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The US is currently in the grip of a well-publicised opioid crisis that has devastated communities across the country. Now nurses in New York are using geospatial mapping of opioid overdoses to inform clinical practice at a local clinic level in “real time”. 

Stress-related disorders may be linked to a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a large Swedish study, “Stress related disorders and risk of cardiovascular disease: population based, sibling controlled cohort study”, published in The BMJ.

A disease that causes chronic headaches and even blindness in women, and has puzzled researchers for more than 100 years, may be caused by excess androgens, particularly testosterone, that modulate secretion of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), UK researchers have discovered.

The values and preferences of critically ill patients are often not addressed when doctors are discussing their care with family members, according to a study that suggests there's plenty of room for improvements in communication.

Registered nurses are too often viewed as task completers rather than as being critical to safety. Despite repeated evidence showing a relationship between nurse staffing and patient safety, researchers have found that this had “little impact on policy”.

A five-minute delay in the clamping of healthy infants’ umbilical cords results in increased iron stores and brain myelin in areas important for early-life functional development, a new US nursing study has found. In their study of 73 infants, nurse researchers said their results challenge the common practice of immediate umbilical cord clamping.

Healthcare associated infections such as MRSA cause more than just physical distress for patients, according to a recent analysis. A new study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, found many patients had emotional responses to diagnoses of hospital acquired infections, including “feeling dirty,” “having the plague” or “feeling like a leper.”

Women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who wish to have children have an excellent chance of a successful pregnancy if the pregnancy is planned, if conception occurs when IBD is in remission, and if there is pre-conception counselling.

Q fever awareness and vaccine access needs to increase for all people living in rural and regional areas, as a new Australian study finds people who are not in recognised high-risk groups are still at increased risk of catching the highly infectious disease. The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, found rural residents in Australia were highly likely to be exposed to the bacterial infection, even if they were not working with animals.

Prolonged antibiotic therapy for joint infections and osteomyelitis has substantial costs in terms of dollars, time and the potential development of antibiotic resistance. Standard duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy is six weeks for osteomyelitis and between two and six weeks for septic arthritis. Recently, a randomised, unblinded non-inferiority trial was conducted in the UK comparing intravenous to oral antibiotic therapy for bone and joint infections, most often following surgical debridement.