1 Percent of Deaths Worldwide Due to Secondhand Smoke


MONDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- An estimated 1 percent of the deaths that occur in the world annually are due to passive smoking, and many of these deaths are in children, according to research published online Nov. 26 in The Lancet.

To calculate the worldwide degree of secondhand smoke exposure and its disease burden on children and adult nonsmokers, Mattias Öberg, Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues used data from 192 countries during 2004 to estimate deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) based on estimates of population proportions exposed to secondhand smoke.

The researchers determined that 40 percent of children and approximately a third of adult nonsmokers were exposed to secondhand smoke. The researchers attributed an estimated 603,000 deaths (about 165,000 in children) -- from ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections, asthma, and lung cancer -- to this exposure. This figure equaled about 1 percent of worldwide mortality. Secondhand exposure-linked DALY loss reached 10.9 million.

"These estimates of worldwide burden of disease attributable to secondhand smoke suggest that substantial health gains could be made by extending effective public health and clinical interventions to reduce passive smoking worldwide," the authors write.

New Nursing Jobs Dwindles but Nurses are Now Paid More than Before



While reading along for new nursing jobs that may help our Filipino nurses find one, I stumble upon a very interesting news online.  Read this Pinoy nurses and maybe you will salivate on the prospects of getting to the US again.
According to the most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the averageregistered nurse (RN) salary is $66,530 in the United States. Despite the fact that the economy today is worse than it was during that same time period, this is $7,000 higher than the average nursing salary five years ago .
This is good news for those interested in healthcare professions as it shows thathealthcare is fairly recession proof although the demand for nurses really seems to plateau lately.  While the bad economy in the US seems to have affected the majority of professions, other medical fields, aside from nursing, are also doing well.
The average Physician Assistants salary is $84,830; Pharmacists are making $106,630. There are many more average medical salaries you can check on the US Bureau of Labor website. In addition to the above average salaries, the medical industry is expected to increase an estimated 22 percent over the next 7 years, which would be about 600,000 new jobs including nurses. This number can increase significantly if the economy rebounds sooner than expected.
In general registered nursing seems to be one of the more popular professions people are choosing these days but medical assisting and medical billing also pay well and are in demand. Most of the hiring today and in the future is expected to come from private medical practices rather than public hospitals.
Healthcare is clearly a field that will always need servicing no matter what the economic situation.  Nurses and Doctors will always be needed worldwide.   However, nursing jobvacancies are not yet available in the US.  But according to this report, there is some light in the horizon.  The economic factors need to align to such conditions to prepare our newPinoy nurses for better jobs and better pays.  Let’s wait for Obama to turn things around.  Maybe or maybe not.  Who knows?
Hope you like this update. Till next time.

Nurses jobs now in ample supply in Hawaii adding to the oversupply issue



The longtime nursing shortage in Hawaii has now turned into an oversupply, leaving many recent graduates without jobs, and the economic slowdown is to blame, nursing executives here say.
This is further aggravated by the fact that nurses who were scheduled to retire or move to other jobs have postponed their plans, some because their spouses lost jobs or because of substantial losses in retirement savings.
Nurse turnover at Hawaii Pacific Health — the state’s largest health care system, employing nearly 1,600 nurses — has dropped to around 4 percent a year from 18 percent just three years ago, said Gail Lerch, HPH’s executive vice president and a registered nurse.
Overall, the demand for medical services in the Hawaii and mainland US also dropped in recent years as people lost their jobs and health insurance.  Also, many people opted to stop or delay their elective procedures. Financially troubled medical facilities such as Hawaii Medical Center have reduced beds, further diminishing nursing jobs.
There are hundreds of recent nursing graduates that entered the job market just as thisoversupply was brewing, leaving many aggravated and anxious to find work in the profession.  They are now forced to take on jobs not related to nursing.
The stakes are high for the new nursing graduates. Finding a job normally takes between six months to two years for most registered nursing graduates.  If they are lucky to enter thehealthcare sector for the interim, many are working as lower-paid aides, technicians, clerks and other medical-related positions while they look for work. Nurse aides currently earn about $15 an hour, roughly half the pay for an entry-level registered nurse.
Health officials predict the oversupply of registered nurses to be short-lived as a substantial number of working nurses are expected to retire in the next five to 10 years.
According to local officials, the current surplus considered a blip on the radar screen, a phenomenon that caught everyone by surprise when the economy changed.  This phenomenon of new graduates not getting jobs is all over the United States — it’s not just a Hawaii issue. It’s very much economically driven.
In the coming years and decades, demand for nurses will increase with the wave of baby boomer retirees. By 2025, Hawaii’s seniors population will represent 21 percent of the total, up from 14.5 percent now.
The current excess of nurses is in part a result of nursing schools significantly boosting enrollment in recent years to alleviate what had been called a severe nursing shortage.Nursing students typically take two to four years to graduate.
Certain that more nurses will be needed in the future, medical facilities and nursingschools are exploring ways to keep recent graduates in the job pipeline by creating bridge programs.
Medical centers and nursing schools also are exploring creation of the first nurse residency program in Hawaii that would be sponsored by the Hawaii State Center for Nursing.

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