In a new study, Northwestern Medicine researchers found that patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease are more likely to receive a prescription for cholesterol-lowering medication, and to achieve lower long-term cholesterol levels, when doctors use electronic health records to deliver personalized risk assessments via mail.
When people with Type 2 diabetes are diagnosed with cancer – a disease for which they are at higher risk – they ignore their diabetes care to focus on cancer treatment, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. But uncontrolled high blood sugar is more likely to kill them and impairs their immune system’s ability to fight cancer.
Medical students teach exercise, nutrition, and diabetes classes at the Community Health Clinic in West Town. This initiative, which started five years, teaches patients how to prevent and control chronic diseases.
The newly created Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center received a grant for a project that uses performance data to assist patients in selecting high-quality hospitals for surgical procedures and encourages hospitals to improve their quality of care.
At a recent anesthesiology meeting, Ling Qun Hu, MD, presented his findings from part of his 10-year “No Pain Labor N’ Delivery China Initiative.” His goal is to teach Chinese doctors in at least ten medical centers how to give epidurals to decrease high cesarean delivery rates.
As chair of the Kidney Transplantation Committee, John Friedewald, MD, associate professor in medicine-nephrology and surgery-organ transplantation, helped develop major changes to kidney transplantation in a proposal that is currently in the public comment phase.
Rebecca Ford-Paz, PhD, assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, provides therapy to Latino youth and works to diminish mental health disparities. Ford-Paz presented at a recent community meeting in Logan Square about the need for mental health services in the Latino community.
Stephen Ondra, MD, professor in neurological surgery, has been named interim chair of the department. Ondra has spent parts of the past four years working in the Obama Administration as a senior policy adviser in Washington and was named senior vice president and chief medical officer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in April.
In the 2012 ranking of the nation’s “Best Hospitals” published by U.S. News & World Report, both Northwestern Memorial and Northwestern Lake Forest hospitals earned recognition in Illinois and the Chicago metro area, with Northwestern Memorial ranked No. 1 in both areas and named to the prestigious honor roll of the nation’s top hospitals.