By Micaela Marshall Spectrum News 1 CLEVELAND — After 25 years as an auto shop owner, an east Cleveland native headed to medical school and become a Doctor. At age 51, Dr. Carl Allamby is now an attending Physician at the Cleveland Clinic. “I’ve been working on things my whole life,” …
Read More »Carilion Clinic
You deserve to work in a place where diversity and inclusion are not mere programs or policies, but part of the DNA. Where you can thrive with others who embrace a wide array of ideas, perspectives, ambitions, backgrounds and talents to achieve a unified mission. Where your voice will be …
Read More »North Country Healthcare
North Country Healthcare (NCH) is a non-profit affiliation of four medical facilities in the White Mountains Region of New Hampshire. NCH includes numerous physicians and medical providers at multiple locations. This leading comprehensive healthcare network which employs hundreds of highly-trained individuals delivers integrated patient care through three community hospitals, medical …
Read More »New Hanover Regional Medical Center
New Hanover Regional Medical Center is a unique, tight-knit organization that is also fortunate to be located in the beautiful, coastal area of Wilmington, North Carolina. NHRMC, a public, not-for-profit teaching hospital and the major tertiary center for a seven-county area is affiliated with The University of North Carolina at …
Read More »What Doctors Need To Know About The Coronavirus
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 …
Read More »The Growing Psychiatrist Shortage
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 …
Read More »Electronic Health Records May Be Getting More Time With Doctors Than Patients
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 …
Read More »Improving Access To Rural Health Care
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 …
Read More »U.S. Physician Employment Report Findings
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, …
Read More »Medical Students Less Likely To Fill Primary Care Physician Roles
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 …
Read More »Albany Med
Albany Med is the Capital region’s only academic health sciences center and is one of the largest private employers in the area. Albany Med incorporates the 734-bed Albany Medical Center Hospital, Albany Medical College and the region’s largest physicians practice with more than 450 doctors. Albany Med is also affiliated …
Read More »Rochester Regional Health
Rochester Regional Health is a physician-led integrated health services organization serving the people of western New York, the Finger Lakes and beyond. The organization provides care from 150 locations, including five hospitals; more than 100 primary and specialty practices, rehabilitation centers and ambulatory campuses; innovative senior services, facilities and independent …
Read More »Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
Cheyenne Regional offers a comprehensive line of healthcare services, including Cardiovascular, Cancer, Orthopedics, Neurosciences, Weight Loss, Women and Children’s Services, Trauma, Wound Management & Hyperbaric Medicine, Rehabilitation, Home Care, Hospice, Behavioral Health, Medical Imaging and Lab Services. The physicians, nurses and staff of Cheyenne Regional are passionate about their roles …
Read More »University of Wisconsin Health
UW Health is comprised of the academic health care entities of the University of Wisconsin-Madison: UW Medical Foundation, UW Hospital and Clinics and UW School of Medicine and Public Health. UW Health is also home to American Family Children’s Hospital and UW Carbone Cancer Center. Our expert doctors are at the forefront of research, developing new treatments …
Read More »Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin
Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital, the primary adult teaching affiliate for the Medical College of Wisconsin, is a 500-bed academic medical center that delivers advanced medical care. Froedtert Hospital is nationally recognized for exceptional physicians and nurses, research leadership, specialty expertise and state-of-the-art treatments and technology. It serves …
Read More »Fletcher Allen Health Care
