PatientEngagementHIT (4/11, Heath) reports, “Black patient trust in the medical field is growing after nearly two years of a pandemic that has stressed public health and public perceptions of health and exposed the glaring inequities Black people experience in health care,” according to data from Pew Research. The survey data found 28% “of respondents said they have great confidence in medical scientists to act in the public’s interest; 50% said they have a fair amount of trust.” Also, “Black patients are…reporting good patient experiences.”

Related Links:

— “Black Patient Trust in Medical Pros, Patient Experience Improving “Sara Heath, PatientEngagementHIT, April 11, 2022

Modern Healthcare (4/5, Gillespie, Subscription Publication) reports the proliferation in “investor-owned or independently owned stand-alone clinics” offering ketamine, an off-label treatment for depression, “is concerning to many in the drug safety and mental health fields.” Off-label use of ketamine offers “no regulatory oversight of doctors’ prescribing patterns, safety protocols or adverse events in patients.” In addition, ketamine “is sometimes marketed for a host of other chronic diseases and behavioral diagnoses that have little scientific backing.”

Related Links:

— “Modern Healthcare (Requires Subscription)

Healio (4/11, Herpen) reports, “A treatment mode specifically targeting prevention of addiction-related suicide is superior to customary care for improving knowledge, behaviors and help-seeking,” investigators concluded in a 906-patient study that “sought to evaluate the effectiveness of Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS) treatment module on a wide range of suicide-related outcomes compared with customary care for those dealing with substance use disorders (SUD).” The findings were published online April 6 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Suicide prevention module superior to usual care for adults with substance use disorder “Robert Herpen, MA, Healio, April 11, 2022

Medscape (4/11, Chris Jaklevic, Subscription Publication) reports, “An analysis at a large academic health system suggests that universal screening might help to reduce…disparities in depression treatment.” Researchers “analyzed electronic health record data following a rollout of a universal depression screening program at” the health system and “found that the overall rate of depression screening doubled at six primary care practices over a little more than 2 years, reaching nearly 90%.” The findings presented at the SGIM 2022 Annual Meeting revealed “screening disparities diminished for men, older individuals, racial and ethnic minorities, and people with language barriers.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (4/8, Roberts Murez) reported “a clinical trial that monitored” sleep in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy who struggle with drowsiness “and then studied their brains after death discovered an entirely different reason for such sleepiness – they suffer a loss of neurons that help keep a person awake.” Investigators measured the proteins beta amyloid and tau and concluded, “These findings confirm with direct evidence that tau is a critical driver of sleep disturbances.” The trial results were published in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— “New Insights Into Why Alzheimer’s Can Bring Drowsiness “Cara Murez, HealthDay, April 8, 2022