new vaccines come out or new recommendations, to keep doing this type of research that will help patients inform whether they need a different vaccine schedule,” gastroenterologist Dr. Freddy Caldera said.
This is the first installment of a 5-part series in which former University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson and Vice President Jim Langdon reflect on their experience guiding the system though the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interview with Amy Williamson, associate director of the University of Wisconsin’s Collaboration on Reproductive Equity.
Shannon is a professor and chair in the department of neurology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
In a statement, UW School of Medicine and Public Health Dean Robert N. Golden and UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan said they will continue to support transgender and nonbinary patients.
“UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health are committed to providing gender-affirming care that is evidence-based, patient-centered, and that focuses on the health and wellbeing of patients seeking the bright future they deserve,” the statement reads. “We will continue to lead clinical, research and education endeavors that allow patients to live their best and most fulfilled lives.”
UW Health is among the primary providers of gender-affirming health care in Dane County after the launch of its Comprehensive Gender Services Program in 2022.
UW Health has not taken a position on the new bill, spokesperson Sara Benzel said.
To dig deeper, the researchers used the participants’ MRI scans and further assessed whether they lived in disadvantaged neighborhoods based on their zip code’s area deprivation index (ADI). The team was able to determine that by using Neighborhood Atlas, which was developed at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine’s Public Health.
UW Health is looking for 75 people to test a new Lyme disease vaccine that targets more strains of the tick-borne illness than a little-used shot taken off the market more than 20 years ago.
UW Health also offers free training to become a nursing assistant. At the end of the course, graduates earn their CNA credentials by passing the exam administered by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
“It’s shocking to suggest that we need more studies to know whether N95 respirators are effective against an airborne pathogen,” said Kaitlin Sundling, a physician and pathologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a comment following the June meeting. “The science of N95 respirators is well established and based on physical properties, engineered filtered materials, and our scientific understanding of how airborne transmission works.”
He also be happens to be on a six-person team from UW-Madison that has developed a machine-learning network that can help neurosurgeons mitigate the impact of cerebral hemorrhaging.
UW Health nurses again are turning up the heat at Madison’s largest hospital over wage caps and greater pay transparency.
Sarah Clifford Glapa, UHS associate director of marketing and health communications, said in an email that Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s (PPWI) recent decision to restore abortion services to two Wisconsin health clinics increases “local access to care for students,” including abortion referrals.
Nurses at UW Health spoke out Friday for the first time since narrowly avoiding going on strike last year — and they say conditions haven’t improved as much as they should have. “We’re feeling really devalued, unappreciated,” Mary Jorgensen said.
“It’s shocking to suggest that we need more studies to know whether N95 respirators are effective against an airborne pathogen,” said Kaitlin Sundling, a physician and pathologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a comment following the June meeting. “The science of N95 respirators is well established and based on physical properties, engineered filtered materials, and our scientific understanding of how airborne transmission works.”
Ayear after UW Health and its nurses reached an agreement to avert a strike, while continuing to ask the courts if UW Health can recognize a revived nurses’ union, nurses said Thursday that UW Health has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement.
A year after Gov. Tony Evers stepped in to negotiate a deal and halt a strike at a Madison-based hospital, union nurses are planning to “escalate pressure,” again mentioning a strike, if UW Health does not provide greater pay transparency and remove salary caps.
Dr. Tiffany Green, a professor at the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said she believes the effort to reduce maternal mortality should focus not only on care received in hospitals, but on the social and economic conditions faced in general by Black women. The United States should consider using federal civil rights law in cases where racial bias severely hurt the care a patient received. “If you think bias is a fundamental driver of these iniquities then you have to hold providers accountable,” Dr. Green said.
Additional boxes are in locations that receive heavy foot traffic, increasing accessibility.
Working on question lists does not require a trained coach, however. A family member or friend can be a helpful guide to preparing for a visit, as the process of making a question list can decrease worry and increase a patient’s sense of control. In fact, there are various methods to brainstorm, clarify, and organize a question list, and anyone can find frameworks to navigate their medical decisions, including the Ottawa decision guides, the University of Wisconsin Surgery’s Best Case/Worst Case framework, or our own pre-appointment question list.