Fletcher Allen Partners is the parent organization of Fletcher Allen Health Care, Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC), CVPH Medical Center and Elizabethtown Community Hospital (ECH), a four-hospital, cross-lake partnership that establishes a highly integrated health care system serving the communities of Vermont and northern New York. This integrated health delivery …
Read More »Vanderbilt University Medical Center
VUMC is a comprehensive healthcare facility dedicated to patient care, research, and biomedical education. The Mid-South chooses us for its health care needs not only because of our excellence in medical science, but also because our faculty and staff is dedicated to treating patients with dignity and compassion. At Vanderbilt, …
Read More »West Penn Allegheny Health System
Allegheny-Singer Research Institute (ASRI) is a non-profit, independent research institute and a member of the West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS). ASRI is responsible for managing and conducting clinical, translational and basic research. ASRI manages the sponsored awards made to WPAHS and its related entities. ASRI is in a unique …
Read More »Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Who We Are Our focus is on creating a sustainable health system, to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve for generations to come. From modest origins as a rural, regional medical college to national stature as a leading academic health care system, Dartmouth-Hitchcock is well aligned …
Read More »Carson Tahoe Health
The Carson Tahoe Health System is a network of healthcare facilities, services and programs located in and around Northern Nevada and Eastern California. With deep roots in the community and over 60 years of being the health experts in our region, the community has looked to Carson Tahoe to uphold …
Read More »Columbus Community Hospital
Columbus Community Hospital is an acute care facility, with both inpatient and outpatient services. The Hospital consists of over 550 employees and 300+ volunteers. We are a community owned, not-for-profit hospital dedicated to providing compassionate, accessible healthcare close to home. Because your care is the focus of everyone here, the …
Read More »St. Alexius Hospital
St. Alexius Hospital has been providing medical care to the residents of St. Louis since 1869, when the Alexian Brothers, with their rich heritage of healthcare in Europe, purchased the twelve room Simons mansion on south Broadway. Since that early beginning, today’s St. Alexius Hospital provides quality medical care and …
Read More »Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit medical group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of “the needs of the patient come first.” More than 3,800 physicians and scientists and 50,900 allied …
Read More »Abbott Northwestern Hospital
As the largest hospital in the Twin Cities, Abbott Northwestern is recognized nationally and locally for its exceptional expertise and care. Each year, the hospital serves more than 200,000 patients and their families from across the Twin Cities and Upper Midwest. Each year, Abbott Northwestern is recognized for its exceptional expertise and …
Read More »St. John Providence Health System
St. John Providence Health System is comprised of five hospitals plus more than 125 medical facilities in southeast Michigan. Every year at St. John Providence Health System, we touch thousands of lives in southeast Michigan through services such as heart, cancer, obstetrics, neurosciences, orthopedics, physical rehabilitation, behavioral medicine, surgery, emergency …
Read More »Covenant HealthCare
Covenant HealthCare is a regional health care leader that offers a dynamic and supportive working atmosphere. Our workforce is comprised of a highly professional, diverse group of over 4,000 individuals. The common bond which holds us together, promotes high standards of patient care, and supports our organization’s success are the …
Read More »LSU Health
A teaching hospital for graduate medical education, nursing and allied health professions, Earl K. Long Medical Center provides quality healthcare to Baton Rouge, its seven surrounding parishes and beyond. Outpatient services for women’s health, family practice, internal medicine, surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, infectious diseases, dermatology, rheumatology …
Read More »Indiana University Health
