Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/404101
Contents | SEP/OCT 2014 | 20 10 6 FEATURES A NATION IN WAITING (ROOMS) 6 Some observers believe healthcare reform will increase wait times at doctors' offices. In anticipation of that possibility, physicians can employ strategies to make the time patients spend waiting more productive — and less likely to negatively affect revenue and the patient experience. WRITTEN ON THEIR FACES: ASSESSING PAIN IN NONCOMMUNICATIVE PATIENTS 16 Recent research in the American Journal of Critical Care highlights the importance of facial expression as a means of assessing pain levels in patients who are intubated and unable to communicate. SPECIAL CLINICAL SECTION: SENIOR HEALTH PREDICTIVE TEST FOR ALZHEIMER'S RAISES MEDICAL POSSIBILITIES, ETHICAL QUESTIONS 10 A blood test could provide up to three years of presymptomatic notice that a person is likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. That presents therapeutic opportunities — and a host of difficult issues concerning how patients may respond to that knowledge. A COST-EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO HELPING PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA LIVE AT HOME 12 North Dakota has eased the burden on families, physicians and healthcare facilities by implementing a program that makes it possible for people with dementia to remain in their homes longer. SPECIAL CLINICAL SECTION: ONCOLOGY RESEARCH POINTS TO TEST FOR EARLY DETECTION OF CANCER RECURRENCE 20 There may be new hope for the 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. The cMethDNA assay could aid development of a blood test that will permit early detection of breast cancer recurrence, as well as provide early indications of how a patient is responding to a given therapy. FINDING COMMON GROUND IN THE FDA'S CERVICAL SCREENING DECISION 22 The FDA's approval of the cobas HPV Test as a primary screening tool for cervical cancer has generated debate about the potential for unnecessary or harmful follow-up testing. DEPARTMENTS PRACTICE MANAGEMENT 5 BUSINESS OF MEDICINE 8 DATA VAULT 13 PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT 14 TECHNOLOGY 18 THAT'S NEWS 23 THE LINK 24 6 A Nation in Waiting (Rooms)