January 4, 2013

Mayo Clinic in the Newsis a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

Thank you.

Karl Oestreich, manager enterprise media relations

CNN
Is your hospital hurting you?
by Marty Makary, M.D. (Johns Hopkins)

Last year, Dr. Kiran Sagar, a cardiologist in Wisconsin, was fired two months after presenting strong data showing that cardiologists in the hospital she worked at misread a substantial number of heart tests…I talk to doctors and nurses around the country every week. One trend that seems clear is that more doctors and nurses are feeling frustrated. A recent national study by Mayo Clinic researchers shows that doctor burnout rate is now up to a staggering 46%. 

Reach:  CNN.com has 74.2 million unique visitors to its website each month.

Context: This study appeared in the Dec. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Colin West., M.D., Ph.D., the lead author, is a General Internal Medicine physician at Mayo Clinic. His research focuses primarily on physician well-being, evidence-based medicine and biostatistics, and medical education.

News Release

Previous Coverage

Public Affairs Contact: Alyson Fleming

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Preventice, Mayo gear up to launch high-tech body sensor
by Katharine Grayson

Preventice, a Minneapolis-based tech startup, and Mayo Clinic are preparing to market a high-tech sensor that can track irregular heart beats, the Rochester Post Bulletin reports. Federal regulators approved the device, called BodyGuardian, in September. Clinical trials are now underway. For now, the device must be prescribed by a doctor. Company officials envision selling an over-the-counter version down the road.

Circulation: The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal is published by American City Business Journals which owns more than 40 other local business newspapers.

Related Coverage in Post-Bulletin

Context: Mayo Clinic licensed wireless patient monitoring technology (BodyGuardian) to Preventice for commercialization, with the goal of advancing medicine and improving patient care. Preventice and Mayo Clinic also are working together on other initiatives that unleash the power of today’s technology in the field of medicine. Through the licensing agreement, Mayo Clinic has equity ownership in Preventice. Both Mayo and the inventors will receive royalties from BodyGuardian. Revenue Mayo receives is used to support education and research. Charles Bruce, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, is one of the inventors.

News release: NR_BodyGuardian FDA approval_FINAL_090612

Previous coverage

Public Affairs Contacts: Traci Klein, Suzanne Leaf-Brock

Florida Times-Union
Health notes: Mayo study links dementia and Lou Gehrig's disease

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville have uncovered a toxic cellular process by which a protein that maintains the health of neurons becomes deficient and can lead to dementia. The findings shed new light on the link between culprits implicated in two devastating neurological diseases: frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The study was published Dec. 10 in the online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Circulation: The Florida Times-Union reaches more than 120,000 daily and 173,000 readers Sunday.

Context: Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have uncovered a toxic cellular process by which a protein that maintains the health of neurons becomes deficient and can lead to dementia. The findings shed new light on the link between culprits implicated in two devastating neurological diseases: frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The study is published Dec. 10 in the online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

News Release: Mayo Clinic Researchers Uncover Toxic Interaction in Neurons that Leads to Dementia and ALS

Public Affairs Contact: Kevin Punsky

Arizona Republic
Phoenix-area organ recipients honor donors in Rose Parade
by Weldon B. Johnson

Okeke, a husband and father of three, made news when he became the first patient in the country to be discharged from the hospital with an artificial heart in May 2010. The 13-pound heart, known as the “Freedom Driver” by the staff at the Mayo Clinic, replaced the 400-pound device that had kept Okeke alive, but confined him to a hospital room for more than 600 days after his first transplant failed. In January 2011, doctors at the Mayo Clinic were able to replace that portable lifesaving technology as well when Okeke became the recipient of a donor heart and kidney.

Circulation: The Arizona Republic reaches 1.1 million readers every Sunday. The newspaper’s website Arizona Central, averages 83 million pages views each month.

Context: Charles Okeke, the Phoenix husband and father of three, made headlines in May 2010 when he became the first patient in the U.S. to be discharged from a hospital with an artificial heart. With the latest technology, the "Freedom Driver," the man without a heart was able to resume his family life and to be free of the confines of a hospital room. Okeke, 43, became the recipient of a heart transplant — and a kidney transplant — at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoeniz, Ariz.

News Release:  Mayo Patient on Artificial Heart Receives Heart Transplant

Public Affairs Contact: Lynn Closway

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Tags: A.L.S., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Arizona Republic, Artificial Heart, BodyGuardian, Cardiology, Cardiology, Charles Okeke, CNN, dementia, doctor burnout, Dr Charles Bruce, Dr. Colin West, Florida Times-Union, Freedom Driver, frontotemporal dementia, general internal medicine, General Internal Medicine, JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Mayo Clinic in the News, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, Neurology, physician burnout, Post Bulletin, Preventice, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Rochester Post-Bulletin, Rose Parade, Transplant, Twin Cities