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Innovation with Heart
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For a business or product to be successful it has to solve a problem.
The inventor of EZ PeeZ proudly presented his product to the ABC’s star Sharks, in Season 7 Episode 4 last friday.
While Brian Kleinschmidt clearly saw how his 3 D printed prototype adjustable toilet seat would solve two common problems associated with toilet training little ones, the Sharks circled around eagerly.
The first problem solved is the one when teaching children to use the big peoples’ commode they can feel uncertain about the big hole, afraid of falling in because they are just too big. Like the currently available seat adapters that adjust the size, according to xxx, his brainchild will do the same, but better. The other issue is that seat adapters according to Brian are difficult to store when not in use and may be embarrassing when guests go into use the facilities and they have to deal with emptying, removing and storing the adapter. So his solution is a toilet seat that has a section that appears to easily flip to fit the child and adult seating needs. Guests will not need to empty it or figure out where to store it.
Sound good? Watch the video clip below and prepare for the frenzy of critiques Brian receives. This is not for the faint-hearted to watch. Kevin O’Leary, AKA Mr. Wonderful, who pioneered a successful children’s education company, drew blood. He states his view about how a business or product must successfully solve a problem. Other points for innovative interests that can be seen in the full episode include: ease of use, including not needing tools and more. Wear your life preserver while watching this episode!
If unable to view, see video clip from Shark Tank Season 7, Episode 4 featuring EZ Pee Z HERE >>>
Don’t miss Shark Tank FRIDAYS 9|8c on ABC !!!
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Published by Health Impact News December 13, 2012 >>>
by Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)
PRNewswire-USNewswire
TUCSON, Ariz., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Health workers nationwide are facing an ultimatum to either receive an influenza vaccination, or be fired. TriHealth, for example, one of Cincinnati’s largest employers, recently threatened to fire 150 workers if they did not get the vaccine, or a religious or medical exemption, by Dec 3.
The presumption is that the vaccine is safe and effective, and that health workers have a duty to protect their patients from a potentially lethal disease. But according to an article in the winter issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, evidence of efficacy is weak, and safety data are limited. In particular, there is no evidence showing that vaccinated workers are less likely to transmit virus.
In the past, more than half of health workers have declined to get an annual flu vaccine. “It is demeaning to assume that they are all uninformed or irresponsible,” writes Jane M. Orient, M.D. An on-line, in-house survey by theAssociation of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) showed that of about 700 respondents, nearly 80% think that influenza vaccination should be a matter of personal choice. More than 150 physicians expressed willingness to risk their medical staff privileges to avoid the vaccine. Colorado workers have formed an activist group, Colorado Health Care Workers against Forced Vaccination.
An extensive literature review by the Cochrane Collaboration found a “modest” effect of vaccine on influenza symptoms or workdays lost. If the vaccine happens to match the virus in circulation, 4% of unvaccinated people get influenza symptoms compared to 1% of vaccinated people. If the vaccine is not well-matched, the figures are 2% versus 1%.
Besides Guillain-Barre syndrome, there are other safety risks. Some vaccine products have been withdrawn, as when Bell’s palsy or narcolepsy was observed in many recipients, the article points out. Some risks come from the contamination of animal-derived culture material, including chick embryos and bovine serum. Vegans are exempt from the influenza vaccine mandate.
As cited in the Journal article, Cochrane authors state that there is “evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions” in vaccine studies, and that authors for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “clearly do not weight interpretation by quality of the evidence, but quote anything that supports their theory.”
“With such weak evidence, why the pressure to push this vaccine?” asks Orient. “Hospitals are apparently feeling pressure from the government. In 2014, Medicare will add influenza vaccine coverage to quality reporting measures, and will withhold 2% of payments for failure to report.”
Conflicts of interest are rampant, she notes, as representatives on relevant advisory committees receive substantial compensation or grants from vaccine manufacturers. Unlike with other pharmaceuticals, manufacturers are immunized from liability for adverse reactions from mandated vaccines.
