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2021 is on pace to be America’s deadliest year of gun violence in the last two decades. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed this year alone, according to CBS News. With an increase in gun violence comes an increase in child and teen shooting victims.  According to TIME, experts attribute …

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend. “First and foremost, if you are unvaccinated, we would recommend not traveling,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House COVID-19 Response Team …

There is a lack of diversity among healthcare professionals in the United States. Healthcare organizations must improve diversity to ensure that all people are represented in the healthcare workforce. Doing so has a positive impact not only on the organization but also on patients and surrounding communities.  According to the …

Physician leadership is critical for better patient outcomes, clinical performance and professional satisfaction. A successful leader is someone who has goals and is able to motivate those around them to work toward achieving those goals. In order to achieve these goals, Doctors must possess key qualities that are essential for …

American Medical Association— Patients of color often seek care from doctors who look like them, but they may have to wait a long time for that opportunity. According to William McDade, MD, PhD., Medical schools need to aggressively recruit a more diverse community of medical students—beginning as early as high …

JAMA Surgery — During the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing masks has become necessary, especially within health care. However, to our knowledge, the consequences of mask wearing on communication between surgeons and patients have not been studied. Patients reported improved communication when surgeons donned a clear mask, suggesting that not seeing the …

Yale Medicine experts discuss the highly contagious (and possibly more severe) SARS-CoV-2 virus strain, Delta. Here are five things you need to know about the Delta variant. 1. Delta is more contagious than the other virus strains. Delta is the name for the B.1.617.2. variant, a SARS-CoV-2 mutation that originally surfaced …

CHICAGO – Furthering the American Medical Association’s (AMA) commitment to racial justice and equity within the medical profession and society as a whole, and building on the recent release of its strategic plan to embed racial justice and advance health equity, the AMA adopted policy during the Special Meeting of …

June is men’s health month and hospitals are taking this opportunity to raise awareness about preventative care. One hundred years ago, men lived longer than women by an average of one year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But today, the average woman lives six years longer …

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation developed the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) to meet a deep and urgent need on the part of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans: the need for equitable, knowledgeable, sensitive and welcoming health care, free from discrimination. Many healthcare institutions are embracing and adopting LGBTQ+ …

Healthcare providers throughout the nation are making big changes to the waiting-room experience.  Redesigning waiting areas is a way to attract patients back into offices and keep them safe. Dak Kopec, Ph.D., an environmental psychologist and an associate professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas envisions “pods,” which would effectively …

Before the pandemic, mental health initiatives for medical staff were put on the back burner. Many studies reported high Physician burnout rates and experiences of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a feeling of low personal accomplishment.  COVID-19 has had a major impact on an already stressed field. So now more than …

A growing movement of current and future Doctors with disabilities is changing the culture of medicine. Lisa Meeks, a Psychologist and Researcher at Michigan Medicine specializing in disabilities in medicine and medical education co-authored a report which found that many Doctors still conceal their disabilities out of fear of stigma …

The United States is facing a shortage of Physicians. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), there could be a shortage of between 54,100 and 139,000 Physicians by 2033. The COVID pandemic has highlighted the heroic care Doctors provide on the frontlines. More people want to make a …

More hospitals are recognizing the power of music in healing and comfort. Many organizations are hiring music Therapists that offer individual and group sessions, along with art and movement therapy to ease pain, expand social connections, and bring peace and comfort to patients. The profession is growing. There are now …

The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows more than 15% of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. It is also reported more than 143 million doses have been administered, over 93 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine and …

Women have made great strides in advancing their careers in medicine, but many experience sexual discrimination in this field. Several women are speaking out and raising awareness about this ongoing issue. Under federal law gender discrimination in which an employee is treated differently or unfairly based on their gender is …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines for those who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love,” said CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, …

In honor of Black History Month, we are celebrating African American Doctors who pioneered and significantly improved medicine in America. Dr. James McCune Smith was the first African-American to obtain a medical degree. He was also the first black person to own and operate a pharmacy in the United States …

Preliminary COVID vaccine data indicates Black Americans have been vaccinated at rates significantly lower than white Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released information on the demographic characteristics of vaccinated people. According to the CDC data, only 5.9% of those vaccinated are Black vs. 62.8% of those vaccinated …

Dr. Cynthia Kudji, originally from Ghana, West Africa was a senior at Tulane University when she became pregnant with her daughter Jasmine. She paused her dreams of becoming a Doctor and started her healthcare career working in a nursing home as a nursing assistant.  Cynthia then went to nursing school …

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) released a report of America’s Doctors in training. The report discusses, race, gender, specialties, and other demographics. According to the report, in 2020, nearly 140,000 medical residents worked in health care systems across the United States. The number of active residents covered in …

Coronavirus hospitalizations are increasing in many rural and less populated areas that were previously relatively unaffected. Doctors and health officials worry that infections will overwhelm small communities that have a short supply of medical resources. “The 20% of the U.S. population that lives in rural areas consists of generally older …

A prominent lawmaker in Indiana is drafting a bill that would require cultural awareness training for the state’s health care professionals. This call for action comes after Dr. Susan Moore died of complications from COVID-19 in late December, after alleging racial bias in her care at IU Health North Hospital. …

Many people are trying to figure out how to celebrate Thanksgiving safely. This holiday could become a national superspreader event since COVID-19 is transmitted by droplets sprayed while talking or breathing heavily in close proximity. Traveling from one hot spot to another, eating with multigenerational family and friends in close …

