Robin White, the head nurse of a pediatrics inpatient unit, and Jason Rundell, a physician’s assistant, train as part of regular Miltary Health System exercises called TeamSTEPPS. The training is one of the many programs of the MHS.

FALLS CHURCH -  Meet RASMAS and Noblis Health Innovation team at the 2010 Military Health System Conference.

The theme of the conference is “Sharing Knowledge: Achieving Breakthrough Performance.” Each day will feature its own educational theme, centering on achievements and performance in healthcare delivery, research, education and training.

The meeting will be held January 25-28, 2010 at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The actual conference runs from January 25 – 28; the exposition runs January 26 – 27. Noblis Health Innovation’s Kurt Acker will be at Booth 136.

Three-thousand military and civilian medical personnel from the MHS are expected to attend, creating an opportunity to share knowledge and improve best practices. As a learning organization, the MHS expects its 2010 conference to promote professionalism across the force, enhance partnerships within and outside the federal sector, and focus on ways to best serve the preventive and healthcare needs of our diverse beneficiary population.

Further details can be found at www.health.mil/mhsconference.

ORLANDO – A Florida logistics firm has called on the regulation of shipping pallets after this week’s recall of Tylenol due to chemicals from a shipping pallet. (more…)

FALLS CHURCH -  Geneticist Dietrich Stephan of the Ignite Institute will speak at a at a free breakfast meeting January 19, 2010, sponsored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council‘s Health Techonology Committee.

The Ignite Institute is a new non-profit based in Fairfax that will enable individual patients to use genetic testing to help prevent the onset of certain disorders and diseases. Ignite is the first entity to fully integrate biomedical research, development, commercialization and clinical care. (more…)

WASHINGTON - A new investigation by USA Today on the issue of school food safety says that answers to improving the safety of school food are close at hand.

Reporters Elizabeth Weise and Peter Eisler write today that there are industries and major companies, both in the United States and abroad, that have made great strides in safety and consistently produce food free of the bacteria that sicken about 75 million Americans a year. (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today in a press release that RC2 Corp., of Oak Brook, Ill., maker of the Thomas series of railroad toys, has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civil penalty for violating the federal lead paint ban. (more…)

McDonough, Ga. – Encompass Group said yesterday that the company is voluntarily recalling its Thermoflect blankets for relabeling.

The company is sending labels to customers to be attached per instructions to remind the hospitals that the heat reflective blankets should not be used in the magnetic resonance environment. (more…)

Fort Washington, Penn. – In consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., is expanding its voluntary recall to include all available product lots of TYLENOL Arthritis Pain Caplet 100 count bottles, with a red EZ-open cap. (more…)

HARRISBURG, Penn. – The closing and failed inspection of the cafeteria inside Pennsylvania’s Capitol building has Auditor General Jack Wagner calling for additional restaurant inspections and new food safety legislation.

Wagner said in a news release that the recent failed inspection and subsequent closing of the Capitol cafeteria further highlight the need for food safety legislation in the Keystone State. Wagner also expressed deep concern that for the past four years he received false assurances that inspections were conducted of the Capitol cafeteria after he raised the issue in an audit he released in November 2005.

Other food safety headlines today:

• USA Today  reported that 10 percent of airport eateries served food-borne illnesses.
• Meanwhile, food poisoning was blamed in a mistaken terrorist situation on board Northwest Airlines flight 253. According to ABC News, the man would not come out of the bathroom. After landing, officials gave an “all clear” after interviewing the Nigerian passenger and determining he was, indeed, ill.
• The Center for Science in the Public Interest noted a significant decrease in the number of food poisoning cases states are reporting to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It found states reported 33 percent fewer fully investigated outbreaks to the CDC in 2007 than in 2002. In 2007, nearly 1,100 outbreaks were reported to CDC, but in only 378 cases identified a food and a pathogen, the mark of a complete investigation.

DETROIT – A new Ford model will have a more precise turn signal that should decrease road confusion. New blinker technology, coming this summer on the 2011 Fiesta, will have two settings. The first notch will blink three times, then shut off. For a continuous blink, motorists just need to move the signal all the way to the bottom. The move promises to prevent the common situation where a driver leaves his blinker on while driving down the road. (more…)

A new commercial from the Window Covering Safety Council uses an old-style video feel to tell consumers the dangers of window shade cords and children. The commercials feature an animated “Super Baby” discussing the need for parents to take corrective action if there are children in the house, including ordering a free retrofit kit. (more…)