As part of our on-going cardiac resuscitation quality improvement program, the Bureau of EMS and Trauma System along with the University of Arizona (UA) has made tremendous strides in saving lives by translating basic science advancements in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) research into action by emergency providers. The discoveries have led to important changes in national standards and spawned the enormous [...]
We published our mid-year update of the medical marijuana annual report this week. It contains different data than our standard annual report in that we’re reporting aggregate dispensary transaction data. In the report you’ll see that there were about 422,000 transactions made at dispensaries in ‘13 among the 40,000 patients (about 10 transactions/patient/year). Dispensaries sold [...]
National Immunization Awareness Month gives us a great opportunity to talk about the need to improve national immunization coverage levels. Vaccine-preventable diseases are becoming increasingly rare in the US because vaccines are effective, but that doesn’t mean we should stop vaccinating. Even though most infants and toddlers have received all recommended vaccines by age 2, there [...]
Our Midwifery Scope of Practice Advisory Committee Meeting is meeting from 4 to 6 pm this evening in the Lab conference room (250 N 17 Avenue, Phoenix). The Agenda includes a discussion of the draft U of A Literature Review including a Presentation of the results along with the Draft Rules for Public Comment. The [...]
Our Arizona State Hospital (ASH) and the U of A share a birthday. Both were established by the 13th Territorial Legislature in 1885. The City of Tucson had wanted ASH (it came with a $100K appropriation) but their delegation got to Prescott (the Territorial Capitol) late because the Salt was flooded… and Tucson ended up [...]
I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how I’d like to build more bridges between the Arizona’s academic public health infrastructure and Arizona’s public health system. After all- our goal is to use evidence-based practices to drive our interventions- and the U of A’s expertise at the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health is a [...]
I’m happy to announce that we’ve been able to draft Pat Benchik to serve as our new Assistant Director for Behavioral Health Services. Pat's had a long career in behavioral health here in Arizona. He started his career in the 1980s working as an administrator at La Frontera in Tucson. He worked at the Pima [...]
As I mentioned in my previous post, scientific studies (e.g. experimental v. observational design) have different strengths and weaknesses. Sources of evidence range from case reports at the lower end to well-designed large randomized experimental clinical studies that minimize bias. Relying on poor quality evidence can lead to policy decisions that aren't in patients’ best interests- and it's super important [...]
Medicine and public health have relied on peer-reviewed published scientific literature to help guide progress in patient treatment and public health interventions for decades- even centuries. For example, when we did the fact-finding to inform our decision about whether to add the petitioned conditions to the list of disorders that qualify for AZ medical marijuana cards- [...]
The AZ Medical Marijuana Act requires us to periodically accept petitions to add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for an AZ Medical Marijuana Registration Card. In January, we accepted petitions from the public and had a public hearing in May. Folks submitted numerous articles as a part their petitions for PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized [...]