The U.S. National Institutes of Health is financing research into how the Coronavirus may cause high blood sugars and diabetes. More research is needed to prove, beyond the increasing evidence, that COVID-19 is triggering diabetes on a large scale. Dr. Robert Eckel, President of medicine and science at the American …

Implicit or unconscious bias operates outside of the person’s awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person’s espoused beliefs and values. What is so dangerous about implicit bias is that it automatically seeps into a person’s affect or behavior and is outside of the full awareness of that …

Doctors are urging medical residency programs to include content about health impacts of climate change in curricula. Climate change increases risks of heat-related illness, infections, asthma, mental health disorders, poor perinatal outcomes, adverse experiences from trauma and displacement, and other harms. More numerous and increasingly dangerous natural disasters caused by …

Approximately 1.4 million Americans identify as transgender and gender nonbinary (TGNB). A GLAAD survey from 2017 showed that nearly 12% of millennials identified as TGNB. And a 2020 survey from the Trevor Project found that 1 in 4 LGBTQ youth use pronouns or pronoun combinations that fall outside of the …

In the United States, just 5 percent of active Physicians are Black and only 2 percent are Black women. Research shows patient-provider racial and gender concordance has many benefits. A Black female patient receiving care from a Black female Doctor has more trust, better communication and shared medical decision-making. In …

The infant mortality rate in the United States is more than twice as high for Black infants as it is for white infants. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10.8 deaths per 1,000 live births compared with 4.6 per 1,000 as of 2018. Studies are beginning to …

According to a George Washington University study, researchers found that a majority of states in the U.S. will soon face a shortage of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Doctors as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. According to ABC News, the most recent update finds that 26 states will soon face shortages in ICU Doctors, up from …

COVID-19 vaccine trials have moved into phase three. Two trials were launched in the United States and researchers are looking to enroll 30,000 people for each trial. They are working to ensure that a significant percentage of volunteers come from the places hit hardest. Dr. Sam Oh, Director of Epidemiology for …

Last week the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association and American Hospital Association, wrote a letter to Senate leaders asking for Congress to allocate as part of the next COVID-19 relief package at least an additional $100 billion to the emergency relief fund to provide direct funding to front line …

Many medical schools are making the decision for residency and fellowship interviews to be done online. Quickly adapting to a virtual interview process, during a pandemic, is going to present challenges. The change to virtual interviewing creates challenges for programs and their applicants but, some experts and participants believe if done …

Doctors are calling on healthcare systems to take the lead advocating against police brutality, to diversify their work forces to better reflect their patient population, and to incorporate addressing racial health disparities as part of Physician training. Physicians writing in the New England Journal of Medicine discuss how systemic racism …

The Diversity in Medicine report by the Association of American Medical Colleges said, 5.8% of Physicians in 2018 identified themselves as Hispanic and 5% identified as African American. These proportions are an underrepresentation of the national makeup of the U.S., since in 2019 Hispanics/Latinx and African Americans made up an …

Doctors are at high risk for burnout. According to the American Medical Association, Physician burnout is a long‑term stress reaction characterized by depersonalization. This can include: Cynical or negative attitudes toward patients. Emotional exhaustion. A feeling of decreased personal achievement. Lack of empathy for patients. Here are some TED talks that …

Dr. Cynthia Kudji and daughter, Dr. Jasmine Kudji are making history together as the first-ever mother-daughter duo to graduate from medical school at the same time and match at the same hospital. According to The University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS), Cynthia and Jasmine, both matched at LSU Health in Louisiana …

Many people are home during the COVID-19 pandemic and are using their time to safely enjoy the warmer weather and venture outdoors to parks, reservations and hiking trails. But with the arrival of warmer temperatures that means tick season is here. According to Dr. Romandine Kratz, deer ticks caused more than …

Hospitals are preparing to start performing elective surgeries again since the Coronavirus outbreak began. Doctors are starting to perform elective surgeries again but it doesn’t mean everything is back to normal inside hospitals. Lifebridge Health chief clinical officer Dr. Matthew Poffenroth said, “We’re gradually going towards that direction but we’re …

Under normal circumstances a career in Medicine is stressful. The physical demands, psychological strain and ineffective work processes can lead to burnout, a condition that affects up to 50% of Physicians in the U.S. Burnout cannot describe what Doctors, Nurses, Paramedics and others are experiencing as COVID-19 overwhelms the health …

Doctors are channeling their inventive side to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Ben Pettigrove, a Tulsa Physician, heard about Doctors and Nurses dying after becoming infected during the process of intubation so he designed a plexiglass box that would contain the virus. After you intubate somebody you would leave it on …

Some hospitals are implementing virtual reality simulations to train Doctors and Nurses with expertise in other areas such as knee surgery or neurology and retired professionals reentering the medical field. At Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, more than 300 doctors have learned skills, such as how to assess a patient’s …

The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency clearance to the first in-home test for the coronavirus. The test is a nasal swab kit sold by LabCorp. According to the FDA, LabCorp had submitted data showing the home test is as safe and accurate as a sample collection at a doctor’s …

According to data shared with CNBC, emergency room visits are down by about 50% across New York City Health, Providence St. Joseph Health, and other locations. Trending across the U.S. people are staying clear of hospitals for sometimes necessary and emergency care, even for mild heart attacks. Physicians worry that patients …

Emily Phillips, a mother of three from Celina, Texas, posted on her Facebook asking if anybody had an RV her family could borrow. Her husband is a Doctor and needs to be quarantined from the rest of the family when he is off duty during the coronavirus crisis. Emily Phillips told …

