Month: February 2014
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Advocates, including governor, rally for statewide smoking ban
The annual Smoke-Free Kentucky rally was held Wednesday in the rotunda of the Capitol to promote passage of a statewide smoking ban. Gov. Steve Beshear and Dave Adkisson, president and...
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Child obesity persists among the poor and less educated; early-life factors also matter; Kentucky’s rate is high
Although youth obesity has become slightly less prevalent, most of the improvement has been restricted to children in families with higher salaries and educations, according to a Harvard University Kennedy School of...
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Medical identity theft increasing; survey says 43% of leaks involve medical records
Modern technology has brought about an increase in identity theft and lately in a particularly dangerous form: medical identity theft. According to a survey conducted by the Identity Theft Resource...
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U of L researchers developing a breath test for lung cancer
Lung cancer victims often don’t notice any symptoms before it’s too late, and Kentucky suffers from the highest rate of the disease — 3,500 deaths per year. Smoking, the leading...
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Kentucky hospitals disagree on how to battle MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant and highly contagious bacteria that plagues them
Hospitals agree that precautions must be taken to fight the potentially deadly super bug MRSA, but they differ in their approaches, Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal. Swab kits are...
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Poll finds 52% of Ky. adults favor legalizing medical marijuana
A slight majority of Kentuckians favor allowing the use of medical marijuana in Kentucky, according to the latest Bluegrass Poll by SurveyUSA for four Kentucky news media outlets. The poll...
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Poll indicates Northern Kentucky is having a heroin epidemic
A poll indicates that Northern Kentucky is the hotbed for heroin use in the state, which has increased since the state legislature cracked down on abuse of prescription painkillers. The...
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Less than a third of school districts in Ky., which has high child-obesity rates, are in program to increase physical activity
Fifty-four of Kentucky’s 173 school districts have joined a national initiative to increase physical activity in schools, and school officials hope other school districts will soon join in. Let’s Move...
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Bill to ease prescription rules for advanced-practice nurse practitioners is first to pass in this legislative session
The first bill to pass the 2014 General Assembly and go to the governor is Senate Bill 7, which would allow more experienced advanced-practice registered nurses to prescribe non-narcotic drugs...
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Patient care, hospitals’ future at stake as smaller hospitals lag behind larger ones in electronic health records
Electronic health records have been hailed as a great boon to patients and health-care providers, but the next phase of their implementation poses obstacles for many small, independent hospitals, Jennifer...