Being an informed consumer is the best way to maximize the many health choices available.

Great books have been written this year:

The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart
by Stephen Amidon and Thomas Amidon

Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You
by Jerome Groopman and
Pamela Hartzband

County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital
by David A. Ansell

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science and Fear
by Seth Mnookin

Invasion of the Body: Revolutions in Surgery
by Nicholas L. Tilney

Find reviews of these five must read healing books .

New regulations, health care policy changes and an aging population makes staying on top of new developments imperative.

Hospital infections are a leading cause of death among patients in American hospitals.

A few simple changes could drastically reduce infection and death:

Keep the surgery ward absolutely sterile

Fumigate the operation theater after every surgery

Autoclave or sterilize all the equipment after every surgery

Use disposal equipment whenever possible

Recovery ward should be kept clean and hygienic

Maintain the hygiene of diabetics and low immunity patients

Keep the necessary emergency drugs at hand to combat the infection effectively and promptly

Train the hospital staff in hygiene maintenance during and after surgeries

Switching from stainless steel to copper fittings could reduce spread of infection by as much as 40% according to recent reports

To tackle this serious menace, the federal government has introduced a new reporting system that will be available to the general public for evaluation. In addition, from 2013, those hospitals that have improper records and fail to follow the norms will face a 2% loss of Medicare funding. Surgery records have to be compulsorily updated and reported till the case is closed. An estimated two million contract hospitals acquired infections and spend about $6.5 billion extra to treat such affected patients.
The hospitals will now have stringent norms to follow and it has been made compulsory that they report all the cases of nosocomial infections or hospital related infections and the number of deaths thereafter. This will give an idea as to which areas and hospitals are more prone tro these types of infections and steps can be taken to curb these. Using faulty catheters, improper sterilization of tracheostomy tubes, and other methods of intervention are the major causes of hospital related infections.

Medical advances in the new year could have a huge impact on world health.

Vaccines, new regulations and cheaper drugs are just some of the medical advances to come.

Like other vaccines, cancer vaccines use a chemical marker of a disease (in one case, a virus; in another, a malignant tumor) to train a person’s immune system to fight the disease.
But unlike vaccines for the flu or chicken pox, which are preventive, “we almost uniformly vaccinate after cancer is there,” Kwak said.
Some cancer vaccines in development could be administered to many people, while others – including Kwak’s vaccine for follicular lymphoma – would have to be tailored to each patient’s tumors.

There is a lot to look forward to and more choices will be one of the biggest drivers of change and improvement.

Drinking lots of water is really the best way to avoid a hangover.

Champagne combines sugars, yeast and carbonation; a particularly potent prescription for morning after regrets!

Eat some protein, drink fluids and as always, moderation is key!

The Chinese are faced with more food choices as they become more affluent.

More Western style eating habits including a taste for more sugar, salt and fizzy drinks are taking a toll on the health of the Chinese people.

Public-health experts in China say obesity has become a serious problem: Twenty-five percent of adults are overweight or obese, according to a 2008 study published in Health Affairs. But Cai Meqin, a nutritionist at Shanghai Jiaotong University, says all the overeating is partly a reaction to the food shortages under Chairman Mao a generation ago.

“At that time, Chinese people [did] not have much food to eat, so they [were] very slim, but right now we have much, much more food, so they eat more [and are] overweight,” says Cai.

Caffeine buzz in a can ; harmless or handy?

The caffeine market is already a crowded place, between all the coffee, sodas, energy drinks, and novelties ranging from caffeinated gums to a chapstick called Spazzstick.

But AeroShot is unique, its creator says, because it allows you to control the dosage. “We often overdose ourselves [with caffeine],” David Edwards, inventor of the AeroShot and a professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard, tells The Salt. That’s part of what leads to the nasty spike and withdrawal cycle that leaves caffeine addicts feeling drowsy. With AeroShot, “you take it when you need it, and as much as you need.”

New Year’s resolutions are just around the corner and most of us create a list of changes that would daunt even the most Herculean of wills.

First, if you’re thinking about committing to improving your health in 2012, you’ll have plenty of company. A little over half of the people we surveyed said they’ll resolve to exercise more. More than a third will resolve to lose weight. And 13 percent say they’ll commit to either quitting smoking or reducing how much they smoke

Be realistic with your goals and start with little steps.

A small change can lead to big results.

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Internists can be better problem solvers than medical specialists at solving complex health problems.

Specialists tend to see a very small portion of the problem, often not taking enough medical history to solve the mystery.

Symptoms in one part of the body may be the result of an infection in another.

Finding a physician who you can talk with and who listens is the key to proper diagnosis and treatment.

Knowing where germs lurk on a plane can help you to avoid catching illness while traveling.

Much of the danger comes from the mouths, noses and hands of passengers sitting nearby. The hot zone for exposure is generally two seats beside, in front of and behind you, according to a study in July in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A number of factors increase the odds of bringing home a souvenir cough and runny nose. For one, the environment at 30,000 feet enables easier spread of disease. Air in airplanes is extremely dry, and viruses tend to thrive in low-humidity conditions. When mucous membranes dry out, they are far less effective at blocking infection. High altitudes can tire the body, and fatigue plays a role in making people more susceptible to catching colds, too.

The holidays are stressful and coming into contact with germs is an unnecessary hazard, if you know were to look.

Read the whole article for tips to avoid illness and where the real dangers lie.

Budget cuts have forced state and local health departments to cut thousands of health officials making monitoring more difficult.

The result is state labs that conduct tests for nerve agents or chemical agents such as mustard gas, have less ability to rapidly distribute vaccines during emergencies.

Biological warfare is more of a threat than during the post 9/11 preparedness.

“Our concern this year is that because of the economic crisis… we may not be as prepared today as we were a couple of years ago,” he said.

Once lost, medical capabilities take time and money to rebuild, the report says.

“It would be like trying to hire and train firefighters in the middle of a fire,” Levi said. “You don’t do that for fire protection, and we shouldn’t be doing that for public health protection.”