Attention New Aggies!! Help the Faculty, Staff, and Student Leaders Help You! F.A.C.T. (First-time Aggie Contact Team) involves faculty, staff, & student leaders in contacting new Aggies. F.A.C.T. w ill w elcome you to the University and clieck on how you are doing during your first semester at Texas A&M University, Remember to update your local phone number and ADDRESS AT HEATON HALL OR ON BONFIRE SO THAT WE CAN GET YOU ON OUR V.I.P. LIST. Aggie Orientation Leader Program Student life Department of Student Life Student Life Orientation ^ONE c1 THURSDAY Ladies Night All Ladies 18 & up FREE! $ 1.00 bar drinks until 11:00 $ 1.00 pints all night $ 2.00 Tap Teas all night 696-5570 Designate * Party Safe COMEDIAN DOUG MORELAND • DEAN SETLZER and DUB MILLER singing the “Fightin’Texas Aggie Song” SATURDAY. SEPT. 15.2001 WOLF PEN CREEX Discounted Advanced Tickets Suggested at AGKICKOFF.com MSC Box Office (Aggie Bucks Accepted) Bother's Book Stores Fitzwilly’s Popular Talent Steamboat DICKSON PRODUCTIONS USKITHIS.COM bigskitrip.com Please don’t drink & drive Stephen Braden, M.D. George Mcllhaney, M.D. Richard Herron, M.D. Ken Hillner, M.D. Anna Damian, M.D. David Damian, M.D. Chris imperial, D.O. urgent care same day appointments board-certified doctors « , Cl two locations got docs? ;<.v • 1 BRAZOS BMSrentlMSKi GROUP providing medical care for all ages 1 College Station - 693.3313 Bryan - 776.7700 www.brazosdocs.com Nation Page 14 THE BATTALION Thursday, September Hospitals using expensive technology to reduce medication blunders Gas trsday, Sep TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — At Cooper Hospital in Camden, patients do not have to worry about a misread doctor’s chick en scratch giving them the wrong drug or dose. Prescriptions are typed into a computer. At the nation’s veterans hos pitals, bar code scanners identi fy the patient’s medicine and also ensure that it won’t cause any harm. And at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, a pharmacy robot reads electronic medical charts, pulls bar-coded medicine from stock shelves, makes labels and sorts them into labeled bins, eliminating human error. Under the microscope after a damning 1999 report about errors killing thousands of patients each year, hospitals across America are testing a wide range of solutions. They are trying everything from better training and new medication handling procedures to installing sophisticated, multimillion-dol- lar technology meant to catch mistakes that harried doctors and nurses sometimes miss. “I think all hospitals are try ing to do something to make the use of medication safer,” although many still have not laid out the money for pricey, high- tech solutions, said Dr. David Classen, a consultant and hospi tal internist. The most complex systems can cost up to $5 million, plus millions more for customizing, staff training and maintenance, said Classen, who works for First Consulting Group of Long Beach, Calif., which helps hospitals choose comput erized systems. Most hospitals making big investments today are focusing on computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems, which can eliminate common causes of confusion: illegible handwriting, drugs with similar names, misin terpreted abbreviations and deci mal points that are not noticed, resulting in patients getting an excessive dose. He estimates that up to 10 percent of U.S. hospitals now have such systems. Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center in Camden went to a computerized order entry system three years ago, and within two weeks made every doctor, intern and resident stop writing paper orders. That has eliminated all errors because of illegibility, said Dr. Simon Simaha, a practicing physician who is vice president for information technology. Bar-coding systems use handheld scanners — waved over bar codes on the nurse’s ID badge, patient’s wristband and medication packet — to link information from each with a computer database. That can catch everything from wor risome side effects and look- alike drug names to lab tests indicating the dosage should be changed. Veterans Affairs medical cen ters across the country have implemented them. The VA hos pitals in East Orange and Lyons, N.J., upgraded theirs with auto mated, continuous backup of all information onto personal com puters, so if the computer sys tem crashes, the medical staff prices tumble be T do< has current informal Robotic systems cies use conveyor coded stock in special and sophisticated sof pull medication doses orders a doctor or pi entered into a compi robots sort drugs into each patient before checked by a human pf Besides reducing errors, the systems give p cists more time to ad on medication choices. After the 1999 Institute Medicine repiort on hosp errors, a number of organ tions demanded