Health care workers nationwide have found themselves on the frontline of an unpredictable battle against the Coronavirus. Many Physicians families need help with child care now that day cares have closed or they need help with getting their children’s school work done since schools are also closed. Some have found …

Being a first responder during a crisis is challenging but rewarding work. To take care of their patients, healthcare providers must be feeling well and thinking clearly. Responders experience high rates of stress during a crisis. According to the CDC, when stress builds up it can cause: Burnout – feelings of …

Covid-19 hospitalizations are increasing, as expected. Doctors, Nurses and health care experts are using television, radio and social media to sound alarms about supply shortages and other serious problems. ER Doctor Stephen Anderson in Auburn, Washington, said on ABC’s “World News Tonight”, “We need ventilators. I have ventilators this morning, …

Medical schools are increasing education on LGBTQ health issues and pushing to recruit more LGBTQ medical students. Patients often get better care when treated by Doctors more like them. People who identify as other than heterosexual can feel marginalized and will be less likely to seek medical care, contributing to …

The U.S. healthcare system is facing a shortage of Physicians in many medical specialties and practice areas. But the problem is especially severe in obstetrics and gynecology. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) projects a shortage of up to 8,800 Obstetricians and Gynecologists (OB-GYNs) by 2020, and a …

Ronald M. Epstein, M.D., Professor of medicine at the University of Rochester in New York, and a family and palliative care Physician, believes mindfulness is a powerful tool for medical professionals in dealing with personal stress, being more compassionate, and reducing clinical errors. “Anyone whose work involves immense human suffering …

Burnout is a major obstacle for Physicians that affects their happiness, relationships, career, and the care they provide. It has been described as long-term, unresolvable job-related stress that leads to exhaustion, cynicism, feelings of detachment from one’s job responsibilities, and lack of a sense of personal accomplishment. A new triennial …

A JAMA Viewpoint says, Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have long been considered inconsequential pathogens, causing the “common cold” in otherwise healthy people. However, in the 21st century, 2 highly pathogenic HCoVs—severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)—emerged from animal reservoirs to cause global epidemics with alarming …

The United States is suffering from a growing shortage of psychiatrists and other mental health providers. It is particularly dire in rural regions. 1 in 5 US adults and kids have a mental health or substance abuse issue according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical …

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at about 100 million patient visits to 155,000 U.S. physicians and found they spend an average of 16 minutes and 14 seconds per patient encounter using EHRs, with chart review (33%), documentation (24%) and ordering (17%) accounting for most of the …

Rural communities face many obstacles to accessing quality healthcare. Economic factors, cultural and social differences, educational shortcomings, and the isolation of living in remote areas all conspire to create health care disparities and struggles for rural Americans to lead normal, healthy lives. According to the National Rural Health Association, rural …

A national research study by Doximity, on the 2019 labor market for Doctors, showed a 5 percent increase in job opportunities for Physicians in the U.S. since 2018. Additional findings from the study include: The top 5 metros where Doctors are most in demand: El Paso, Texas Miami, Florida Cleveland, …

According to new data published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the United States will see a shortage of up to nearly 122,000 Physicians by 2032 as demand for Physicians continues to grow faster than supply. An estimated 44,000 of those Doctors are primary care Physicians (PCP). Even …

Hispanics make up the largest minority group in the U.S. with between 17% and 20% of the total population. But they make up only about 5% of the physician workforce, according to the American Medical Association. In the past 30 years, the number of Hispanic/Latino U.S. physicians per 100,000 people …

Clinical empathy was once dismissively known as “good bedside manner” and traditionally regarded as far less important than technical ability. But as the healthcare industry continues to focus on better patient experiences and higher satisfaction, Physicians work to improve their communication skills and empathy is a key factor of good …

Becoming a correctional medicine Physician is an interesting option that many are considering. It is ultimately the same as other Physician positions with excellent salaries, good job growth, and great benefits, except you are providing care to patients in a different and unique setting. By working in a correctional facility, …

A small but growing number of Physicians are getting their medical licenses in all 50 states. Telemedicine will allow these Doctors to treat patients in the most remote areas. Telemedicine means Doctors provide medical consultation through the web, smartphone applications, and video conferences.  But this practice requires Physicians to have …

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the number of African American men enrolled in U.S. medical schools declined from 1978 to 2014, from 542 to 515. Medical schools like the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, are using a video outreach campaign to help inspire underrepresented minority …

Most people look forward to the day when they can retire. But surveys show Physicians aren’t too excited about leaving the profession. The average retirement age in the United States is 63. According to a CompHealth survey, on average, respondents intend to retire at 68 years old. The U.S. Census …

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine (UCSF) released a publication that explores the current state of medical education for medical students and physicians with disabilities. This report is designed to increase awareness and understanding of the challenges and opportunities …

Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students remain underrepresented in medical schools, despite increasing efforts to create a diverse physician workforce, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “Recent studies have shown a steady increase in the enrollment of nonwhite …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently investigating 193 cases of the lung disease reported in 22 states. (CA, CT, IL, IN, IA, MN, MI, NC, NJ, NM, NY, PA, TX, UT, WI, and additional states pending verification). These were reported between June 28th and August 20th of …

A team of doctors at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, successfully created the world’s first voice box reconstruction. Cooper has breathed through a tracheostomy, a hole in his throat that extends into his windpipe since he was born because he was diagnosed with congenital high airway obstruction syndrome, …

Physician mothers feel significant pressure in balancing careers and family especially since many institutions don’t have a culture that is ideal for Doctors who have personal care-giving and parenting responsibilities. “When women take time off for maternity leave, which they absolutely should, … because institutions don’t have sound policies about …

