Author Archives: Paul Sisson

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About Paul Sisson

Paul Sisson covers health care for U-T San Diego. He attended Health Journalism 2015 on an AHCJ-California Health Journalism Fellowship, which is supported by The California HealthCare Foundation.

Illnesses, injuries linked to medical devices a ripe area for investigation #ahcj15

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CDC/ James ArcherAn outbreak of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) was linked to dirty duodenoscopes.

CDC/ James ArcherAn outbreak of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) was linked to dirty duodenoscopes.

Most medical devices marketed in the United States do not need formal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Members of a panel at Health Journalism 2015 on medical device coverage provided a variety of advice for reporters covering and of the implants, instruments and diagnostic tools common to the modern medical machine.

Moderator of the session was Chad Terhune, a Los Angeles Times reporter who recently found himself chasing an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) linked to dirty duodenoscopes. Contributing to the discussion were panelists USA Today investigative reporter Peter Eisler and Scott Lucas, associate director of accident and forensic investigation at the ECRI Institute. Continue reading →

Paul Sisson covers health care for U-T San Diego. He attended Health Journalism 2015 on an AHCJ-California Health Journalism Fellowship, which is supported by The California HealthCare Foundation.

Snapshots from #ahcj13 | Curtis Skinner

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Curtis Skinner, The New York World, New York:

Favorite panel so far today:
“I’ll say the social media one. (Facebook) graph search, I didn’t even know how cool it was, and I’m really interested in trying it out.” 

Favorite speaker Thursday morning:
“Marshall Allen who did the hospital ratings panel. He talked about Dwight Howard, and I’m a big Lakers fan.”

Best tip so far:
“Facebook social graph. I did a story recently where I needed to look for sources in social media, and if I had known about that, it would have cut my work time down.”

Most exciting upcoming event:
“I’m looking forward to deciphering inspection reports (Sunday). It’s going to be fantastic, I mean a lot of times I pull up the hospital inspection reports and it’s just kind of impenetrable. If we come out with tools or tips on how I can systematically go through them, that would be really, really helpful.”

Any sightseeing plans while in Boston:
“I’m trying to hit as many of these panels as I can and I really hadn’t thought about where to go afterwards.”

Paul Sisson covers health care for U-T San Diego. He attended Health Journalism 2015 on an AHCJ-California Health Journalism Fellowship, which is supported by The California HealthCare Foundation.

Snapshots from #ahcj13 | Rose Hoban

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Rose Hoban, North Carolina Health News, Chapel Hill:

Favorite panel so far today:
“Making sense of hospital ratings. It was about picking apart the ratings so that, if you write about them, you can put them into context.”

Favorite speaker Thursday morning:
“I’ll say Marshall Allen (from ProPublica), just because he and I are friends and he’s a good guy.”

Best tip so far:
“Using the ‘.@’ sign for Twitter so that it doesn’t just send (your tweet) to your followers but to everybody.”

Most exciting upcoming event:
“The Friday night cocktail party. Half of this is social networking.”

Sightseeing plans while in Boston:
“I’m staying across town, so I’ll be looking out the window of the T when I head back to my hotel.”

Paul Sisson covers health care for U-T San Diego. He attended Health Journalism 2015 on an AHCJ-California Health Journalism Fellowship, which is supported by The California HealthCare Foundation.