Maternal Marijuana Exposure and Birth Weight: An Observational Study Surrounding Recreational Marijuana Legalization

Objective This study aimed to study the relationship between prenatal marijuana and infant birth weight using natural cohorts established before, during and after the 20-month lapse between legalization and legal recreational sales in Washington State. Study Design Over 5 years, 5,343 pregnant women with documented urine drug screen (UDS) results delivered at Tacoma General Hospital or Good Samaritan Hospital. Maternal medical data were extracted for three delivery cohorts established based on before (T1), during (T2), and after legalization (T3) of recreational marijuana and legalized availability. Univariate and multivariate models were created to study marijuana exposure on infants' birth weight. Results Marijuana exposure increased the risk of low birth weight (LBW; odds ratio [OR] = 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–2.01). This was more pronounced in full-term babies (OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.10–2.69), and was independently associated with a higher risk for small for gestational age (SGA; OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.49–1.53). The associations between marijuana exposure and SGA were maintained in cohort-specific models (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.01–2.32 for T2, and OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.01–2.02 for T3, respectively). Conclusion Marijuana exposure verified by UDS was associated with LBW and SGA. However, recreational marijuana legalization and availability did not have direct impact on newborns' risk of LBW or SGA.

INSIDE INDUSTRY

Singapore's Khoo Teck Puat Hospital achieves HIMSS Analytics Stage 6. PSR-Agility wins second consecutive ROAR Award for “Best Orphan Drug CRO”. Ooredoo Myanmar maternity app “maymay” wins bronze at 2014 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Vietnam and IRRI jointly craft strategy to boost country's rice industry. Cognizant completes acquisition of TriZetto, creating a fully-integrated healthcare technology and operations leader. Teduglutide granted orphan drug designation in Japan. Murata joins Singapore's EcoCampus initiative. AbbVie acquires manufacturing facility in Singapore; further expands capabilities in Asia. Regen BioPharma acquires University of Toronto cancer stem cell intellectual property. Vetter opens office to support growing Asian healthcare market. Ceapro's research scientist, Bernhard Seifried, Ph.D., honored with Scientific Achievement & Innovation Award from BioAlberta. U.S. Department of Agriculture awards telemedicine grant to Good Samaritan Hospital. UCB and Daiichi Sankyo partner to bring treatment to people living with epilepsy in Japan. Amgen opens Next-Generation Biomanufacturing Facility in Singapore. Women dominate Rice Scientist awards.

Disaster Preparedness: Emergency Planning in the NICU

Hospital emergency management has evolved beyond satisfying regulatory requirements. Although tools and resources have been developed to support hospitals in emergency planning, there appears to be a scarcity of resources to guide hospital departments. To ensure that standards of care are maintained and to minimize the impact on the hospital and/or a nursing unit, Good Samaritan Hospital has developed a mobile emergency system and an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) template to assist other nursing units in their planning efforts. This article focuses on the development of emergency bedside backpacks, mobile disaster boxes, disaster documentation and forms go-kits, and guidelines for creating such a plan. The ongoing equipment testing, inventory rotation, staff training, and exercising response protocols are all crucial to test the effectiveness of the program in place. All these activities require a multidisciplinary approach to ensure integration with hospital-wide emergency planning efforts.

Good Samaritan Hospital and Its Department of Surgery: A Historical Perspective

At the end of the Revolutionary War, the United States government acquired the Northwest Territory, including the city of Cincinnati. Given the city's position on the Ohio River, and the subsequent development and introduction of steamboats in the early 1800s, Cincinnati became a major center for commerce and trade. With a population of over 115,000 in 1850, Cincinnati was the sixth largest city in the United States—larger even than St. Louis and Chicago—the first major city west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the largest inland city in the nation. The city's growth and importance is mirrored by the history of one if its prized institutions, Good Samaritan Hospital—the oldest, largest, and busiest private teaching and specialty-care hospital in Greater Cincinnati and a national leader in many surgical fields.

A psychiatrist in hospice

Dr. Alan Morgenstern joined the psychiatry faculty at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in 1965. He also served as chairman of psychiatry at Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. His many accomplishments include his part in a World Health Organization Travel-Study Fellowship. He served as a senior examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and he published a critique of this process, which resulted in a humanization of the experience for examinees. While teaching at OHSU he had a tremendous impact on generations of students who were impressed by his humane approach to medicine. He received the OHSU Meritorious Achievement Award for Teaching. He also served as a captain in the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. His close friend, Harold Boverman, M.D., wrote, “He loved his family, his work, his patients, his friends, and his music; his license plate read ‘etude.’”Dr. Morgenstern contacted us regarding his hope that we would facilitate publishing this account of his experience as a hospice patient. This represents an edited version of his manuscript. L.G. and H.B.