Cancer Patients benefit from full access to medical records

Cancer Patients who are given full access to their medical record feel a greater sense of satisfaction about their treatment, a new study finds.

French researchers also concluded that provide complete and accurate medical information built of trust between the patient and the physician.

Published online on May 23 in the journal Cancer, the study analyzed 295 patients recently diagnosed cancer Lymphoma, breast or colon cancer. All were treated by chemotherapy.

Patients received either "on request information", or organized medical file (OMR) - a Briefcase complete detailed information on their condition and treatment. These information included reports on all, surgery, radiology and pathology results, with the nurse stories and observations of treatment. With SEO, they received guides on medical terms and understand the material, as well as to help medical personnel to decipher the various documents.

Eighty Eighteen per cent of patients who offered an OMR has chosen to take.

Patients who have received on-demand information has been provided only information and medical records if they asked for them or their doctor offered.

Similar anxiety and quality of life scores levels have been reported in the two groups.

But patients with OMR were 1.68 times more likely to be satisfied with their medical information and were 1.86 times more likely to feel fully informed, the authors of the study noted.

And 70.4% of the patients who received an OMR has said that they would once more to receive, with 74.8% saying: they not regret their choice. In addition, the majority of these patients has been reported that SEO was not the source of any anxiety.

"Information is crucial to make decisions of treatment options, and for the patient and his family, to cope with the disease and its consequences," study author Dr. Gwenaelle Gravis, the Paoli-Calmettes Institute in Marseillesaid in a press release of the editor of the journal. "Full access to his medical file with the possibility to consult only if you want increased patient confidence in the physician and the medical team."

Total medical costs of the $500 M per year swimmer's ear

ATLANTA - the first national estimates of the ear of the swimmer say it causes approximately 2.4 million trips to doctors and hospitals in a year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said cases of swimmer ear amounted to about 500 million dollars in medical costs, annual - or about $200 per visit.

Some people get the problem several times, and the CDC did not estimate how many Americans suffer from bathers each year. But, according to calculations by the Associated Press based on statistics from the CDC, more than 2 million to get.

Swimmer's ear is an infection of itching, painful outer ear that may occur when bacteria in the water of swimming get through breaks in the skin. It is generally treated with antibiotic ear drops.

More than half of the cases were in adults. The CDC has published statistics Thursday.