The 5th “Vital Sign” & the Painkiller Epidemic (Part I of V)
In our lifetimes, each one of us is likely to experience pain. The pain experience could be acute and resolve itself in short order (like a bee sting). Pain can also be a chronic experience lasting a long time with varying levels of intensity (like rheumatoid arthritis). Pain is also subjective and what one person considers excruciating pain, another person may [...]
Behavioral Health “Summer Institute”
Several staff from the Division attended and conducted presentations at the annual summer institute held by ASU’s Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy. This is the largest local conference for behavioral health professionals. This conference was originally created by our Behavioral Health Division in collaboration with ASU 15 years ago. Today, it continues to provide professional development and continuing education [...]
New Abortion Clinic Regulations Filed
Last Spring the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a new law that provided our agency with the same inspection authority at abortion clinics that we have at all the other healthcare institutions we license. The previous authority required us to give abortion clinics a 10 day notice before we conduct a routine inspection. We also used to have to get an administrative search warrant [...]
Adjusting Our Vital Records Business Model
Our Vital Records team has a wide range of business functions. We’re responsible for maintaining and issuing certified copies of vital records, including birth and death certificates, registration of adoptions, and corrections and amendments to these vital records. Much of our work also includes helping the county vital records offices with their mission of verifying and issuing birth and death [...]
Outstanding Success by Newborn Screening Team
Last month I bragged about how our newborn screening team beat the deadline I gave them to improve our system – a system that ensure blood spots taken from newborns are quickly screened for life-threatening diseases. Now that the actual deadline is past, it’s good to see the team and our licensed hospitals exceeded what I asked them to do. [...]
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
The monsoon season marks the tick season here in Arizona, and one of most important tick-borne disease threats in the state is Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The symptoms usually start with a fever of two or more days and can lead to a nasty “spotted” rash (although the rash is not always present in the cases seen in Arizona). Early treatment [...]