Indiana University Health is Indiana’s most comprehensive healthcare system. IU Health’s unique partnership with one of the nation’s largest medical schools, the Indiana University School of Medicine, offers innovative treatments and therapies and remains a global leader in medical education and research. Comprised of hospitals, physicians and allied services dedicated to providing preeminent …
Read More »Tampa General Hospital
In a diverse city known for its rich culture and beautiful beaches, Tampa General Hospital offers yet another incentive – world-class health care. Tampa General is a private not-for-profit hospital and one of the most comprehensive medical facilities in West Central Florida serving a dozen counties with a population in …
Read More »Memorial Hospital Jacksonville
Memorial Hospital is a 418-bed acute care hospital offering a full line of services. We are a U.S. News and World Report Best Hospital and feature a certified Chest Pain Center, certified Stroke Center, dedicated Heart Center, a state-of-the-art Spine Clinic, and Memorial’s New Beginnings maternity center. Founded in 1969 …
Read More »Bridgeport Hospital
Bridgeport Hospital is a private, not-for-profit acute care hospital located in Connecticut’s most populous city, primarily serving patients from Fairfield and New Haven Counties. Burn patients are seen in The Connecticut Burn Center—the only burn center in Connecticut—from throughout the state and neighboring states. They are a member of the …
Read More »Medical Center of Aurora
The Medical Center of Aurora/Centennial Medical Plaza is a world-class regional medical center. It is Aurora’s only full-service hospital and is the preferred provider for healthcare in the communities served. A proven commitment to patient safety, high quality outcomes, significant investments in technology and a dynamic medical staff create a strong …
Read More »Mercy General Hospital
Since 1925, Dignity Health Mercy General Hospital has been providing a wide range of health, social and support services with special advocacy for the poor and underserved. The 419-bed facility includes the nationally recognized Dignity Health Heart & Vascular Institute and The Joint Commission-certified Stroke Programs. Mercy General Hospital also …
Read More »San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center
San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) is an essential part of San Francisco’s health care system serving some 100,000 patients each year and providing 20 percent of the city’s inpatient care. Recognized as one of the nation’s top hospitals, we serve the community with a full complement of …
Read More »Saint Francis Memorial Hospital
Since 1905, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital has served the city for which it was named, with extraordinary expertise and extraordinary care. Today we treat more than 1,000,000 Bay Area residents and visitors every year. Saint Francis is a fully accredited community based hospital, with 359 licensed beds. The hospital boasts …
Read More »Yavapai Regional Medical Center
Yavapai Regional Medical Center is a locally owned, locally operated, not-for-profit hospital system that encompasses two campuses – YRMC West in Prescott and YRMC East in Prescott Valley – plus the YRMC Del E. Webb Outpatient Center, also in Prescott Valley. Attracting, hiring, and retaining the best qualified talent to …
Read More »Tucson Medical Center
Tucson Medical Center, licensed at 629 beds, has been Tucson’s locally governed nonprofit regional hospital for more than 65 years. TMC is Southern Arizona’s leading provider for emergency care and pediatric care (including Tucson’s first Pediatric Emergency Department), with top-notch intensive care units for adults, children and newborns. Other specialty …
Read More »The Doctor on a Quest to Save Our Medical Devices From Hackers
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 …
Read More »When Your Doctor Is on a 30-Hour Shift
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 …
Read More »Doctor Practicing ‘Street Medicine’ Named Top Hero Of 2015
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 …
Read More »How To Improve Doctors’ Bedside Manner
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 …
Read More »Dr. Forrest Bird, Inventor of Medical Respirators and Ventilators, Dies at 94
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 …
Read More »Blood Test For Early Stage Pancreatic Cancer Looks Promising
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 …
Read More »Should Old Doctors Be Forced To Retire?
