FYI…UCSF in the News is a daily summary of news stories published worldwide that highlight UCSF, its affiliated programs, and issues that affect the University.  To read the full news story, click the individual headlines listed below.

On the second Wednesday of each month, FYI…UCSF in the News includes an additional "Research Roundup" section that lists research papers authored by UCSF faculty and published in the journals Cell, Health Services Research, JAMA, Lancet, Nature, NEJM, Nursing Research, and Science.

UCSF PRINT AND ONLINE COVERAGE

  • Consent Forms That Patients Can Understand (Wall Street Journal)
    The Wall Street Journal reports: "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently issued new guidelines calling on hospitals to design patient-friendly informed-consent processes that include describing treatment alternatives and the consequences of declining recommended therapies; hospitals that don't comply could lose their eligibility to bill Medicare for treatments. The Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals, is advocating the use of easy-to-read forms and the use of methods such as 'teach back,' which involve asking patients to repeat back what they've been told about risks and benefits. ... Dean Schillinger, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, says the 'teach back' method is especially beneficial for older patients and those with limited English proficiency, who are at the highest risk of signing informed-consent documents they don't understand. One study at UCSF found that by writing consent forms at a sixth-grade reading level, testing patients' comprehension and explaining things until they understood, the number of patients who could answer comprehension questions correctly rose to 98% from between 15% and 28%. 'First-grade teachers know how to make sure kids understand what they've been taught and can repeat it back to you, but we don't learn how to do this in medical school,' says Dr. Schillinger."

UCSF RADIO COVERAGE

  • Correction: Hospitalist specialty a growing field (CBS Newsradio -- Los Angeles)
    Dr. Andrew Auerbach, a hospitalist and researcher at UCSF, was interviewed on CBS News Radio in Los Angeles on Monday, February 4, about the growing medical specialty of hospital medicine, or in-patient physicians called hospitalists. Dr. Auerbach's name was misspelled as "Hourback" in yesterday's FYI listing. Dr. Auerbach explained to KNX in LA the evolution of the hospitalist specialty. "In the earlier era, hospitalists were hired by hospitals to provide care to patients who didn't have insurance. That job started to expand as outpatient doctors started realizing it was very hard to come in to see one patient a month when you had to see so many patients in the outpatient setting."

UCSF HEADLINES

  • Past heroin use doesn't bar HIV therapy compliance, study finds (UCSF News Office)
    The UCSF News Office reports: "HIV-infected people who have used heroin in the past are just as likely to properly take highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and to benefit from the therapy as people who have never used heroin -- but are much less likely to be prescribed the therapy. The two findings are the result of a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center."
  • Developing UCSF's Next Generation of Faculty Mentors (UCSF Today)
    "The first cohort of mid-career faculty members completed an innovative, six-month course in mentoring as part of the Mentor Development Program (MDP) sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Faculty Mentoring Program at UCSF," reports UCSF Today Editor Lisa Cisneros.
  • advancing health worldwide (advancing health worldwide -- Redesigned website)
    Over the years, the true power of UCSF has been demonstrated time and again in the transformative effect that our research, clinical care and education programs have had on the health of countless people in our local communities and around the world. Born of the Gold Rush, steeped in the battle against disease and ennobled by decades of scientific discovery, UCSF's mission has always been to save lives and improve the quality of life. The stories featured here showcase the human face of our success. We welcome all to share in our aspiration and to learn more about our clinical programs, our plans for an innovative women’s, children’s and cancer hospital, and our ongoing fundraising efforts. --- [Download the Wall Street Journal ad supplement on this page.]