Newly refreshed IHPI website

At IHPI, our communications team has been busy refreshing our "virtual front door" with a new website, which has the same internet address www.ihpi.umich.edu. The website connects our nearly 600 members and showcases our members' areas of expertise and collaborations. Our revamped site offers cleaner navigation and more intuitive links to member profiles and new feature areas highlighting our institute's priorities and key programs. Whether you're with the media, a policymaker, a researcher, a health system leader, or part of a community organization, IHPI's member database can help you find experts who match your needs for information or collaboration.

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Half of women over 50 experience incontinence, but most haven't talked to a doctor, U-M/AARP poll finds

Nearly half of women over 50 say they sometimes leak urine ---- a problem that can range from a minor nuisance to a major issue ---- according to a new national poll.

Of more than 1,000 women between the ages of 50 and 80 who answered the poll, 43 percent of women in their 50s and early 60s said they had experienced urinary incontinence, as had 51 percent of those age 65 and over. IHPI member Carolyn Swensen, M.D., U-M assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, describes the key findings of this poll in the following video.

The new findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging suggest that more physicians should routinely ask their older female patients about incontinence issues they might be experiencing. The poll of 1,027 women between the ages of 50 and 80 was conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, and sponsored by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.

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Opioid consumption after surgery: Numbers matter

Many surgeons write prescriptions for opioid pain medications four times larger than what their patients will actually use after common operations, a new study shows.

And the size of that prescription may be the most important factor in how many opioid pills the patient will take ---- outweighing their pain scores, the intensity of their operation and personal factors, the research suggests.

The study, published in JAMA Surgery, was done as part of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing and Engagement Network, or Michigan-OPEN. The study points to a need to provide options for surgical patients to dispose of unused opioids safely, so that the pills aren't misused or lead to a poisoning or overdose.

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U-M plans comprehensive concussion center

The University of Michigan Biosciences Initiative awarded $5.6 million to create the new Michigan Concussion Center.

The center will be led by Steven Broglio, Ph.D., A.T.C., U-M professor of athletic training, and will seek to answer fundamental questions about concussion prevention, identification, diagnosis, management and outcomes.

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On November 16, 2018, researchers from the University of Michigan and partner institutions announced a new website, www.childfirearmsafety.org, that aims to share what's known ---- and what experts still need to find out ---- about guns and people under age 19. The site offers free access to data on the issue, as well as training for health care providers and others.

The site is first product of Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens (FACTS), a federally funded national effort that aims to fill the knowledge gap about firearms and young people, and make up for a 'lost generation' of research on the issue. The effort is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Rebecca Cunningham, M.D., co-leader of FACTS and an emergency physician and associate vice president for research at U-M, discussed the announcement.

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RELATED: Researchers launch website on firearm deaths and injuries among children to accelerate knowledge and prevention

Jennifer Meddings, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of internal medicine, spoke at an all patient safety event hosted by Health Affairs earlier this month. Meddings spoke about her recent research findings published in  a  new paper in the November issue of Health Affairs, on pressure ulcers in hospital patients.

Rear Admiral Jeffrey Brady, director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, gave opening remarks, and panels of journal authors, including Meddings, presented topics including: Where Is the Patient In Patient Safety; The Role of Systems in Patient Safety; and Interventions to Improve Safety.  Watch the video