WASHINGTON, D.C.—Better battlefield lifesaving techniques—more advanced armor, quicker transfers from theater to hospitals—have resulted in more and more veterans surviving life-threatening injuries. Subsequently, this has resulted in an increase in those veterans who are greatly injured and in need of full-time care and support, even after they leave the hospital. That support frequently comes from family members who act as caregivers, making sacrifices themselves in terms of time and money, and overcoming the steep learning curve necessary to care for their veteran family member.

For sheer magnitude and persistence of pain, it is hard to beat burn wounds. From the moment the injury begins, through the immediate hospital treatment and continuing to the long-term treatment of dressing changes, debridement, and skin grafts, a patient can look forward to long bouts with pain of varying intensity. Even the simple act of cleaning and redressing a burn wound can cause patients to experience intense anxiety, because of the pain the treatment causes.

WASHINGTON, DC—Despite spending $2.2 trillion on health care in 2007, disparities among demographic groups persist. Low-income Americans and racial and ethnic minorities experience disproportionately higher rates of disease, fewer treatment options, and reduced access to care, according to a report released by the Department of Health and Human Services last month. HHS expects that as unemployment continues to rise, the disparities already apparent among these groups will continue to increase.

WASHINGTON, DC—The current director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, Francis Collins, MD, PhD, has been tapped by President Obama to lead the National Institutes of Health. Last month, the President announced that he was nominating Dr Collins for NIH director, a post previously held by Dr Elias Zerhouni and currently held by Acting NIH Director Raynard Kington, MD, PhD. “My administration is committed to promoting scientific integrity and pioneering scientific research, and I am confident that Dr Francis Collins will lead the NIH to achieve these goals,” President Obama said after announcing the nomination last month. “Dr Collins is one of the top scientists in the world, and his groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—There is no wound that more boldly speaks to a person’s service in the military than the loss of a limb. While they still draw stares from the general public, men and women confined to wheelchairs due to the loss of a leg, or with shirt sleeves pinned up to accommodate the loss of an arm, are not an uncommon sight in the halls of Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and veterans halls.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Senate confirmed Margaret Hamburg, MD, to lead the Food and Drug Administration last month. The unanimous confirmation came as no surprise considering the ease of her confirmation hearing and her backing by both Democrat and Republican Senate leaders.

Washington—Another Department of Veterans Affairs facility has announced in April that it may have exposed patients to infection during the course of routine colonoscopies.

Glaucoma is an eye disease that is so subtle and yet so damaging that it has been nicknamed the “sneak thief of sight” for its ability to progress gradually but steadily, and is often not be recognized until the disease’s advanced stages. A disease of the optic nerve involving the loss of retinal ganglion cells, about four million Americans are estimated to have it, though only half may be aware of it. While only 120,000 of those people have become blind due to the disease, it still accounts for about 10% of all cases of blindness in the United States.

BETHESDA, M.D.—Age-related macular degeneration is one of the many diseases associated with aging eyes. In some cases the disease progresses so slowly that changes in vision are barely perceptible. In others, it moves so swiftly that a patient might lose sight in both eyes over the course of a few years.

WASHINGTON—As legislators look at ways to reform the nation’s healthcare system, one of the questions they find themselves needing to answer—one that must be answered before any significant progress can be made—is exactly what healthcare quality is and how to measure it. At a hearing last month, legislators were told both private and federal healthcare research leaders that there is a gap between best practice and actual practice, and that the current healthcare system does not necessarily reward physicians for improving the health of their patients.