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 …
Read More »Training Doctors To Talk About Vaccines Fails To Sway Parents
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 …
Read More »Surgeons Who Can’t Perform Open Surgery
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 …
Read More »Painful Diagnosis: Doctors Must Be Frank, Even When The News Is Bad
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 …
Read More »How A Claim That A Childhood Vaccine Prevents Leukemia Went Too Far
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 …
Read More »Deaf Doctor Makes Patients Feel Heard
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, …
Read More »‘Door-To-Balloon’ Time Is Goal For Doctors At Blount Memorial
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 …
Read More »The Future Of Cardiology Will Be Shown In 3-D
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 …
Read More »Coded Talk About Assisted Suicide Can Leave Families Confused
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 …
Read More »Carotid Artery Stenting Outcomes Vary Widely by Hospital
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 …
Read More »Here’s A Radical Approach To Big Hospital Bills: Set Your Own Price
JAY HANCOCK NPR In the late 1990s you could have taken what hospitals charged to administer inpatient chemotherapy and bought a Ford Escort econobox. Today, average charges for chemo, not even counting the price of the anti-cancer drugs, are enough to pay for a Lexus GX sport-utility vehicle. Hospital prices …
Read More »Physician Burnout Heavily Influenced by Leadership Behaviors
Alexandra Wilson Pecci http://healthleadersmedia.com Researchers find a “very strong relationship between [physician] satisfaction and burnout and the leadership behaviors of physician supervisors” in large healthcare organizations. Physician burnout is prevalent throughout the U.S. healthcare system—experienced by nearly half (46%) of physicians, according to data published in JAMA last year. But effective leadership …
Read More »Sepsis, A Wily Killer, Stymies Doctors’ Efforts To Tame It
Richard Harris www.npr.org If you ran down the list of ailments that most commonly kill Americans, chances are you wouldn’t think to name sepsis. But this condition, sometimes called blood poisoning, is in fact one of the most common causes of death in the hospital, killing more people than breast …
Read More »Latest Tool For Neurosurgeons: Virtual Reality Headsets
www.cbsnews.com Virtual reality headsets are already revolutionizing the way people experience video games: put on a pair of goggles and you can travel anywhere from outerspace to the battlefield. But gamers aren’t the only ones this technology can transport to new worlds, reports CBS News’ Kara Finnstrom, only on “CBS …
Read More »The Reality of Virtual Care
Scott Mace www.healthleadersmedia.com Virtual care is not a new idea. Videoconferencing dates back several decades. Remote monitoring in ICUs began more than a decade ago. Telestroke and remote behavioral health programs have been on the radar in many settings for years. But two major factors have given virtual care a …
Read More »Why The Urologist Is Usually A Man, But Maybe Not For Long
PONCIE RUTSCH www.npr.org If you need to see a urologist, the odds are very good that your doctor will be a man. Only about 8 percent of the practicing urologists are female, according to a poll from WebMD that includes gender distribution among medical specialties. The fact that there are …
Read More »The prognosis for U.S. healthcare? Better than you think.
Erika Fry fortune.com Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive of Kaiser Permanente—the $56 billion non-profit health insurer and hospital operator—is more optimistic about America’s healthcare system than he’s ever been. That’s saying something, given that the fate of the Affordable Care Act hangs in the balance pending a …
Read More »One Doctor’s Quest to Save the World With Data
DANIELLE VENTON www.wired.com IN RWANDA, PEOPLE have to deal with all kinds of threats to their health: malaria, HIV/AIDS, severe diarrhea. But in late 2012, Agnes Binagwaho, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, realized her country’s key health enemy was something far more innocuous. The thing causing the most harm to her people, the leading …
Read More »New Measles Vaccine is Needle-Free
BY MAGGIE FOX www.nbcnews.com Scientists have formulated a needle-free vaccine against measles and say the little stick-on patch could be the answer to fighting measles — and perhaps other diseases such as polio, too. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the patch a “game-changer” and is helping the team at Georgia …
Read More »Admitted to Your Bedroom: Some Hospitals Try Treating Patients at Home
By DANIELA J. LAMAS, M.D. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com When Martin Fernandez came into Mount Sinai Hospital’s emergency room one recent afternoon, with high fever and excruciating abdominal pain, he and his family were asked an unexpected question. Mr. Fernandez, 82, would have to be officially admitted to receive intravenous antibiotics for his urinary …
Read More »Would Doctors Be Better If They Didn’t Have To Memorize?
