Enhanced Web sites offer easy access to health information

It's easy for consumers and professionals to find new and improved health care information on the Web. Recent new or updated topics include:

• Geriatrics and caring for aging parents or relatives. The University of Iowa Center on Aging site--www.uiowa.edu/~centrage/--pulls together aging-related issues, health care, and other services in Iowa in a convenient new way for professionals and lay people alike. Highlights include Highlights include a "For Professionals" section; a "Find Geriatricians" link that locates licensed physicians in Iowa who earned a certificate of added qualification in geriatrics; and a new "State-by-State Resource Locator" link that connects users to geriatric resources in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
• Continuing medical education. A new site, www.medicine.uiowa.edu/cme, allows community physicians and other health care professionals from across Iowa and nearby states to learn about the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine's continuing medical education opportunities.

Laser eye surgery center expands, upgrades technology

Laser eye surgery specialists at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are treating patients in a newly expanded and upgraded facility that features the most advanced technology for performing LASIK surgery and other vision correction procedures. Eye surgeons can now automatically align and track the patient's eye in three-dimensions during surgery without having to dilate the pupil. "We can tailor surgery to the individual patient, and we will have the capability of adding customized ablation as soon as the FDA approves the process for patients," said John Sutphin, M.D., a refractive corneal surgery specialist. More information about vision correction treatments is available online at www.uihealthcare.com/eyecare.

Hospital acquires safer equipment to reduce risk of injuries

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has acquired 665 pieces of patient transfer equipment, ranging from lateral transfer slides to steadying belts to overhead lifting systems capable of completely raising and moving patients from one location to another. Eric Briesemeister, safety manager for UI Hospitals and Clinics, said the specialized equipment can help reduce staff members' risks of debilitating back injuries that sometimes result from ordinary tasks, such as lifting and moving a patient from a bed to a chair to the bathroom and back into bed. "Just like needle-stick safety, transfer equipment will forever change how patients and their caregivers interact," he said. Patients may benefit by walking sooner or possibly having shorter hospital stays, he said.

UI fully accredited for protection of people in research

The University of Iowa is the first university in the nation to receive full accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, a nonprofit, fee-for-service organization based in Washington, D.C. The three-year accreditation follows an extensive review of the University's recruitment and protection of human volunteers in research. "Receiving full accreditation underscores the University's commitment to the highest ethical standards for research involving human participants," said David Wynes, UI assistant vice president for research. "Achieving this distinction is a reflection of the efforts of many individuals across campus working to ensure that the protection of research participants is a top priority."

Kelch leaving UI for top medical post at Michigan

Robert P. Kelch, M.D., vice president for health affairs at The University of Iowa, has been named executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan effective September 2003. In accepting the appointment, Kelch will return to his alma mater and to the institution where he has spent most of his professional career. Kelch, who came to UI nine years ago as dean of the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, had been named UI vice president for health affairs in November 2002.

Pediatrician achieves full Howard Hughes investigator status

A University of Iowa physician and researcher has been promoted to full investigator by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. With this appointment, the Institutue extends its support of Val Sheffield, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, for five more years. Sheffield has been a Howard Hughes associate investigator since 1997. His promotion means that the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine now has four faculty members who are prestigious Howard Hughes investigators.