Westminster Kingsway College Launches New Access To Higher Education Programme In Pharmacy And Biomedical Sciences

Westminster Kingsway College has launched a new Access to Higher Education programme in Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at its new King’s Cross Centre in central London. The College is already a leading provider of Access to Higher Education courses in London as well as specialising in courses for Pharmacy Technicians in conjunction with the University of London’s School of Pharmacy and Birkbeck College.

The new Access programme in Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences will be focussing on those who are looking to progress to university courses in Pharmacy or Biomedical Sciences and the course has been developed in partnership with the School of Pharmacy at the University of London. Candidates will need to have some aptitude for science and maths already and it is preferable that they have been working in a medical or healthcare environment but they may have been out of education for some time or be looking to change their career.

Spain’s Regional Extremadura Government Launches Electronic Prescription System With IBM

The Extremadura Regional Government of Spain and IBM (NYSE: IBM) have launched an electronic prescription system in 680 pharmacies in Extremadura, where health centres and pharmacies are now computerised and able to prescribe and dispense prescription medications electronically.

Electronic prescriptions make it easier for patients and doctors to monitor and control treatment. It also improves the quality of care as doctors have up to 30% more time for patient consultations, according to Extremadura Health Service.

First National Survey Seeking NHS Staff Views On Improvement And Innovation Launches This Week

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement launches its first National Innovation and Improvement Survey. Created in partnership with strategic health authorities, the survey offers all NHS staff in the UK an opportunity to influence the national innovation agenda.

The survey has been designed to provide insight into the current challenges faced by frontline NHS staff and better understand what they need to improve patient care. It will give staff the opportunity to feedback on what improvement approaches they are already using, and suggest new ideas about how innovation in the NHS should be encouraged. The results will be used by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and SHAs to prioritise innovation programmes for development over the course of 2010.

Latin American HIV/AIDS Advocacy Group Launches Magazine For Women

The Inter Press Service on Monday examined a new magazine published by the Latin American branch of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS. The magazine — called “No Estas Sola,” or “You Are Not Alone” — focuses on providing HIV-positive women in Latin America with information about the virus, stigma, their rights and empowerment. Maria Mansilla, the editor in charge of the publication, said, “What we are trying to do through the magazine is to break with the weepy approach, where there is only room for complaints or for the scientific-medical perspective.” The magazine is a quarterly publication that is distributed in the 20 Latin American countries where ICW Latina has national chapters. Daniel Barberis, media officer for ICW Latina, said the magazine could be published more frequently in the future.

Terrence Higgins Trust Launches New Course For Health Promotion In African Communities

HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is launching a Health Promotion Skills course targeting individuals, staff and volunteers working with African communities in London. The course, which is free, will take place over four sessions at THT’s centre on Grays Inn Road from 6th April.

The main aim of the course is to equip participants with the skills to become an effective health promoter, so they can make a positive change to the lives of many Africans who live in London. In completing the course, trainees will gain an OCN-accredited certificate in African Communities Health Promotion.

Terrence Higgins Trust Launches New Course For Health Promotion In African Communities

HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is launching a Health Promotion Skills course targeting individuals, staff and volunteers working with African communities in London. The course, which is free, will take place over four sessions at THT’s centre on Grays Inn Road from 6th April.

The main aim of the course is to equip participants with the skills to become an effective health promoter, so they can make a positive change to the lives of many Africans who live in London. In completing the course, trainees will gain an OCN-accredited certificate in African Communities Health Promotion.

American Physical Therapy Launches Campaign To Brand Physical Therapists As Experts In Human Motion

A new branding campaign that positions physical therapists as the experts in human motion will launch during the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Feb 9-12, 2009, in Las Vegas, NV., at the Brand Launch Reception, Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm in the Palm Foyer of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

As motion experts, physical therapists will be positioned as specialists who can help improve mobility and quality of life without the expense and pain of surgery or side effects of prescription medication. The tagline will be: “Move Forward. Physical Therapy Brings Motion To Life.”

New Collaborative Journal Launches, Highlights Latest Sports Medicine Research

Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach launches in January 2009 with an exciting, educational array of topics from ACL injury prevention, reconstruction, and management to concussion assessment, to the role of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in athletics, to fish oil use in professional football players. Editor-in-Chief, Edward Wojtys, MD and the editorial review board have lined up some of the most widely renowned sports medicine clinicians, including Frank R. Noyes, MD, J. Parry Gerber, PhD, PT, SCS, ATC, Justin D. Rothmier, MD, and Anthony Yates, MD in just the first issue! To learn more about

US Surgeons Carry Out Near Total Face Transplant

The first near total face transplant to be carried out in the United States took place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio in a 22-hour procedure where a multidisciplinary team of doctors and surgeons replaced 80 per cent of a trauma patient’s face.

In the procedure, which took place within the last two weeks, the surgeons essentially replaced nearly the entire face of a woman who had suffered severe trauma: she was unable to smile, eat, talk, smell or breathe by herself. The only parts that were retained were the upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin.

Proposed HHS Conscience Rule Protects Providers From Coercion, Washington Times Opinion Piece Says

“[F]ew Americans realize that abortion-related mandates are … threatening to U.S. health care professionals who follow medical standards such as the Hippocratic Oath,” Jonathan Imbody, vice president of government relations for the Christian Medical Association, writes in a Washington Timesopinion piece. According to Imbody, under current regulations, “[c]onscientious physicians and other health care professionals are being pressured, under threat of job loss, to violate medical ethics standards by performing abortions and referring patients to abortion clinics.” He writes that abortion-rights supporters “have been lobbying vociferously to cast abortion as standard medical care and to mandate abortion participation by all health care professionals,” adding that “[o]nly a tiny fraction of U.S. physicians otherwise are willing to violate the Hippocratic Oath … by participating in abortions.” Imbody continues that abortion “neither heals nor comforts” and “does not qualify as standard medical care under historical medical standards.”