T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
The Chronicle
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 55
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
Cancer therapy groups bring ‘meaning to life’
DUHS digitizes records with Maestro Care
Just dance
by Danielle Muoio
by Ashley Mooney
THE CHRONICLE
THE CHRONICLE
Cancer patients at Duke can now draw comfort from two new meditative support groups. The Duke Cancer Patient Support Program introduced two support programs for cancer patients and their families, which are based in methods from integrative medicine. The programs serve to complement the DCPSP’s existing nine support groups, meditative garden and self-image shop with turbans and wigs offered free of charge. The new support groups cater to the emotional traumas experienced by cancer patients who undergo physical treatments. “These therapies help bring meaning to their life,” said Cheyenne Corbett, director of the DCPSP. Alternate therapies can help patients overcome the emotional affects of cancer, said Ben Weast, licensed professional counselor and a nationally certified counselor. “When I look at counseling, what I am trying to do is assist a person in adjusting to what is going on in their life at that time in regard to the cancer,” Weast said. “When you are talking about adjustment that involves your mind [and] how you are thinking about cancer and feeling about cancer can be related to how much pain you’re in.”
By summer 2014, Duke University Health System will convert to a single, standardized electronic health records system, revolutionizing access to patient history. DUHS will convert to a paper-free electronic system that facilitates the exchange of medical records with other health care organizations across the country, said Dr. Jeffrey Ferranti, chief medical information officer, vice president for clinical informatics and associate director of the Duke Center for Health Informatics. The initiative, required by federal legislation, will fully digitize all past, present and future patient records in one database. Benefits include greater patient access to their own records and the ability to share the information across health systems. “It’s a single system that covers really all aspects of clinical care,” Ferranti said. “That means that patient [information] is consistent across the enterprise.” Duke is using Epic Systems Corporation’s Epic software—the leading electronic medical health records system—to implement the new system DUHS has renamed Maestro Care. The overhaul will cost $700 million over seven years, Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of DUHS, said in September.
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A student rehearses for the November Dances 2011, which will occur Friday and Saturday in Reynolds Theater. November Dances is a Duke Dance Program production.
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Expert refutes notion of middle class stagnation by Katya Prosvirkina THE CHRONICLE
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George Mason University professor Don Boudreaux speaks on the prospects of the middle class Thursday.
The state of the middle class isn’t as hopeless as public opinion sometimes indicates, one expert said. The Duke chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian organization present at many U.S. law schools, hosted Don Boudreaux, professor of economics at George Mason University, for a discussion about the quality of life among the American middle class Thursday. In his remarks, Boudreaux said he counters the media’s prevailing notion that economic situation of the American middle class is stagnant. He noted how many analysts argue that the quality of life for the middle class improved until the mid-1970s but then plateaued—a claim he believes is just a manipulation of data. “You’re trying to be lawyers, you’re in a skeptic business,” Boudreaux said at the start of the presentation. “As a lawyer you can tell any story you want with your data but so can anyone else.” Federalist Society President Phil Aubart, a second-year law student, said the group strives to give students the opportunity to hear alternative opinions. “Many of the law schools all over the country are very
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liberal,” Aubart said. “The Society is interested in bringing a different point of view to these schools to show students both sides of arguments.” Throughout his remarks, Boudreaux cited various statistics that reflect the strength and growth of the middle class. Real gross domestic product per capita, for example, grew by 80 percent between 1976 and 2006, he said. He supported his claims by comparing household income, hourly wages and the price of common goods. The most commonly cited statistic supporting middle class stagnation is that the median household income has grown only 18 percent between 1976 and 2006, Boudreaux said. He noted, however, that when this statistic is adjusted for inflation and put in terms of other indexes, the growth is markedly higher. Using a personal consumption expenditure deflator, for example, demonstrates a 26 percent growth in median household income. And toward the other extreme, the Boskin condition—which tends to vastly overstate the rate of inflation—shows a 60 percent increase. He also noted that when considering economic growth, SEE STAGNATION ON PAGE 6
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