From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Elephas Biosciences Corporation has joined a new research partnership with the University of Louisville exploring methods for treating various cancers.
The Madison-based company recently announced the partnership, which is focused on a form of “combination therapy” that includes surgery and immunotherapy components. It’s being applied in treating three cancers: colorectal, liver and pancreatic, the release shows.
The university will use the Elephas live tissue platform for predicting immunotherapy response to assess live tumor specimens through multiple research trials.
Elephas points to a “critical need” for real-time response data for immunotherapies, noting just one in five cancer patients benefits from these treatments.
Dr. Robert Martin, vice chair for the university’s surgery department and the director of its Surgical Oncology Research Laboratory, says integrating the Elephas platform into the lab will “advance a more personalized approach” to treating cancer.
“Advanced stage colorectal, liver, and pancreatic cancers remain extraordinarily challenging to treat, and precision tools that help tailor therapy to each patient’s tumor biology are essential to improving outcomes and ultimately enhancing the lives of patients,” Martin said.
See more below in the release.
— Dem lawmakers today argued a bill to establish minimum nurse staffing ratios would address the root causes of the state’s health care worker shortage by combating stress, heavy workloads and understaffing.
Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, held a Capitol press conference today with fellow Dems and the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. They said 138,000 nurses left the profession between 2022 and 2024 nationally, according to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
Larson said safe staffing ratios will reduce turnover, increase patient safety, reduce readmission of patients, length of stay and errors. He argued the changes would also be “cost neutral” for those reasons.
In response to the possibility of some areas of the state, such as rural areas with smaller pools of workers to choose from, struggling to meet staffing requirements, Larson said part of the issue is ensuring nurses’ needs are being heard.
“Part of it is they, in facilities all over the state, they have ground them down without hearing their concerns so they’re leaving the profession,” Larson said, adding health care facilities are making decisions based on “what’s better for their bottom lines” over what’s good for patients.
He argued overworking of nurses, stress and burnout are to blame for staffing shortages.
The Nurse Staffing and Patient Protection Act began circulating for cosponsorship today. The Assembly adjourned for the session late last week. Last session’s version of the legislation did not receive a hearing in either chamber.
Ruthie Malis, a hematology, oncology and cellular therapy nurse, spoke in support of the proposal.
She said she watched fellow nurses struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic with a lack of staffing and resources while doing her clinical rotations for nursing school and working nights as a certified nursing assistant, “all while hospitals had record profits and bonuses for their executives, but no raises for nurses.”
“The system saw in that time how much they could profit off of shortstaffing, cutting back on resources and abusing and manipulating nurses’ compassion and it has not turned back since,” Malis said.
The bill would establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for hospitals and require hospitals to develop and adhere to a staffing plan for registered nurses approved by a nurse staffing committee, with fines of $25,000 or more for failing to submit a plan to the Department of Health Services on time.
It would also:
*Give nurses the right to refuse an assignment if it would compromise patient safety or their nursing license;
*Prohibit hospitals from requiring registered nurses to work overtime with certain exceptions, such as if they are involved in an ongoing surgical procedure or working in a critical care unit; and
*Provide protections aimed at preventing retaliation against nurses who exercise rights named in the bill.
GOP legislative leaders did not immediately return requests for comment on the proposal.
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