Dispose of those unwanted prescriptions

The Beach City, Brewster, Navarre and Wilmot police departments and the Drug Enforcement Administration will be collecting unwanted prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, April 30, at the Brewster Fire Department at 110 E. Main St.

The service is free and anonymous, with no questions being asked.

This will give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by bringing the potentially dangerous, expired, unused and unwanted prescriptions to the fire station. This collection addresses a vital public safety and health issue. Medicines that are kept in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse.

According to information provided, studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends. It has been suggested that unwanted medicines can be flushed down the toilet or thrown into the trash, both posing potential safety and health hazards.

Last fall, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an ultimate user of controlled-substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized to accept and dispose of the drugs in a proper manner. The DEA is drafting regulations to implement the act.

In September 2010, Americans disposed of 242.000 pounds, or 121 tons, of prescription drugs at more than 4,000 sites operated by the DEA and 3,0000 state and law-enforcement partners.

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http://www.indeonline.com/news/x481364821/Dispose-of-those-unwanted-prescriptions

One in 16 U.S. surgeons consider suicide: survey

FILE - In this April 29, 2008 file photo, Dr. Robert Lehmberg is seen in Little Rock, Ark. A study shows surgeons are more likely than others to contemplate suicide, yet few seek help. Lehmberg, 63, said it took prodding from close friends to finally get him to seek treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts several years ago. He feared losing his license and being stigmatized, neither happened, and he said medication and psychotherapy have greatly helped.

Read more:
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/17/2590045/study-errors-lead-surgeons-to.html#ixzz1BS8rUCU9


A considerable number of U.S. surgeons struggle with thoughts of suicide, with burnout and past medical errors as possible reasons, according to a survey covering thousands of surgeons.

A team led by Tait Shanafelt of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota found that more than 6 percent of surgeons had thought about killing themselves within the past year.

Among those aged 55 to 64, the number was three times higher than national levels for that age group.

"What we are seeing through this work is that there is a high amount of burnout and stress among America's physicians, with potentially serious consequences for both physicians and their patients," Shanafelt said.

"It isn't necessarily that having thoughts of suicide endangers patient health, but some of the same root causes, particularly burnout, do appear to have a strong relationship with quality of care."

In a survey published last year, Shanafelt's team found that surgeons who reported high degrees of emotional exhaustion on the job also had higher odds of making major errors when they dealt with patients.

The same survey, based on responses from more than 7,900 physicians, for the current study, which appears in the Archives of Surgery.

While younger surgeons had rates of suicidal thinking that were similar to those in the general population, between 6 and 7 percent, those older than 45 were at increased risk.

Among those 55 to 64 years old, 7 percent of surgeons had considered suicide within the past year, compared to about 2 percent of the general population.

Doctors who felt burned out, or said they'd made a "major medical error" in the past 3 months, were more prone to suicidal thoughts.

Married surgeons, and those working in large university-based medical centers, were at lower risk for suicidal thoughts.

The survey also showed that only a fourth of the troubled surgeons had sought professional help, with most saying they hadn't out of fear of losing their medical license.

Instead, some chose to self-prescribe antidepressants or have friends do it for them.

"We've known for some time that physicians are at greater risk for suicide than other professions, although why that is has never really been understood," Shanafelt told Reuters Health.

According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, there were about 11 suicide deaths per 100,000 Americans in 2007.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70H7N520110119

86 Teens Pregnant at One Memphis High School

A new campaign to prevent teen pregnancies has been launched in Memphis in response to a huge spike in expectant mothers at one area high school.

According to recent statistics, 86 students at Frayser High School are pregnant or have given birth in the last year, myfoxmemphis.com reported.

The new campaign – called “No Baby!” – is designed to educate both teenage girls and boys about how to prevent and deal with unplanned pregnancies. The program is also tailored to give girls the confidence to “just say no” to sex.

"Right now, these girls don't know how to say ‘no,’ they're having sex when they don't want to, they just don't know how to say ‘no,’" Deborah Hester Harrison with Girls Inc., which is a nonprofit group, told the news station.

Another concern for these young mothers is the lack of prenatal care.

“A lot of these girls aren't developmentally ready to be really effective parents, and that affects the child's development,” Marc Goodman-Bryan with the Urban Child Institute said.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey agrees and said those issues are just the beginning.

“Teen pregnancies are high risk. For some of these girls, the risk factors include premature delivery, pregnancy-induced hypertension and many times, you have a higher incidence of Caesarean sections due to cephalopelvic disproportion, which happens when a the fetus is too large to fit through the pelvis.”

Last month, U.S. health officials released new government figures for 2009 showing 39 births per 1,000 girls, ages 15 through 19 — the lowest rate since records have been kept on this issue Yet, the sobering context is that the teen pregnancy rate is far lower in many other countries.

The most convincing explanation is that contraceptive use is much higher among teens in most Western European countries.

Harrison said the teen pregnancy rate for Memphis fluctuates between 15 and 20 percent, which is almost twice the national average.

In the school’s zip code – the pregnancy rate is about 26 percent.

"We're looking at ways to combat it, and we're trying to combat it in the area where the need is the greatest," Harrison said.

In addition to the “No Baby!” campaign, Memphis school officials are also looking at ways to combat this problem by hiring new social workers, putting new programs in place, as well as providing support for teenage moms.

“It’s upsetting that we continue to see the rates of teen pregnancy ticking up in certain areas,” Alvarez said. “I think we really need to focus on education – that’s really the key.”


Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/14/teens-pregnant-menphis-high-school/#ixzz1BGmjusi7