• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Health / Medicine / Research seeks to help doctors decide when to take a patient’s keys

Research seeks to help doctors decide when to take a patient’s keys

September 2, 2003 By admin

Researchers at the University of Iowa Hospitals are trying to give doctors a better gauge on when a patient is no longer capable of driving. U-of-I neurology professor Matthew Rizzo is using a driving simulator to try and give doctors a set standard to make judgments on when an illness or injury has impaired a patient’s driving ability. He says they’re studying people with neurological disorders like Alzheimers Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke or head injury to see how the weaknesses in thinking and vision brought on by their medical problems impact certain driving tasks. Doctor Rizzo says up until now, it’s been a subjective judgment call made by doctors and patients. He says the family and patient often can’t say if there’s a driving problem, and the patient may sometimes have an impairment they don’t know about. He says this can be measured objectively in the simulator. Rizzo says the simulator is an actual car, a blue Saturn that sits in a basement room in the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Rizzo says the simulator uses cameras and electronic sensors on the brakes and steering wheel to test how well patients with certain conditions handle various driving situations. Rizzo says the results give doctors some solid information in determining if a patient should drive the car or park it.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Health / Medicine Tagged With: University of Iowa

Featured Stories

Exhibit features lesser known works of Grant Wood

Testing finds 21 new CWD cases in deer

It may become a crime in Iowa to use fake urine in workplace drug tests

February trending 18 degrees below average temperature

Iowa House Education Committee votes to end tenure at UI, ISU, UNI

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Drake falls to No. 20 Loyola in MVC Championship

Confusion at MVC Tournament as UNI exits prior to quarterfinal round game

Iowa State looks to avoid winless Big-12 season

New look and new format at girls’ state basketball

Youngstown State takes action against assistant football coach

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2021 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC