Health ombudsman wanted by Canadians, CMA says

Canada needs a health-care ombudsman to address complaints about poor medical treatment, a new poll suggests.
The poll was part of the Canadian Medical Association annual report card on health care, released Monday at the group's conference in St. John's.
"Patients are too often lost in the shuffle in health care," said CMA president Dr. Jeff Turnbull.
The report card looked at attitudes on topics such as adopting a Canadian patient health charter to ensure accountability, a complaint mechanism, funding models for health care and the next federal-provincial health agreement.
Respondents felt strongly that a patient health charter should include recourse for those who receive poor health service, with 87 per cent saying they support a mechanism for citizens to complain about poor health service.
About 86 per cent supported including an independent ombudsman for complaints about poor health service in the patient health charter.
The survey also suggested:

• 82 per cent of Canadians agreed that a patient health charter that outlined patients' rights and responsibilities would make the system more efficient.


• 80 per cent agreed that the number of complaints against a jurisdiction should be reported so people can compare jurisdictions to one another.


• 97 per cent agreed federal, provincial and territorial governments need to start working together on a new health accord to replace the current agreement that expires in 2014.


• 93 per cent agreed that governments should meet every year to discuss the state of health care in the country.

Those surveyed were more divided about whether the federal-provincial health-care agreement should take a national or jurisdictional approach, with 52 per cent preferring one national in scope with all provinces agreeing on how the system will be funded, delivered and made accountable.
Similarly, 49 per cent chose a model where provinces and territories receive a certain amount of funding for health care to spend as they see fit. The other 46 per cent felt a portion of each provinces and territories' funding should be held back until performance targets are met. Five per cent did not answer.
Ipsos Reid conducted the poll between July 5 and July 8, using an online survey of 1,026 Canadian adults and a telephone survey of 1,000 Canadian adults on July 6 and 7.
The results of the telephone survey are considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Tattoo like electronic patch to monitor health

Researchers at the University of Illinois have designed an ultra-thin electronic device that can be applied to skin like a temporary tattoo and can be used in sensing, medical diagnostics, communications and human-machine interfaces.

The circuit bends, wrinkles, and stretches with the mechanical properties of skin.

These electronic tattoos could one day help doctors to diagnose and monitor health conditions of patients non-invasively.

The researchers demonstrated their concept through a diverse array of electronic components mounted on a thin, rubbery substrate, including sensors, LEDs, transistors, radio frequency capacitors, wireless antennas, and conductive coils and solar cells for power.

"We threw everything in our bag of tricks onto that platform, and then added a few other new ideas on top of those, to show that we could make it work," said John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder professor of engineering at the University of Illinois, and lead author of the study.

The patches are initially mounted on a thin sheet of water-soluble plastic, then laminated to the skin with water – just like applying a temporary tattoo.

Alternately, the electronic components can be applied directly to a temporary tattoo itself, providing concealment for the electronics.

"We think this could be an important conceptual advance in wearable electronics, to achieve something that is almost unnoticeable to the wearer," said U. of I. electrical and computer engineering professor Todd Coleman, who co-led the multi-disciplinary team.

"The technology can connect you to the physical world and the cyberworld in a very natural way that feels very comfortable," he added.

Skin-mounted electronics have many biomedical applications, including EEG and EMG sensors to monitor nerve and muscle activity.

 
The researchers have described their novel skin-mounted electronics in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Science .