Patient resources available to bladder cancer patients: a pilot study of healthcare providers.

Objective: To survey thought leaders attending an annual bladder cancer conference about resources available to survivors at, primarily, large academic centers treating a high volume of patients. Bladder cancer is a disease with high treatment burden. Support groups and survivorship programs are effective at managing physical and psychosocial impairments experienced by patients.

The effect of nutrition and diet on dental structure integrity.

Nutritional intake and dietary habits affect the structural integrity of the primary and permanent dentition. This happens through the indirect effect of nutrition on tooth development, as well as through the direct effect associated with the erosive characteristics of the diet. Evaluation of a patient's dietary history, coupled with the ability to implement targeted educational strategies relevant to the individual's ethnicity, will ensure success of normal tooth development and dental structure integrity free of erosive effects.

Electronic-prescribing: will long-term care be ready?

Passage of the Medicare Modernization Act has thrust electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) into the forefront of health care technology. Health care providers, payers, and the government are hoping that e-prescribing will improve patient safety, quality of care, and efficiency. However, for long-term care facilities, pharmacies, and prescribers to embrace these changes and incorporate e-prescribing into their every day practices, communication standards will have to be created to facilitate transfer of prescription/order information among all three parties.