The influenza vaccine mandate is “authority-based,” the article concludes. It “trumps individual autonomy, the Hippocratic ethic, and also evidence-based medicine.”
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties founded in 1943, publishes the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Read the full press release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mandated-flu-shots-for-health-workers-on-shaky-ground-journal-article-states-183161141.html
Nurses, If you are in a situation at work that involves the flu vaccine you may wish to contact NAMV >>>
By Admin
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Published by Health Impact News on September 22, 2013
Health Impact News Editor Comments:
Last year we saw an increase in healthcare facilities requiring nurses and other healthcare workers to receive mandatory flu vaccinations as a requirement for employment. We learned that new mandates for mandatory flu vaccinations of healthcare workers was tied into new requirements for Obamacare. Failure to meet certain percentages of a healthcare facility’s employees as vaccinated for influenza jeopardized their federal reimbursement of Medicare and Medicaid funds.
As a result, many of our nation’s top nurses who are opposed to vaccinations lost their jobs, and many more face losing their jobs this year as well. Here are some of the stories we reported on last year:
TriHealth fires 150 employees in Cincinnati for not getting flu shots
Brave Nurses Lose Jobs to Stand on Principle and Refuse Forced Vaccinations
Another Healthcare Worker Tells Her Story of Losing Her Job of 17 Years for Refusing Flu Vaccination
Now, a recent meta-analysis study just published this month by the CDC reveals that flu vaccinations among healthcare workers offer no evidence of protection to the patients under their care! Predictably, the CDC still recommends flu shots for healthcare workers because “It’s the best intervention we currently have, so we need to keep using it while working toward a better flu vaccine.”
So in other words, mandatory flu vaccinations of healthcare workers will continue, in spite of the lack of evidence that they work to protect patients.
Here are some excerpts from the study as published by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota:
Hospitals and public health officials strongly promote healthcare worker (HCW) flu vaccination as a step to protect patients, but a new analysis found that evidence for a benefit isn’t as strong as previously thought.
And influenza experts who commented on the analysis pointed out that, for specific outcomes such as lab-confirmed influenza, the data showed little evidence of protection for patients.
The meta-analysis, by researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), appeared in an early online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. They focused on four randomized controlled trials and four observational studies from long-term facilities or hospitals. They pooled the results and assigned grades to the quality of the evidence.
An increasing number of health systems require staff to receive flu shots or else wear a mask during flu season, but the efforts have been met with pushback from some medical worker groups. Employee groups support flu vaccination and other measures to control the spread of flu, but many say workers should have the right to opt out for health, religious, or personal reasons.
In addition, the science behind flu vaccination mandates has been a topic of recent debate. In November 2012, an editorial in a Canadian medical journal calling for mandatory flu shots in HCWs prompted a quick response from researchers who questioned the evidence cited in the piece.
The new CDC analysis of HCW flu vaccination is part of an overall trend toward evidence-based public health recommendations and parallels recent new scrutiny on the efficacy of the flu vaccine itself.
In an editorial published alongside the study, Marie Griffin, MD, MPH, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine… pointed out that, after the researchers submitted their study, a Cochrane group updated its meta-analysis on the topic, using three of the same studies and focusing on more specific outcomes, such as lab-confirmed flu. The Cochrane analysis found no evidence to support compulsory vaccination of HCW, she wrote.
Nick Kelley, PhD, research associate for the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), said that the new analysis provides a more robust look at HCW flu immunization studies than earlier reviews and includes observational studies that weren’t available at the time.
For outcomes that matter the most—lab-confirmed flu and flu hospitalizations—the two meta-analyses (the CDC’s and Cochrane’s) both find low or very low levels of evidence, he said. “We simply don’t have good evidence that vaccination of healthcare personnel prevents influenza transmission to patients,” Kelley said.
Read the Full Article Here: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2013/09/analysis-finds-limited-evidence-hcw-flu-vaccination
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