JOHN HENNING SCHUMANN www.npr.org Poor old Dr. Krebs. His painstaking Nobel-winning work on cellular metabolism, called the Krebs cycle, has made him the symbol for what’s ailing medical education. “Why do I need to know this stuff?” medical students ask me. “How many times have you used the Krebs Cycle lately?” senior doctors jokingly …
Read More »Doctors Cry Too
Linda Girgis, MD www.physiciansweekly.com Since entering medical school, I wished to be a pediatrician. There was nothing more noble in my mind than curing sick children and babies. That dream changed suddenly one night on my surgery rotation. It was early evening, when a Code-22 rang out over the hospital …
Read More »For The New Doctors We Need, The New MCAT Isn’t Enough
Dan Diamond www.forbes.com Americans want a lot from our doctors. We want caring bedside manner, effective communication, up-to-date knowledge, and finely honed clinical skills. We ideally want more than five minutes to spare in a visit. We want doctors who treat the whole person, not just the illness; doctors who …
Read More »Uber for Doctors: 5 Apps Bring Back House Calls
Marine Cole www.thefiscaltimes.com Silicon Valley is trying to revolutionize the way Americans get medical care by bringing doctors directly to your phone, but another fast-growing trend is also reminiscent of the old-fashioned doctor house calls. Several startups are promising to deliver a doctor to you usually within the next hour …
Read More »Diversity in Medicine
Emily Hause www.medschoolpulse.com Hello my diverse readers! When I applied to medical school, I had this idea in my mind that there was some sort of perfect pre-med applicant prototype that schools had in mind. All I had to do to be accepted was become or fit into that perfect pre-med mold. …
Read More »Do Wearable Devices in Hospitals Pose Security Threats?
By Aleksandr Peterso www.physiciansnews.com Wearable tech has painted itself as the future of innovation for many different industries, but perhaps most notably for healthcare. Even now, wearable devices are seeing increased use at care facilities to track patient status, reduce response times, and improve care coordination. But wearable technology is still …
Read More »FDA Ponders Putting Homeopathy To A Tougher Test
ROB STEIN www.npr.org It’s another busy morning at Dr. Anthony Aurigemma’s homeopathy practice in Bethesda, Md. Wendy Resnick, 58, is here because she’s suffering from a nasty bout of laryngitis. “I don’t feel great,” she says. “I don’t feel myself.” Resnick, who lives in Millersville, Md., has been seeing Aurigemma for years …
Read More »Doctors See Benefits and Risks in Medicare Changes
By KATIE THOMAS and REED ABELSON www.nytimes.com Dr. Robert Wergin, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, made little effort to contain his glee Wednesday over the news that Congress had voted to end a reviled payment system for doctors, simultaneously averting a 21 percent physician pay cut and overhauling the way Medicare will pay doctors in …
Read More »Hospital Diversity Improvement Plans, Goals: 16 Things To Know
Written by Shannon Barnet www.beckershospitalreview.com While job areas related to patient care have experienced a long history of diversification, the same cannot be said of healthcare jobs in upper management, according to a report from the NAACP. Some hospitals and health systems have created programs to monitor diversity procurement but, overall, diversity …
Read More »What Could Go Wrong When Doctors Treat Their Own Kids?
JOHN HENNING SCHUMANN www.npr.org Famed doctor and medical educator William Osler once said, “A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” What, I wonder, does that say about us doctors who treat our own kids? This past winter, my daughter got the flu. She was miserable: …
Read More »Figure 1 App Is Like an ‘Instagram for Doctors’
By LIZ NEPORENT http://abcnews.go.com Call it socialized medicine for the digital age. Figure 1, a new smart phone app lets doctors and other medical professionals from all over the world swap pictures and info about their cases. The app as has been described as “Instagram for doctors,” a phrase its founder and …
Read More »Time To Announce UV Tanning ‘Causes’ Skin Cancer, Doctors Urge
Written by Catharine Paddock PhD www.medicalnewstoday.com Doctors and researchers writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine argue it is time to push the message that UV tanning causes – as opposed to merely being associated with – skin cancer. They note that when the US Surgeon General finally announced that smoking causes lung …
Read More »Age and the Trauma Surgeon
Bruce Davis, MD www.physiciansweekly.com I’m on day 5 of an 8-day run of Port-and-Starboard trauma call (Navy talk for every other night) and am feeling my age. There was a time when I could do this for weeks at a time and still have the energy to play or go …
