Contents tagged with abuse
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Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day
posted 10.9.14
During 2013, 119 women were killed in Texas by their male intimate partner, according to the Texas Council on Family Violence. This included 21 women who had previously taken steps to leave their violent relationships, and 55 children who were present for and watched their mothers die.
Not only is October Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but Oct. 8, 2014, was designated as Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day, educating health care professionals about the importance of screening for domestic abuse. I spent the day at a meeting of the Task Force on Domestic Violence listening to three survivors speak about their experiences with family violence. Established by House Bill 2620 in the 83rd Texas Legislature, the task force is charged with researching the impact of domestic violence on mothers’ mortality and health, and infants’ mortality, health, and development.
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With rising abuse of prescription drugs, all must take action
A January 2013 report revealed a disturbing statistic: Nationally, roughly 1 in 22, or 4.57 percent, of people aged 12 and older reported having used pain relievers non-medically in the past year. Texas fares slightly better with a rate of 4.33 percent, placing our state at 17th lowest in the country in our rate of abuse.
Still, this is a grave public health concern. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that the highest rate of prescription drug abuse occurs in the young adult population. Nationally, 10.43 percent of this group reported misuse of the drugs in 2010-2011 compared to 9.21 percent of Texas’ young adults. In Texas’ 12-17 age group, the rate is 6.03 percent.
Experts have raised many contributors fueling this epidemic. Patients may be more likely to misperceive the safety of these medications since they’re prescribed by doctors and take them under circumstances not recommended by their physician. Also, prescriptions for stimulants and opioids have increased dramatically and are more readily available. Some physicians have said they feel pressure to get high patient satisfaction scores and are more likely now than in previous decades to strive to eliminate pain in their patients rather than conservatively manage it. And, patients more frequently seek out these now well-known medications, whether because they feel they will better treat anxiety, pain, sleep problems, or enhance focus, or for deviant purposes.
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DPS launches online prescription drug monitoring program to curb abuse
DPS launches online prescription drug monitoring program to curb abuse
posted 08.21.12
The Regulatory Services Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety has developed and launched a … more
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Protecting our most vulnerable
By I. L. Balkcom IV, M.D.
TAFP President 2012-2013Her name was not important. This little 6-year-old girl I had been called to examine in the emergency room now sat silently, flanked by her mother and mother’s boyfriend.
I was in my third year of residency and was summoned to evaluate this patient who I’d been told had fallen in the bathtub at home. She had a large bruise around her left eye.
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