Dr. James Conway, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at UW Health, said concern about outbreaks grows when vaccination rates drop below 90%. That’s because no vaccine is 100% effective, and some people can’t get vaccines.
Aug. 31 is National Overdose Awareness Day, and in recognition, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced 13 new Nalox-ZONE boxes were installed on campus. The boxes offer students resources to reverse an opioid overdose. Naloxone, also called Narcan, is found in all of the boxes and is a medication that can save someone from an overdose until they can get to a hospital, UW explained.
As students prepare to head back to classes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, they will find 13 more Opioid Overdose Reversal Boxes across campus. “Narcan saved my life way more times than I could count,” Kaeden Watford said.
“With cats, there is excessive vocalization and disorientation and changes in interaction with humans or other animals, such as hissing and swatting,” said Starr Cameron, clinical associate professor in small animal neurology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine, who studies cat dementia. “Some cats are up all night and vocalizing. They go outside the litter box or can’t find it.”
The Home-Based Hospital Care program currently allows up to four adult patients to receive hospital care and equipment — everything from oxygen tanks and intravenous pumps to multiple in-person visits by medical staff daily — from home. Patients will also receive smart devices that will allow them to call medical staff at any time, just like a call button in a hospital bed.
Though the program only serves four patients at a time, it may expand to help more than 300 patients a year by 2024.
As kids head back to school, we take a look at the politics of school lunch, including compensation issues among school lunch workers, parental involvement with school meals, and the role of farmers in school lunches. Interview with Jennifer Gaddis, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies at UW-Madison’s School of Human Ecology.
“It is really revolutionary,” said Roseanne Clark, a clinical psychologist and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s postpartum depression research treatment program.
“The concern is, could that cause a very similar spike epidemiologically, with more spread, more hospitalizations, more death?” said Ajay Sethi, professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It doesn’t have to replicate what we saw the last time (with omicron), … but it certainly is on everybody’s mind.”
Through a new program at UW Health and a growing number of health systems around the country, some adult patients are receiving hospital-level care at home.
Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will now see more overdose rescue boxes in buildings on campus, in the university’s effort to prevent opioid and fentanyl overdoses.
Madison-area hospital systems UW Health and SSM Health did not respond to about their procedures for fentanyl screenings.
Richard Keller, professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said social isolation is the greatest risk factor for dying of heat stroke.
“Especially if they’re living on their own in marginal conditions without access to air conditioning and without access to a steady social network, they can often find themselves with no one to help if they find themselves in crisis,” Keller said.
Funds awarded to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health will be used to improve the health outcomes of mothers and infants, UW Health said Thursday.
“We are a nation with many resources, and yet, generic medications across the board, and things like infant formula, are resources that some of our citizens don’t have access to because we haven’t really built the policies to ensure that there would be access,” said Kari Wisinski, chief of hematology and oncology and palliative care at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Medicine.
“As a physician, I believe that these deaths are almost completely preventable,” said Bill Kinsey, a physician and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Until we determine as a society the importance of a human right for people to work in healthy situations, we are going to see continued illness and death in this population.”
Ketamine has emerged as a therapeutic option for treatment-resistant depression and other mental health conditions. We talk to Cody Wenthur, an assistant professor at UW-Madison’s School of Pharmacy and director of the school’s new Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation master’s program, about how it works and why ketamine clinics have popped up across Wisconsin.
Dr. Michael Lucey, professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Wisconsin’s medical school, said those resources are an “integral part” of performing more comprehensive psychosocial evaluations.
A new school year is quickly approaching. We check in with Dr. Emily Ruedinger, a pediatrics expert from UW-Madison, about how to best prepare children mentally and physically.
Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at the University of Wisconsin spoke with CNET in 2021, when scientists were first getting a grip on long COVID, that the key to discerning the condition is to pay attention to new symptoms that develop or ones that never go away — about 30 days post-infection. This separates long COVID from the initial viral infection itself.
Dr. Megan Moreno, a professor of pediatrics with UW Health Kids, said the study had a surprising impact.