action by hospitals. In addition to the i of life, the mistakes added estimated $2 billion to nation’s health care bill, institute repiort said, A r study this year challenged institute’s numbers. Since the 1999 report, American Hospital Association has sent all 5,000 U.S. acute care hospitals a lengthy ques tionnaire that helps administra tors spot every procedure that could lead to an error and determine the best way to change it. the the the the NEW YORK (AP) prices tumbled in mi of the nation Wi d.i> .ittcr attacks on tl Trade Center Pentagon, as government cials threatened acti price gougers and reassure motorists quale supplies, U.S. Energy Spencer Abraham is no indication of that should justify spikes to a gallon Oft "There’s been no si ruption to justify ! prices,” Abraham said He said the Envj Protection Agency liftedi mer clean air requirements on We to avert any supply The standards, it ease air pollution during the sum scheduled to expire Gas prices soared on fears of shortages, mg skirmishes at several states as raced to get to the A 78-year-old man in Kan., was arrested for vated assault after he ly pulled a pellet another customer. But gas suppliers off high prices Wet as many states said ll would investigate rej gouging. “Those j ttacks wou words of Ja Yamamoto I'earl Harbc T fear at .waken a s him with a “And so The Fori “As civ simply car that wouh four airph cently goii and turn mass dest know the Tuesday’s American Study: People with heart disease ma]| extend lifespan by taking aspirin “Th< A meric epitom democi know people, courag must r how pr how i defend The Dallas CHICAGO (AP) — People who take aspirin regularly to reduce their short term heart attack risk may also be sub stantially extending their lives, new research suggests. The study of 6,174 adults with sus pected heart disease found that regular aspirin users faced a 33 percent lower risk of dying during a follow-up period aver aging three years than patients who did not take aspirin. The findings extend the known benefits for heart patients in taking aspirin at least every other day, which previous studies have shown can reduce the risk of heart attack and the short-term risk of death in heart attack sufferers, said the authors, led by Dr. Patricia Gum of The Cleveland Clinic. "Up until now it really had not been very well established” that aspirin had long-term survival benefits for heart patients, said co author Dr. Michael Lauer, clinical research director in the clinic’s cardiovascular medi cine department. The study appeared in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Lynn Smaha, a cardiologist at Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, Pa., said patients often ask him if they should regularly take aspirin, which improves blood flow through the arteries by making it less sticky and less likely to clot. For those who have had previous heart attacks, "it’s pretty clear that that’s an appropriate recommendation,” said Smaha, past president of the American Heart Association. The new study "lends credence to the possibility that long-term aspirin therapy may be of significant benefit” even for patients with no previous heart attacks, Smaha said. Lauer stressed that patients should con sult with their doctors about whether to start taking aspirin on a regular basis. Study participants were male andfei patients who underwent ultrasounds ca hoi. .tnlioer.ims .tiul stress tests toevjta suspected heart problems. Included 4 2,310 people who were taking about! aspirin daily or every other day at testt| and 3,864 nonusers. There were 276 deaths during abi three years of follow up. While there#4 about equal numbers of deaths in M groups, the aspirin users were olden™ they were tested aged 62 on aveti| compared with 56 for the nonusers andi more diagnosed heart disease. Adjusi for those factors, the authors found aspil users were 33 percent less likely tos than nonusers. The greatest benefits were seem patients who were physically unfit, M age 50 or who had known heart disetl Lauer said most of the deaths likely"! heart-related, though exact causes not available. The the gd haste d swiftly respons Tha just as the thri also od an ov frightfi ens ou ties. Oil doms a these td to the allows tory t allow. Get Marooned The “Boston” - In Maroon Suede- BIRKENSTOCK Texas @ georae. Bush CHICKEN OIL CO. • Delicious Hamburgers Country Salads • Big Screen T.V. Tijuana Fries • Cold Drinks A Place You 'll Want to Come Back To! Aggies sl^ spirit at l Sun. - Thors. 11:00 am to 10:00 pm Fri & Sal. 11:00 am to 11:00 pm 3600 S. College, Bryan (979) 846-3306 Do Your Wash For FREE • FREE • FREE WOODSTONEWASH HAUS 903F Harvey Rd., College Station (Behind Double Dave’s Woodstone Shopping Center) Welcome Back Aggies!!! Hurry! 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