Read More »Will A Transplanted Hand Feel Like His Own? Surgery Raises Questions
ROB STEIN www.npr.org When Kevin Lopez opens the door to his Greenbelt, Md., apartment to greet a visitor he’s never before met, he initially conceals his right hand. “I’m self-conscious, definitely, about my right hand,” he says. But eventually Lopez relaxes. “I was born like this,” he says. “As you …
Read More »The Healing Power of Your Own Medical Records
By STEVE LOHR www.nytimes.com Steven Keating’s doctors and medical experts view him as a citizen of the future. A scan of his brain eight years ago revealed a slight abnormality — nothing to worry about, he was told, but worth monitoring. And monitor he did, reading and studying about brain …
Read More »How Stone-Age Blades Are Still Cutting It In Modern Surgery
By Peter Shadbolt www.cnn.com Ever had a headache so big, you felt like drilling a hole in your head to let the pain out? In Neolithic times trepanation — or drilling a hole into the skull — was thought to be a cure for everything from epilepsy to migraines. It …
Read More »Doctors With Cancer Push California To Allow Aid In Dying
ANNA GORMAN www.npr.org Dan Swangard knows what death looks like. As a physician, he has seen patients die in hospitals, hooked to morphine drips and overcome with anxiety. He has watched death drag on for weeks or months as terrified relatives stand by helplessly. Recently, however, his thoughts about how …
Read More »The Doctor’s Rituals
By MIKKAEL A. SEKERES, M.D. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com Every night when I put my 6-year-old son to sleep, we go through the same routine. At his request, I carry him upstairs, slung over my shoulder like a “sack of potatoes.” Then, I sit on his bed while he changes into his pajamas; …
Read More »Needle Stick-Injured Ebola Doctor Free Of Virus After Vaccination
Markus MacGill www.medicalnewstoday.com After receiving an experimental emergency vaccine, a doctor from the US who had received a needle stick injury, and so put at high risk of infection while working in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, has been found clear of the virus. The physician, given the …
Read More »Ancient Egyptians Had State-Supported Health Care
Anne Austin www.theweek.com We might think of state supported health care as an innovation of the 20th century, but it’s a much older tradition than that. In fact, texts from a village dating back to Egypt’s New Kingdom period, about 3,100-3,600 years ago, suggest that in ancient Egypt there was a …
Read More »Physicians, Patients Overestimate Risk of Death From Acute Coronary Syndrome
www.sciencedaily.com Both physicians and patients overestimate the risk of heart attack or death for possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS) as well as the potential benefit of hospital admission for possible ACS. A survey of patient and physician communication and risk assessment, along with an editorial, were published online last week …
Read More »Doctors as Journalists: Conflict of Interest?
www.physiciansweekly.com On Gary Schwitzer’s website healthnewsreview.org, a debate about the role of physicians who work as journalists took place. It was sparked by an NBC News report on the changing of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to its new name—Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID). The report featured commentary by Dr. Natalie Azar, …
Read More »A Sheriff And A Doctor Team Up To Map Childhood Trauma
LAURA STARECHESKI www.npr.org The University of Florida’s Dr. Nancy Hardt has an unusual double specialty: She’s both a pathologist and an OB-GYN. For the first half of her career, she brought babies into the world. Then she switched — to doing autopsies on people after they die. It makes perfect …
Read More »FDA Approves CPR Devices That May Increase Chance Of Surviving Cardiac Arrest
www.fda.gov The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the ResQCPR System, a system of two devices for first responders to use while performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on people whose hearts stop beating (cardiac arrest). The devices may improve the patient’s chances of surviving cardiac arrest. The Centers for Disease Control …
Read More »Dancing In The OR
Bruce Davis, MD www.physiciansweekly.com I was not having a good morning. I had just come off Trauma call—a difficult 24hr shift that was finally behind me. I had finished a long week of rounding on the Trauma Service and had turned the patients over to Sid, who would be the …
Read More »Keeping Your Hair in Chemo
