In the News

Doctors Aren’t Top Opioid Prescribers in NH

New Hampshire Union Leader – Quotes Seddon Savage, adjunct associate professor of anesthesiology and a member of the New Hampshire Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery, about how doctors at specialty pain clinics usually concentrate on treatments and procedures, while nurse practitioners and physician assistants handle medications and prescriptions. “Prescribing opioids, particularly prescribing them well, is very time-consuming,” says Savage. “I think everyone needs more training.”

Presenteeism More Costly Than Absenteeism

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Quotes Scott Wallace, visiting professor of community and family medicine, about how employees who regularly engage in “presenteeism,” or going to work while ill, is more costly than absenteeism and is detrimental to employees and employers alike. “Unhealthy workers are unproductive workers—and they’re expensive,” says Wallace. “The impact on employees is tremendous when they show up at work sick. The stress makes them sicker, and their performance level at work is in the gutter.”

Dartmouth Study: More Babies Receive Intensive Care

Valley News via St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Continued coverage of comments by David Goodman, professor of pediatrics, community and family medicine, and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about how Dartmouth researchers recently found that NICU admissions increased by 23 percent in just five years; and by 2012, over half of all admissions were for normal birth weight infants or those born after 37 weeks gestation.

FDA Repeatedly Approved Cancer Drug Afinitor Without Proof it Extended Life

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Cites research conducted by Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin, both professors of medicine, community and family medicine, and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about the effects of the drug Afinitor. Despite serious side effects, the drug has been OK’d five times in the last six years, including for a common type of advanced breast cancer.