Several of this weeks top stories describe glaring patient safety offenses. Patient safety can be, unfortunately, a second or third tier priority, and may take a back seat to budgets.

Growing up is a tough business. Safety is constantly on the radar; questions seem incessant; solutions can be elusive; and consistency appears improbable. But after 18 or so years, the end result more than justifies the inputs. The similarities between shepherding a toddler to teen years and beyond and managing an imaging modality from near universal utility to safe, targeted use are striking.

Women are interested in undergoing in screening mammography in a retail healthcare setting, according to a survey published in the October issue of Academic Radiology. Respondents cited proximity to home, free and convenient parking and more convenient operating hours as reasons for their preference for an alternate location.

As medical journalists, we attempt to be conscientious to try to cover the appropriate clinical studies and updates on practice management considerations from the professional societies that could have direct impact on clinical practice for physicians. However, market trends and real-life registry data show that physicians are quite hesitant to change their practice patterns, in spite of new evidence on better, safer technologies and drugs.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are teaming up to expand access to healthcare for veterans living in rural areas. Private hospitals and clinics are joining VA facilities in the collaboration supported by nearly $1 million in grants.

Despite declining death rates, cancer has surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death among Hispanics in the U.S., according to a report from the American Cancer Society.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has granted a five-year, $7.1 million grant to the Molecular Imaging Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to develop ways to study cancer and other disorders by monitoring the activity of cells and proteins inside the body.

The FDA has approved the production and use of Choline C 11 Injection, a PET imaging agent used to help detect recurrent prostate cancer.