Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Standard Advice On Finishing Antibiotics Is Being Challenged By Disease Experts
Remember the doctor鈥檚 advice to always finish your antibiotics, even if you feel better? That message is being upended by concerns that taking antibiotics when they are no longer needed is contributing to the growing danger of antibiotic resistance. (Reddy, 8/14)
More companies are trying to destigmatize mental illness and encourage workers to use mental-health days for their original intent. EY, or Ernst & Young, has an initiative called 鈥渞 u ok?鈥, which encourages workers to check in with each other and offer support to those who might be struggling. American Express Co.鈥檚 employee-assistance program offers on-site access to mental-health professionals and free counseling. Prudential Financial Inc. gives employees flexible work arrangements and access to mental-health professionals. (Fontana, 8/15)
As customers prepare for next week鈥檚 total solar eclipse, Amazon has issued a recall for some of the eclipse glasses sold on its internet marketplace, saying it was unable to confirm whether the protective ware was made by a recommended manufacturer. NASA and the American Astronomical Society have been urging solar gazers to use glasses engineered by reputable vendors that carry the international safety standard number 鈥淚SO 12312-2.鈥 (Akpan, 8/14)
When you think of the debilitating, painful trauma of Parkinson鈥檚 and Alzheimer鈥檚, you probably don鈥檛 think of people climbing onstage to belt out feel-good classics from the Great American Songbook. But then you鈥檙e probably not thinking of The 5th Dementia, a Los Angeles group that keeps folks with neurodegenerative disease in the moment by playing music of the past 鈥 with help from a few teenage musicians. (Gilstrap, 8/14)
If you think your job is more stressful than it should be, you're not alone. Americans work hard, and it takes a physical and mental toll, not to mention that it frequently cuts into personal time, according to a comprehensive survey on working conditions the nonpartisan RAND Corporation published Monday. But having a good boss and good friends on the job can make work feel less taxing. (Fulton, 8/14)
This just in, and it鈥檚 definitive (for now): People who drink alcohol in moderation 鈥 especially older people, women and non-Latino white people 鈥 are less likely to die of any cause than are teetotalers or people who consume heavy doses of alcohol either on occasion or in an average week. In follow-up periods that hovered around eight years, moderate drinkers were no less likely than alcohol abstainers to die of cancer. But they were roughly a quarter less likely to die of heart disease or stroke than were people who never consumed alcohol. (Healy, 8/14)