“I think there was a lot of skepticism around whether a five-minute conversation with a pediatrician would have much effect,” she said. “The answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ A pediatrician isn’t going to be able to go into great detail, but if our intervention got kids to talk to their parents, that is great.”
Most people who have had cancer drink, including some at high levels during treatment, says a study involving a UW Health cancer doctor, even though alcohol increases the risk of some types of cancer and can make treatment for any cancer riskier and less effective.
It may be time to break out the face masks again.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise nationwide due to a new omicron subvariant, EG.5, nicknamed “Eris.” Though Wisconsin isn’t getting hit hard yet, hospitalizations are up 14.3% and deaths are up 10% in the last week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at the University of Wisconsin spoke with CNET in 2021, when scientists were first getting a grip on long COVID, that the key to discerning the condition is to pay attention to new symptoms that develop or ones that never go away — about 30 days post-infection. This separates long COVID from the initial viral infection itself.
A new study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health finds that even a brief conversation about social media with their doctor can improve teens’ behavior on the platforms.
“I think there was a lot of skepticism around whether a five-minute conversation with a pediatrician would have much effect,” Dr. Megan Moreno of UW Health Kids and a professor of pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health said. “The answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ A pediatrician isn’t going to be able to go into great detail, but if our intervention got kids to talk to their parents, that is great.”
While some radiopharmaceuticals have been utilized in thyroid cancer treatment for decades, new radiation drugs are showing promise in many other areas, according to Dr. Steve Cho, a professor and section chief of the nuclear medicine section of the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Steve Barczi, a professor of medicine at UW Health, said making a few small changes during the weeks leading up to the school year will go a long way.
“Most people project that if you can even just shift a child’s bedtime by maybe 15 minutes everyday or a couple days, until you move them back let’s say that hour that they need to be back to be able to be prepared for school, that’s a good gauge,” Barczi said.
A spokesperson for UW Health, another major provider for Madison-area residents, also confirmed with the Cap Times that it will “continue to serve (its) transgender, gender expansive and nonbinary patient communities.”
Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer and emergency medicine physician at UW Health, says a new COVID booster is good news. Dr. Pothof encourages people to get the new booster in September or October when they get their flu shot.
“Our immune systems get a little bit lazy and they don’t work as well against COVID. So having this booster is going to be helpful. It’s actually against the strain that’s pretty common out there right now,” Dr. Pothof.
The annual event is organized by the Pancreas Cancer Task Force, a group of volunteers dedicated to raising funds for pancreas cancer research while supporting patients throughout their cancer journey. Gerianne Holzman, chair of Roll and Stroll 2023, says “Gathering survivors, along with their family, friends, and care teams shows everyone impacted by this disease that they are not alone.”
There are a number of reasons why sports physicals are important, especially this time of year. Dr. David Bernhardt, a pediatric sports medicine physician with UW Health said it allows kids to participate in sport which has a significant impact on mental and physical health, among other benefits.
Now, new research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could give doctors a better understanding of which patients are affected by these strains by mapping the location of antibiotic resistance in great detail.
Laurel Legenza is a postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison’s School of Pharmacy and lead author of the new study. She used data from cases of E. coli infections at three Wisconsin health care systems to map out where bacteria were susceptible to two common antibiotic treatments.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly cancers, with only 10% of people living more than five years after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society. In Wisconsin and nationally, pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
The free clinic is meant to eliminate barriers for children to play sports. The WIAA requires high school athletes to complete a physical exam before the first day of practice.
To address the problem, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics announced it would create a registered nurse apprenticeship program. It’s one of the first programs of its kind in the country, according to UW Health.
University of Wisconsin Hospitals, including University Hospital and East Madison Hospital, were named the best hospital in Wisconsin for the 12th straight year by. U.S. News and World Report.
UW Health celebrated its first-place ranking in a statement and noted the continued success in the well-known survey of hospitals. “As we reflect on 12 years as the best hospital in Wisconsin, I am proud of the teamwork it takes to maintain this level of excellence,” UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan said. “UW Health will continue to set the standard for remarkable care, innovative practices and health equity.”