In order to provide the best possible patient care, all members of the healthcare team must work in a collaborative manner. Physicians and Nurses are at the forefront of providing care, so their partnership is imperative. Nurses and Physicians can both improve their partnership by trying a few of these …

Social media in healthcare has exploded. It is transforming patient care as it spreads through many facets of healthcare delivery. A paper by JMIR said that nearly 90 percent of older adults have used social media to seek and share health information. Most hospitals, physicians and even insurance companies now …

Physicians have a highly respected career and it takes a huge commitment and hard work to achieve a future in medicine. Besides IQ, what qualities are needed to be a great Doctor? Compassion Doctors need heart, they aren’t robots. Patients respond better to Physicians who are empathetic and engaged. Compassion …

There have been efforts to try and increase the number of minority ethnic groups in science and medicine but, the amount of African American men pursuing and obtaining degrees in such fields has reached a historic low. According to NBC news, in 1986 57 percent of black medical school graduates …

Hospitals are raising spirits and decreasing anxiety in their younger patients by having them drive their own mini car to surgery. Some of the mini cars are equipped with a stereo, which has a variety of preloaded music and an MP3 player, as well as functioning headlights, taillights and dashboard …

Amid growing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States, the medical profession isn’t growing with it.  Between 1978 and 2008, 88 percent of graduates of U.S. medical schools were white or Asian. Blacks, American Indians and Hispanics together made up the remaining 12 percent. According to the Washington Post, On average, black men in America …

Advances in gene therapy are finally yielding new options that are revolutionizing the treatment of inherited retinal degenerations.Kellogg Eye Center has begun treating patients with a new gene therapy for children and adults with inherited forms of vision loss. The therapy is called Luxturna, and was approved by the U.S. Food and …

According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke or high blood pressure are some of the cardiovascular diseases that nearly half of U.S adults have. The association’s annual report Heart and Stroke Statistics, showed deaths from cardiovascular disease are on the rise again, with 840,678 deaths recorded in 2016, up from …

Zainab Mughal is two years old and battling cancer. She has some of the rarest blood and needs transfusions from seven to 10 donors. Only four have been found. According to OneBlood, only people of Pakistani, Indian or Iranian descent who have the same type of blood as Zainab, whose …

An Evening with Black Males in Medicine event was intended to provide outreach, networking and mentorship. According to an article by Medium.com, 12 black male Physicians , all either graduates of Temple or in practice there ,  shared their wisdom with 21 aspiring Physicians at the undergraduate and post-baccalaureate levels whose questions ranged from …

An experimental peanut allergy treatment is ready for U.S. Food and Drug Administration review. According to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, A phase three trial included 551 people, most ages 4 to 17 with a history of life-threatening reactions after eating peanuts. Participants were given the experimental drug derived from …

According to a Reuters article, A total of 25 young patients with compromised immune systems have been confirmed with adenovirus infections at a New Jersey rehabilitation center, state health officials said. Over the weekend a ninth child was confirmed dead from the virus at Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. “These children were all largely …

According to a study by The Lancet, the number of births by cesarean section is on the rise, climbing from about 16 million (12.1% of all births) in 2000 to 29.7 million (21.1% of all births) in 2015. The study’s first author, Dr. Ties Boerma, told CNN, “We knew that globally, C-section rates …

ReCell, a regenerative skin-cell solution, is the first treatment of its kind approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for growing back skin. “You just spray it on the patient, on the burned area,” said Chris Houchens of the federal government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, which helped …

According to new data published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the United States could see a shortage of up to 120,000 Physicians by 2030. The report aggregates the shortages in four broad categories: primary care, medical specialties, surgical specialties, and other specialties. By 2030, the study estimates a shortfall …

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) often live with uncertainty because it’s hard to predict how quickly the disease will progress and how disabling it might become. Magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs) have long been used to assist in diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS). But now these tests are providing information that can …

Katie Stubblefield was just 18 when she attempted suicide with a .308-caliber hunting rifle. She survived, but the injury resulted in the loss of her face. Now at the age of 21, Katie has become the youngest person in the world to receive a full face transplant. The complex procedure …

Racial, socioeconomic, and international diversity aren’t just nice things to have within America’s Physician workforce. They can be a difference between life and death.  According to a study from researchers at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, patients treated by foreign medical graduates had better 30-day survival rates than patients treated by …

Medscape annually compiles the highest earning areas in medicine, surveying more than 20,000 physicians currently practicing medicine in the United States and comparing the data was against other studies, including one from the American Medical Association. See what areas of medicine earn physicians top dollar below. 1. Plastic Surgery ($501,000) The American Society …

Microsoft has been working on health-related initiatives for years, but is now bringing its efforts together into a new Microsoft Healthcare team.  It’s a bigger effort to create cloud-based patient profiles, push doctors to the cloud, and eventually have artificial intelligence analyzing data. The software maker has hired two industry veterans to …

Army Lieutenant Colonel and Emergency Physician, Drew Morgan, will be one of two American astronauts heading to the International Space Station next year. He will launch aboard a Russian Soyuz 59S rocket and spacecraft in July 2019 as a member of Expedition 60/61. Morgan, who has ties to various Fort Bragg …

According to researchers, a new A.I computer can diagnose skin cancer more accurately than doctors. The team, from Germany, the U.S. and France, behind the study published in the journal Annals of Oncology calibrated the specially programed device deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) by showing it over 100,000 images of malignant and benign skin cancers, and inputting a diagnosis …

