The National Children's Study and Health IT News

A roundup of news on MRSA treatment guidelines, the National Children’s Study, the upcoming HIMSS conference, and more.

The National Children’s Study, which began recruiting participants last fall, is launching, starting in San Diego. If you haven’t already heard of this study, it has been in the works for quite a while and offers researchers the rare opportunity to gather detailed information as children are born and grow into adulthood, on a very large scale. To date, it looks like all but seven states across the country are participating.

Another bit of good news on the pediatric frontlines is that the Infectious Diseases Society of America has published guidelines for the treatment of MRSA, which is present in virtually every daycare facility and school these days. The document is fairly comprehensive and answers several outstanding questions regarding the use of antibiotics and decolonization practices.

As a reminder, the 2011 HIMSS conference is coming up next month in Orlando at the Orange County convention center. If you’re unable to go, you might want to check out the e-sessions that are being offered at this year’s conference.

Although there are several sessions planned for HIMSS that in some way address meaningful use regulations, I haven’t seen a session that addresses the FDA’s desire to regulate wireless networks and how that might impact hospitals and even some practices. Having been employed both in the health IT and medical device industries, I can say that if this comes to pass, IT staff, even those who have worked in the health care arena for quite some time, will encounter culture shock equivalent to, oh, about an 8 on the IT Richter scale. I’ll be following this story with interest and will share more news and updates in future posts.