Amy Jacob

Telemedicine is becoming a more accepted practice across the medical community and as people become more spread out geographically it is becoming more popular in newer areas of the field including infectious disease.

A growing problem in the healthcare community, particularly in hospitals is the risk of antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial stewardship programs. This is an effort that will take the work of many dedicated people and effective products for a difficult problem.

One of the biggest challenges hospitals today face is winning the battle of antimicrobial stewardship and infections like MRSA. Work continues to develop medications to help treat these patients and keep others in the hospital system safe.

A conversation between ASGE President Douglas Faigel, MD and CMS looks to produce some interesting feedback and clarity in the next two months. Faigel said, "We're starting to win the war on colon cancer and the last thing we want to do is put up barriers for patient Medicare beneficiary access to colonoscopies."

It's a constant question of whether physician decision making has benefitted the patients or not.

The molecular test PancraGen helps identify false negative cases that could be missed by first-line tests like imaging, cytology and fluid chemistry.

The flu season of 2014 was one of the worst in recent memory which brought up questions about the flu vaccine which patients received in order to prevent contracting the disease. The answers for those questions could provide better results in years to come.

In the world of gastrointestinal conditions clostridium difficile, or c-diff is becoming a more common condition confronting doctors. Finding the best treatment method remains to be seen.

Antimicrobial stewardship is becoming a growing concern in the medical community especially among hospital patients. Finding ways to combat these issues is also becoming increasingly important to keep patients healthy beyond their original concerns.

IBS patients are great, because many times they come to you frustrated they don't have a "diagnosis".

The probiotics didn't work well enough to cure patients, but the stool transplants miraculously did.

New York Giants tight end Daniel Fells remains in a New York hospital in serious condition following the discovery of a severe infection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in his ankle.

Psoriasis patients are susceptible to artery inflammation, increasing their risk for cardiovascular disease.

IDWeek has become much more integrated and does an excellent job in helping specialists take their shared information to make their clinical practices better.

ID Week is the most relevant and important meeting for ID as a whole.

The Lahey Hospital & Medical Center's use of less intensive immunosuppressants contributes to the fewer incidences of infectious disease complications in transplant patients.

As a medical epidemiologist for Long-term Care in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nimalie Stone ensures seven core elements of stewardship are maintained throughout longterm care: leadership commitment, accountability, drug expertise, action, tracking, reporting, and education.

Nursing homes of today are what hospitals looked like 10 or 15 years ago.

The problem of antibiotic resistance is a national health problem, a national security problem, and a global problem. The hope is that we'll get more of our citizens involved and active in playing a role in addressing this crisis.

Healthcare providers need to remember the significance of the national issue of effectively combating antibiotic resistance.

Infection prevention is key in wanting to halt the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance.

The US Food and Drug Administration requested three manufacturers of duodenoscopes – Olympus America, Inc. Fujifilm Medical Systems, USA, Inc., and Hoya Corp – to perform real-world postmarket surveillance studies duodenoscopes used to perform endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography procedures (ERCP).

Right now, what's really important is for hospital staff and healthcare providers to ensure their laboratories can detect antibiotic resistance accurately.

Scott Fridkin, MD, Senior Advisor for Antibiotic Resistance in Healthcare in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infections Diseases, CDC discussed how state programs can only flourish as healthcare professionals across the board implement existing public health guidelines into their practices.

After much debate, waiting five years between colonoscopy procedures for low risk colorectal cancer (CRC) patients has recently been deemed acceptable by disease authorities.

Phototherapy with ultraviolet A-1 (UVA-1) has been considered a promising treatment option for patients afflicted with alopecia areata.

A recently published article in JAMA Dermatology explored the curious relationship between psoriasis and depression, since psoriasis has been considered a risk factor for depression, and depression a trigger for psoriasis.

A lot has been learned about the impact of serving in battle and on deployment of service members through time. As a result of these efforts work has been done to find solutions to help these patients address any psychological conditions they may develop including post traumatic stress disorder.

While there is a considerable amount of data on the physical aspects of Parkinson's Disease, much less is known about the psychological impact of the condition and what can be done to help these patients.

With alcoholic dependence playing a large role in the development of cirrhosis and alcoholic liver disease there is work being done to help treat one condition to help lower the risk of other potential issues.