A survey was conducted by HIMSS Analytics, which is associated with HIMSS, the parent company of Healthcare Finance News and Vocera, an IT company that offers a clinical communications platform. Physicians and nurses report a high level of stress associated with interruptions from texts, alerts, alarms, pages and phone calls, all having …

Vertis Boyce had been on the kidney donation wait list for 8 1/2 years. She got the call about a potential life-changing surgery. The donated organ had a backstory that a doctor would need to explain. “The backstory was that this was the second time it had been transplanted. So …

Many patients don’t take their blood pressure medicine they’ve been prescribed because of the side effects. Those patients also lie to their doctors about taking the medications. There is now a drug test that can tell whether a patient is taking the prescribed medication. NPR reported on the new equipment and what …

Science Daily– Surgeons at Penn Medicine are using a fluorescent dye that makes cancerous cells glow in hopes of identifying suspicious lymph nodes during head and neck cancer procedures. Led by Jason G. Newman, MD, FACS, an associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University …

Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, released America’s 50 and 100 Best Hospitals for 2018. The recipients of the America’s 50 and 100 Best Hospitals Awards™ — which represent the top 1% and 2% of hospitals in the nation, respectively — demonstrate superior clinical outcomes …

According to NPR, the life expectancy of Native Americans in some states is 20 years shorter than the national average. There are a number of reasons why this is.

This article written by Modern Healthcare brings up a tough topic to discuss. According to one of the nation’s leading medical journals, Doctors need to take a more active role in addressing guns and gun violence with their patients. Do you agree? That could mean requiring physicians to learn more …

This post was contributed by Jennifer Hanscom, CEO of the Washington State Medical Association and a board member of the Physicians Foundation.

As a physician, do you have a responsibility to intervene when the health or wellness of a colleague appears to have become compromised? This and other important questions are covered in an education module from the AMA. Produced by the AMA’s Ethics Group, the module, “Understanding the Code of Medical …

By Lisa Sanders, M.D. via nytimes.com  On Thursday we challenged Well readers to unravel the case of a 67-year-old healthy retiree who suddenly developed knife-like chest pain and a worsening cough. Maybe this case was too easy because more than a quarter of you figured it out. The correct diagnosis is: Eosinophilic pneumonia, caused …

Rae Ellen Bichell via NPR Until very recently it was thought that just one bacterium was to blame for causing Lyme disease in humans. But it turns out that a second, related bug can cause it too. In 2013, during routine testing of bacterial DNA floating around in the blood …

By Mary Brophy Marcus via www.cbsnews.com  New questions are being raised about the clinical trial of a widely used heart drug, and critics are calling for an independent investigation, after a medical device used during the study was later found to be faulty and recalled. The clinical trial tested a blood-thinning medication called …

By Barbara Feder Ostrov via www.npr.org A health care startup made a wild pitch to Cara Waller, CEO of the Newport Orthopedic Institute. The company said it could get patients more engaged with their care by automating physician empathy. It “almost made me nauseous,” she said. How can you automate something …

By Franco Ordonez via www.miamiherald.com An obscure mosquito-borne virus that has already prompted warnings in Central America to avoid getting pregnant and is thought responsible for thousands of birth defects in Brazil has now reached the United States, according to health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said U.S. …

By Kristen Schorsch via www.modernhealthcare.com Kidneys are by far the most in-demand organ for transplants. Yet Chicago-area hospitals are putting down their scalpels and taking on fewer cases. In 2015, local transplant centers collectively performed nearly two-thirds fewer kidney transplants than they did just five years ago. Meanwhile, the waiting list …

Thomson Reuters via www.cbc.ca Brazil’s health ministry said on Monday pregnant women should consult their doctors before travelling to Brazil, but that no other travel restrictions were necessary because of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The ministry said in a statement that a travel warning from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reinforced measures already …

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD via www.medicalnewstoday.com A patient with a common cold should not be prescribed antibiotics, so say two medical bodies in the US, who – in a bid to reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics – have joined forces to advise about appropriate prescribing of antibiotics for acute respiratory tract …

Aaron E. Carroll via www.nytimes.com In my first year of training as a doctor, I knew something was wrong with me. I had trouble sleeping. I had difficulty feeling joy. I was prone to crying at inopportune times. Even worse, I had trouble connecting with patients. I felt as if I …

By PRACTICE FUSION Say goodbye to the server, the future of health technology lies in the cloud. Thanks to advances in security and reliability, affordable web-based technology is more popular with physicians than ever. A recent Black Book Rankings study found that 7 out 10 small medical practices have now switched to a …

www.news-medical.net To determine patient eligibility for heart transplant, the International Society for Heart Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) maintains a list of criteria, first issued in 2006, that acts as a guideline for physicians. A major 10-year update has now been issued and published in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, which …

Honor Whiteman via www.medicalnewstoday.com The new year is here, and most of us are likely to have made at least one resolution for 2016. But while the majority of our goals for the coming year will incorporate improvements in physical health – such as hitting the gym and losing weight – …

  GILLIAN MOHNEY via http://abcnews.go.com Known as the “Las Dos Marias,” formerly conjoined twin sisters Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Alvarez arrived at the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA to bring cheer to the doctors and nurses who helped separate them more than 13 years ago. The identical twins were a …

Anna Almendrala via www.huffingtonpost.com Women who take antidepressants during the late stages of pregnancy have an 87 percent increased risk of giving birth to a child who will be diagnosed with autism, according to a new study from researchers in Montreal. And for women who take the most common kind of …