TARA PARKER-POPE http://well.blogs.nytimes.com Hair loss is one of the most obvious side effects of cancer treatment. Now, a growing number of breast cancer patients are freezing their scalps as a way to preserve their hair during chemotherapy. The hair-saving treatment, widely used in Europe, requires a specialized frozen cap worn …
Read More »Psychedelic Drug Use ‘Does Not Increase Risk For Mental Health Problems’
David McNamee www.medicalnewstoday.com An analysis of data provided by 135,000 randomly selected participants – including 19,000 people who had used drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms – finds that use of psychedelics does not increase risk of developing mental health problems. The results are published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. …
Read More »CDC Investigates Rise in Opioid-Addicted Newborns
Diana Phillips www.medscape.com Nearly all of the infants with confirmed cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome identified in three Florida hospitals during a 2-year period had documented in utero opioid exposure. Yet only 10% of their mothers received or were referred for drug addiction rehabilitation or counseling at the time of …
Read More »A 12-Year-Old Girl Shows Us What It’s Really Like To Face TB
NSIKAN AKPAN www.npr.org How do you turn a contagious disease like tuberculosis from a set of statistics — 9 million cases, 1.5 million deaths a year — into a human story? One way is by making a 4 1/2 minute video. “Thembi Jakiwe: Strength of a Woman” is the story of a …
Read More »Family of Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman Now Fighting to Change State Law
GILLIAN MOHNEY http://abcnews.go.com A family that had to go to court to get a brain-dead woman taken off life support is now fighting to change Texas law so other families won’t have to go through the same ordeal. The family of Marlise Munoz is working with Texas lawmakers to craft a new …
Read More »Childhood Sleep Disorders: How Do They Affect Health And Well-being?
Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com Although around 25-40% of children and adolescents in the US experience some form of sleep disorder, such conditions are often overlooked, with a lack of realization of just how important a good night’s sleep is for a child’s present and later-life health. In line with National Sleep …
Read More »Doctors Perceived As More Compassionate When Giving Patients More Optimistic News
Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com When receiving information about treatment options and prognosis, advanced cancer patients favor doctors who provide more optimistic information and perceive them to be more compassionate when delivering it. This is according to a new study published in JAMA Oncology. The study was conducted by researchers from the University …
Read More »Alzheimer’s Protein ‘Can Accumulate In Young People’s Brains’
Catharine Paddock PhD www.medicalnewstoday.com Brains of older people with Alzheimer’s disease show characteristic abnormal clusters of faulty protein called amyloid. Now, for the first time, scientists have discovered amyloid can begin to accumulate in the brains of people as young as 20. The finding is surprising because it was thought …
Read More »How A Group Of Lung Cancer Survivors Got Doctors To Listen
KATHERINE HOBSON www.npr.org A group of lung cancer survivors was chatting online last May about what they thought was a big problem: Influential treatment guidelines published by a consortium of prominent cancer centers didn’t reflect an option that several people thought had saved their lives. They wanted to change that. …
Read More »Can Family Secrets Make You Sick?
LAURA STARECHESKI www.npr.org In the 1980s, Dr. Vincent Felitti, now director of the California Institute of Preventive Medicine in San Diego, discovered something potentially revolutionary about the ripple effects of child sexual abuse. He discovered it while trying to solve a very different health problem: helping severely obese people lose weight. Felitti, …
Read More »Woman Becomes Obese After Fecal Transplantation From Overweight Donor
Honor Whiteman www.medicalnewstoday.com A new case report published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases reveals that a woman who was treated for a recurrent Clostridium difficile infection with the gut bacteria of an overweight donor quickly and unexpectedly gained weight herself following the procedure. The authors say the case suggests doctors should avoid …
Read More »Women are quickly filling the ranks of physician leadership
Don’t act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren’t on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you. In my experience, there is no such thing as luck. Partially, but it also …
Read More »