MedPage Today (8/22, Ingram) reports, “States that recently adopted less-restrictive policies surrounding the use of telepharmacy had fewer pharmacy deserts in the following year, a cohort study involving a dozen states showed.” Published in JAMA Network Open, the study found that “of the 80 pharmacy deserts where a telepharmacy opened during the study period, 37.5% no longer met that definition a year later; of the 3,892 pharmacy deserts where a telepharmacy did not open, only 1.8% no longer had that designation the following year.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (8/22, Kunzmann) reports, “Contrary to popular belief, rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and workplace trauma exposure was lower among first-year medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic than in years prior,” investigators concluded in a study that “sought to analyze differences in PSTD symptoms among first-year medical residents training during versus before the first COVID-19 pandemic wave, defined as March – June 2020.” Included in the study were 1957 residents who “completed the PC-PTSD-5 survey.” The findings were published online Aug. 22 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “PTSD, Workplace Trauma Lower Among First-Year Residents During COVID-19,”Kevin Kunzmann, HCPlive, August 22, 2023

The Hill (8/21, Sforza) reports, “A record number of U.S. children were killed by firearms in 2021,” researchers concluded in findings published online in the journal Pediatrics.
HealthDay (8/21, Mann) reports, “Guns are now the leading cause of death among kids in the United States,” according to the “study that looked at numbers of U.S. children killed by guns from 2018 to 2021,” a time period during which “there was close to a 42% jump in firearm-caused deaths.”

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— “Record number of children killed by firearms in 2021: research,”Lauren Sforza, The Hill, August 21, 2023

The New York Times (8/21, Richtel) reports, “One-year-olds exposed to more than four hours of screen time a day experienced developmental delays in communication and problem-solving skills at ages two and four, according to” findings published online in JAMA Pediatrics. The study also revealed that “one-year-olds who were exposed to more screen time than their peers showed delays at age two in the development of fine motor and personal and social skills,” delays which “appeared to dissipate by age four.” Researchers did “not find that the screen time caused the developmental delays but, rather, found an association between babies who were exposed to more screen time and delays in their development.”

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— “More Screen Time Linked to Delayed Development in Babies, Study Finds,”Matt Richtel, The New York Times, August 21, 2023

NPR (8/21, Westervelt) reports on the mental health aftermath of the fires on Maui. Clinicians there “describe these early days of disaster mental health treatment as a kind of triage, psychological first aid for anguish that runs the spectrum of symptoms from deep sadness and sleeplessness to exhaustion, even breakdowns,” as people deal with the loss of family members, friends, pets, homes, and jobs, and others wait anxiously to learn more about those who are still missing. A period of “initial shock is now giving way to wrenching anxiety, nightmares, anxiety, depression and sometimes anger, as the depth of the trauma settles in.” Currently, “state and federal officials are trying to mobilize a fresh influx of mental health clinicians to help the some 65 clinicians already on the ground,” and “Hawaii’s governor issued an emergency order temporarily waiving the state-licensing requirement for counseling.”

Related Links:

— “Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires: ‘They’ve lost everything’,”Eric Westervelt, Jonaki Mehta, NPR , August 21, 2023