Austin Frakt via www.nytimes.com Can machines outperform doctors? Not yet. But in some areas of medicine, they can make the care doctors deliver better. Humans repeatedly fail where computers — or humans behaving a little bit more like computers — can help. Even doctors, some of the smartest and best-trained professionals, …

Dan Mangan via www.cnbc.com Primary care doctors are the first line of defense in the American health-care system. But a new report suggests that many of them feel they aren’t equipped to handle their most challenging patients. Up to one in four U.S. primary care doctors believe their practices aren’t well …

By Megan Thielking via www.statnews.com Newly minted doctors embarking on the intense clinical training known as residency are at unusually high risk for depression. Nearly 29 percent of residents worldwide will experience depression during their residencies, according to a meta-analysis published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That’s four times higher …

Written by Yvette Brazier via www.medicalnewstoday.com Researchers propose that for optimum safety, 19% of births should be by cesarian section, according to research published in JAMA. The cesarean section (C-section) is the most commonly performed operation worldwide. Rates of cesarean delivery vary widely from country to country, ranging from 0.6% in South Sudan …

Dave Chase via www.Forbes.com There is no better place to generate staggeringly high bills than at a hospital. For entirely rational reasons, healthcare providers invested vast sums of money on IT systems optimized to maximize billing opportunities. Unfortunately for hospital-based health systems, this is the polar opposite of what will …

King’s College London via www.sciencedaily.com Women with breast cancer who subsequently had a recorded diagnosis of depression had a 45% higher risk of death from all causes, according to a study led by King’s College London. The researchers suggest this finding could help to target and support those women most at …

Kim Zetter via www.wired.com  THE INTERNET OF Things has introduced security issues to hundreds of devices that previously were off-limits to hackers, turning innocuous appliances like refrigerators and toasters into gateways for data theft and spying. But most alarmingly, the Internet of Things has created a whole new set of security vulnerabilities with life-threatening …

Farah Khan via www.thedailybeast.com I cannot even count the number of times that I have been told by medical faculty members that nowadays “residents have it SO easy.” Their tone indicates that they have clearly suffered more terrible work hours and conditions than any resident today, so complaints from our end …

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD via www.medicalnewstoday.com Scientists have for the first time uncovered the role played by cyclin – a protein important for cell division – in driving the growth of the malaria parasite in mosquitoes. The team, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham in the …

A volunteer firefighter badly burned in a 2001 blaze has received the most extensive face transplant ever, covering his skull and much of his neck, a New York hospital announced Monday. The surgery took place in August at the NYU Langone Medical Center. The patient, 41-year-old Patrick Hardison, is still undergoing physical …

By Christine Blank via formularyjournal.modernmedicine.com FDA approved Genvoya, marketed by Gilead Sciences, to treat HIV-1 infection. Here are the top 5 things to know about Genvoya: The drug is a fixed-dose combination tablet containing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF). “Today’s approval of a fixed dose combination containing a new form of tenofovir …

By Keith L. Martin via medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com Any major change in an industry requires strong leadership. In the U.S., healthcare has undergone a significant transformation in the last decade and the evolution is far from complete. That said, among all the stakeholders involved in the medical field, physicians are the most likely candidates …

Katie Rice via www.dailytarheel.com Medical students and faculty talked about diversity’s central role in patient care at “Doctors for Diversity,” an event sponsored by the UNC School of Medicine and the Whitehead Medical Society in the Medical Biomolecular Research Building Tuesday. The event was organized by student members of the Resident Diversity Initiative and …

By: Katy Mena-Berkley via www.mdnews.com Religious institutions and organizations such as Doctors Without Borders have long facilitated physicians’ provision of philanthropic medical care and other services in areas impacted by disease, poverty and war. The providers come from myriad backgrounds: They are anesthesiologists, surgeons, OB/GYNs, psychiatrists and practitioners from virtually every …

By Robert Preidt via health.usnews.com Dirtier air, heat stress, greater exposure to Lyme disease — these and other threats to children will increase because of climate change, a leading group of U.S. pediatricians warns. Doctors and policy makers must take steps to protect youngsters from the hazardous effects of climate change, …

www.cbsnews.com It’s official: Ham, sausage and other processed meats can lead to colon, stomach and other cancers – and red meat is probably cancer-causing, too. While doctors have long warned against eating too much meat, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency gave the most definitive response yet Monday about its relation to …

By Merrill Matthews via www.philly.com California has joined four other states allowing physicians to write lethal prescriptions that dying patients can administer to themselves. Oregon was the first, blazing that trail in 1997. But with only five state “victories” in nearly 20 years, you can’t really call physician-assisted suicide legislation a …

Tara Haelle via www.forbes.com It’s been just over four decades since fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) was first described, yet contradictory advice to women about drinking any alcohol at all during pregnancy continues to confuse and frustrate women. Is one glass a day okay? Or once a week maybe? One a month? …

Written by Brian Krans via www.healthline.com New research shows that primary care providers are the only professionals treating mental health issues for one-third of children. More than a third of children who receive treatment for mental health issues get it from their primary care providers, such as a family doctor or …

via www.sunnyskyz.com Two to three nights a week, Dr. Jim Withers rubbed dirt in his hair and muddied up his clothes before walking the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, searching for the very people he was trying to emulate. For 23 years, Withers has been searching for the homeless – under …

Written by Gina Kolata via www.nytimes.com  A well-to-do cancer patient is nearing the end of her treatments. During an office visit, she says to her doctor, “I can’t thank you enough for the care you provided.” Should the doctor simply accept the patient’s gratitude — or gently suggest a way for her to show …

