We are proud to extend congratulations to the 2016 SYNERGY Community Engagement Research Pilot Grant awardees. Following a review of 17 letters of intent, SYNERGY invited 10 full applications from which three awardees were selected.
Articles by: Geisel Communications
Study: Less Than Half of Physicians Have a Firm Understanding of the Costs of Tests and Procedures
A recent study led by Dartmouth Institute researchers finds that while the majority of physicians surveyed felt that doctors had a responsibility to control costs, less than half reported having a firm understanding of the costs of tests and procedures to the health care system.
Dartmouth Study Looks At When Doctors And Patients Clash Over ‘Unnecessary’ Care – WBUR
Read article – Features a new study conducted by researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, which examined whether or not doctors’ actions are influenced by an interest in controlling health care costs. The researchers surveyed clinicians at Atrius Health, Massachusetts’ largest outpatient care provider, to determine what drives physicians to order tests they don’t think are in a patient’s best interest, and whether doctors were interested in controlling costs. The researchers found a big gap between physicians’ desire to limit costly and low-value care, and their ability to do so.
Journey of Wellness in Indian Country – This ‘Northern Exposure’ Works for Tribes and Med Students (Audio) – KUMD
Listen to story – As a guest on “Northland Morning,” Shawn O’Leary, an Urban Health Scholars Advisor and a member of the Boise Forte Band of Ojibwe, discusses his innovative idea to start a spring break service project that brings first-year medical and public health students to work with Native American communities in Minnesota.
CBS Proclaims ‘Cancer Breakthrough’ – Doesn’t Explain What FDA Means by That Term Health News Review
Read article – Quotes Steven Woloshin, professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about what it means when the FDA designates an experimental approach with “breakthrough status.” “When you hear the word breakthrough, it’s understandable to think that it means something definitively or a game changer,” says Woloshin. “But it gets confusing because the FDA uses it in a very different way.”
DIY Blood Tests? There’s a Downside to Ordering Your Own – NPR
Read article – Quotes H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about how getting your own blood tests is part of the larger negative trend—testing people who aren’t really sick. The article also quotes Norman Paradis, professor of medicine, who calls the model of offering a wide assortment of tests a recipe for disaster.
Stop Hyping Stem Cell Science, Say Stem Cell Scientists – Bloomberg
Read article – Steven Woloshin, professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, is quoted about how press releases, popular media, and even some journal articles routinely inflate expectations for future therapies based on early findings that probably will never turn into cures. “This is a problem throughout medical research and reporting on medical research,” says Woloshin.
Closing the Gap
With the opening of its Williamson Translational Research Building (WTRB), the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth hopes to move discoveries more rapidly from lab to clinic.
Dartmouth-Stanford Study Finds Health Advertorials Misleading but Persuasive
Health advertorials, or advertisements camouflaged as credible news, succeed in misleading people, in part, by tamping down their skepticism and expectations for truth in advertising, a Dartmouth College-Stanford University study finds.
Study: Health Advertorials Persuasive, Misleading – UPI
Read article – Quotes Sunny Jung Kim, postdoctoral fellow at the Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, who co-authored a recent study on health advertorials, a form of native advertising made to look like reported content in a publication or on television, and found that they work to deceive their viewers and lower consumer awareness.