Patti Neighmond via www.npr.org On any given day, about half a million children are living in foster care. They’ve been removed from violent or abusive households; many suffer physical and mental health problems that have gone untreated. Their need is acute but the response is often dangerously slow, according to a …

Dr. Rani G. Whitfield via www.huffingtonpost.com  A doctor-patient relationship based on trust and effective communication is key to successfully managing the physical and mental health of my clients. Obtaining a thorough health history, narrowing down the possible diagnoses, ordering the correct test, stressing compliance with treatment regimens, and emphasis on follow …

By Jerry Shultz via healthcare-executive-insight.advanceweb.com While a great deal of attention rightfully focuses on patient engagement, many healthcare executives in both provider and payer organizations are also focusing on the impact of provider engagement on the success of effective population health management. When providers do not have access to relevant information, …

From Mayo Clinic News Network via www.sanluisobispo.com Social media has become a vital communications tool in the health-care industry. More than 40 percent of consumers say that information on social media affects the way they deal with their health, and another 41 percent of people said social media would affect their …

By Shefali Luthra via CNN A doctor’s training hasn’t historically focused on sensitivity. And too often, while juggling heavy workloads and high stress, they can be viewed as brusque, condescending or inconsiderate. A 2011 study, for instance, found barely more than half of recently hospitalized patients said they experienced compassion when …

Liz Szabo via www.usatoday.com Doctors should screen teenagers for major depression, a federal advisory group said Monday, but only if their young patients have access to mental health professionals who can diagnose them, provide treatment and monitor their progress. That’s a big “if.” Mental health services are in short supply for anyone, …

Rajeev S Kapoor via www.linkedin.com In the past two weeks, we have delved into why physicians are now leaving their professions and taking their children with them. We have seen the negative, sobering statistics of patient-doctor relationships with healthcare reform regulations. We have noticed the move of doctors from medicine to …

Alexandra Sifferlin via TIME  Even though it’s important to patients and their families Religion and spirituality are not common topics of discussion in intensive care units (ICUs), and doctors often go out of their way to avoid them—even though religion is often very important to patients and their medical surrogates …

Alissa Katz via Emergency Medicine News: August 2015 – Volume 37 – Issue 8 – p 18–20 You come home from a hard day at work and reach down to feed your cat. Pain suddenly shoots through your lower back, and though it doesn’t radiate to your leg, it hurts. …

Interview conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt via www.news-medical.net What is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)? Currently, the accepted definition of SUDEP is the sudden unexpected witnessed or unwitnessed, non-traumatic and non-drowning death in people with epilepsy, with or without evidence of a seizure. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the known …

Written by James McIntosh via Medical News Today When participating in weight-loss programs, a helpful physician can improve the chances of success for people with obesity, according to the findings of researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD. Their study, published in Patient Education and Counseling, found that obese people participating in …

People with type 1 diabetes who use insulin pumps seem to have a much lower risk of dying from heart disease or stroke prematurely than those who rely on multiple daily injections of insulin, new research suggests. “As done in Sweden at the time of this study, insulin pump treatment …

April Dembosky via www.npr.org Developers of a new video game for your brain say theirs is more than just another get-smarter-quick scheme. Akili, a Northern California startup, insists on taking the game through a full battery of clinical trials so it can get approval from the Food and Drug Administration — …

Written by Julie Corliss originally posted on: www.health.harvard.edu If you’ve ever used the Internet to find a health care provider, chances are you’ve run across doctor rating sites like Healthgrades.com or RateMDs.com. In addition, websites that offer reviews of everything from restaurants to repairmen (such as Yelp and Angie’s List) also feature …

By Stephanie O’Neill via CNN Dr. Kendra Fleagle Gorlitsky recalls the anguish she used to feel performing CPR on elderly, terminally ill patients. “I felt like I was beating up people at the end of their life,” she says. It looks nothing like what people see on TV. In real …

Gillian Mohney http: abcnews.go.com Quicker and faster 3-D printers have allowed not just amazing objects to be created, seemingly out of nothing, but have started to affect how doctors and medical providers treat patients. This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the first 3-D printed pill. …

By Robert D. McFadden www.nytimes.com Dr. Forrest M. Bird, an eccentric aviator and inventor who studied high-altitude breathing problems of World War II pilots and later created medical devices that saved lives and aided thousands of people with respiratory ailments, died on Sunday at his home in Sagle, Idaho. He was …

Sandeep Jauhar www.nytimes.com ONE summer day 14 years ago, when I was a new cardiology fellow, my colleagues and I were discussing the case of an elderly man with worsening chest pains who had been transferred to our hospital to have coronary bypass surgery. We studied the information in his …

Meera Senthilingam CNN She’s the woman who co-discovered HIV in 1983, and won a Nobel Prize for her work. But next month, French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi will retire from her lab. She spoke with CNN at this week’s International AIDS Society Conference, in Vancouver, about activism, the future of HIV and …

Nancy Shute NPR If you’ve got a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit, your first thought is probably not, “Does my child really need that antireflux medication?” But antireflux meds in for newborns topped the list of five overused tests or treatments released Monday as part of the “Choosing Wisely” program. …

AMY DOCKSER MARCUS Wall Street Journal Beyond medical literature; families’ experiences with rare conditions Doctors who treat children with rare conditions sometimes seek guidance from online chat groups where families relate their experiences with the disorders. While gleaning medical information from the Internet is often considered unreliable, doctors may find …

Dike Drummond MD www.prnewswire.com “The epidemic of physician burnout must stop. We’ve packed 1547 hours of one-on-one physician coaching experience into the “Burnout Proof” Mobile APP, so the videos, audios and handouts inside are available to any physician 24/7. This is everything we should have learned in residency about stress …

SCOTT HENSLEY   NPR One of the great successes in the war on cancer has been the steep decline in the death rate from colorectal cancer. Since 1970, the colorectal cancer death rate per 100,000 Americans has been cut in half, falling to 15.1 in 2011 from 29.2 in 1970. Increased screening, …

David K. Kim, MD www.physiciansweekly.com The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently approved the most up-to-date recommendations for adult immunizations. ACIP’s schedule provides a summary of the organization’s key recommendations for using vaccines routinely. Based on three changes in the area of adult immunizations that occurred recently, the CDC’s …

NADIA WHITEHEAD NPR When it comes to dialysis, one method of accessing the blood to clean it gets championed above the rest. But quite a few specialists say there’s not enough evidence to universally support the treatment’s superiority or to run down the other options. “When we talk to [dialysis] …

APRIL DEMBOSKY www.npr.org California is on the brink of passing a law that would require nearly all children to be vaccinated in order to attend school. The bill has cleared most major hurdles, but public health officials have grappled with a strong, vocal opposition along the way. There’s actually a …

Catharine Paddock PhD www.medicalnewstoday.com A study that successfully differentiated patients with pancreatic cancer from those with another pancreatic disease using a new biomarker, could lead to a blood test that detects pancreatic cancer early enough for curative surgery to be feasible. Pancreatic cancer has a very poor survival rate and ranks …

By ALLISON BOND http://well.blogs.nytimes.com I could tell my patient was dying. In the final stage of liver failure, she lay listlessly in her hospital bed, her skin ashen and her eyes dull. Intractable intestinal bleeding, likely related to her underlying disease, had landed her in the intensive care unit. Although all …

www.news-medical.net Contributor: Marissa Garey According to the Ambulatory Surgical Center of America (ASCOA), more than 60% of Americans would like their end-of-life preferences to be followed. Yet, granting this wish is difficult when the patient is unresponsive. While this topic is quite controversial, surrogates tend to seek guidance from a …

By Zack Budryk Contributor: Marissa Garey Through the year 2022, employment is predicted to augment, particularly in the healthcare industry. Health-support occupations, such as nurse practitioners and physicians, will be in constant demand, consequently improving job security. The recovery of the country’s labor market brought about 217,000 job opportunities by May …

Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman is now Pennsylvania’s physician-general and says she wants to be defined by her public health priorities. The state Senate unanimously endorsed her in a 49-0 vote. Dr. Levine became the first transgender person to serve as a high-level official in Pennsylvania history. She is …

Should old doctors be forced to retire? There is controversy regarding aging practitioners. It is questioned whether or not older physicians are capable of contributing to the overall goal of successfully meeting health demands. Regardless of age, physicians are held to high expectations: impressive education, current knowledge, and competency to …

LISA ALIFERIS www.npr.org As more and more parents choose to skip vaccinations for their children, public health professionals and researchers have been looking at new ways to ease the concerns of parents who are hesitant. But that turns out to be tough to do. Studies have found that simply educating …

www.physiciansweekly.com Now I’m really worried about surgical education. Here’s why: A friend told me that a new attending on his staff was having some problems. Although the young surgeon was a graduate of 5 years of general surgery plus 2 years of fellowship, he was unable to do an inguinal …

www.post-gazette.com A troubling case before the state Supreme Court asks if parents can sue their doctor for not telling them about a fetus’ birth defects. An auxiliary issue is whether doctors have an obligation to disclose to patients the negative outcome of an examination or test. Presumably, ethics would demand …

TARA HAELLE www.npr.org Sometimes a story takes odd turns as you report it. Every once in while it goes off the rails. That’s what happened as I reported on a new study purporting to explain how a childhood vaccine helps prevent leukemia. The experience reaffirmed the lessons I’ve learned in …

By Philip Zazove www.cnn.com When I was 4 years old, my mother and father received devastating news — I was deaf. It was the 1950s, a time when people with disabilities received few accommodations or support. A time long before any legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act was conceived, …

By Melanie Tucker www.thedailytimes.com How long is 45 minutes? If you’re stuck standing in line at the bank or waiting for your meal at a restaurant, 45 minutes can seem like forever, each moment drawing out like an eternity. But, in the grand scheme of life, 45 minutes is almost …

CHRISTINA FARR www.npr.org How can you tell ­the difference between a good surgeon and an exceptional one? You could start by looking for the one who has the rare ability to visualize a human organ in three dimensions from little more than a scan. “The handful of the top surgeons …

APRIL DEMBOSKY www.npr.org Physician-assisted suicide is illegal in most states in the U.S. But there are gray areas where doctors can help suffering patients hasten their death. The problem is nobody can talk about it directly. This can lead to bizarre, veiled conversations between medical professionals and overwhelmed families. Doctors …

Salynn Boyles www.healthleadersmedia.com In-hospital outcomes among patients undergoing CAS in the US varied fourfold after adjusting for differences in patient risk factors in an analysis of data from a large, nationwide stenting registry. From MedPage Today. In-hospital outcomes among patients undergoing carotid artery stenting (CAS) in the U.S. varied fourfold after …

By ROBERT PEAR www.nytimes.com WASHINGTON — The federal government opened the door to a new era of genetic medicine on Thursday by introducing a standard way to ensure the accuracy of DNA tests used to tailor treatments for individual patients. Scientists have identified hundreds of genetic mutations that appear to increase …