Tag Archives: medicine

March of Dimes Research Center Will Tackle Racial Disparities in Maternal Health

Source: Penn Medicine News Written by Christina Hernandez Sherwood February 14, 2023–The disparities are stark. Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women in the United States, which has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country. For years, the University of …

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The Future of ChatGPT And Other AI In Healthcare

Source: Forbes Written by Sahil Gupta February 6, 2023– The process of becoming a physician is notoriously arduous, requiring years of specialized study and training. Before applying for a medical license in the U.S., aspiring physicians must pass the three-step United States Medical Licensing Examination, which covers topics including basic sciences, …

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OB-GYN Clinical Trials Lack Racial, Ethnic Inclusivity

Source: Northwestern Written By Kristin Samuelson December 21, 2022–All non-white racial and ethnic groups are underrepresented in OB-GYN clinical trials, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. Since clinical trials and scientific publications inform clinical care, failing to report the race and ethnicity of study participants and conducting homogenous, non-representative research …

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AAMC Specialty Report Explores The Choices of America’s Doctors

Source: AAMCNEWS Written By: Patrick Boyle, Senior Staff Writer More women are becoming doctors, doctors of different racial backgrounds are drawn to different areas of practice, and sports medicine continues to grow fastest of all specialties, according to a new report from the AAMC. Interest is booming in sports medicine and interventional …

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Why So Many Doctors Are Leaving The Workforce

Source: advisory.com Oct. 25, 2022 (Advisory Board) — A report published Thursday by Definitive Healthcare found that nearly 334,000 health care providers—including 117,000 physicians—left the workforce in 2021, with many citing burnout and pandemic-related stressors, Mari Devereaux writes for Modern Healthcare. Report findings and key details In the report, commercial …

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Medical Schools Advancing DEI Initiatives

Many medical schools and academic institutions recognize the importance of diversifying the Physician workforce and reducing health disparities. More organizations are establishing strong Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) cultures by implementing DEI committees, curriculum, and more. Most institutions create a Diversity and Inclusion committee/office with appointed officers who oversee and …

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2022 Healthcare Tech Trends

Healthcare systems are increasingly relying on technology and Artificial Intelligence to improve patient care and workplace efficiency. According to the 2021 Future of Healthcare Report, almost 80% of Healthcare systems are planning to increase their investment in digital healthcare trends over the next five years. Some of the top emerging …

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Medical Professionals Weigh In On The Importance of Diversity in Health Care

To provide the best possible care for all patients and help minimize racial disparities, medical professionals need to acknowledge and recognize differences among varying populations. Diversity among physicians—pertaining to socioeconomic status, race, gender identity, and so on—is key. Many physicians already recognize that a commitment to diversity is critical, yet …

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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 …

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Physician, Nurse Practitioner Jobs Lead Healthcare Surge

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 …

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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 …

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U.S. Introduces New DNA Standard for Ensuring Accuracy of Genetic Tests

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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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Epic, Other EHR Vendors Agree To Waive Record-Sharing Fees

By Joseph Conn www.modernhealthcare.com After years of saddling their customers and outside firms with substantial fees for interfaces and other costs for interoperability, vendors of electronic health-record systems are now engaged in what looks like an interoperability price war. The federal government probably had something to do with it, after firing …

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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 …

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5 Recruiting Tips To Fight The Looming Physician Shortage

By Sean West www.fiercehealthcare.com Increased demand for services will only exacerbate the problems expected by the shortage of close to 90,000 physicians in the next 10 years, according to a new survey that examines 2015 trends in healthcare recruitment. Despite the factors behind the shortage–including the millions of newly insured consumers under the Affordable …

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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 …

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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 …

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Thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon Potion Kills MRSA Superbug

By Nick Thompson and Laura Smith-Spark www.cnn.com It might sound like a really old wives’ tale, but a thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon potion for eye infections may hold the key to wiping out the modern-day superbug MRSA, according to new research. The 10th-century “eyesalve” remedy was discovered at the British Library in a leather-bound volume of Bald’s Leechbook, widely …

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Oldest Evidence Of Breast Cancer Found In Egyptian Skeleton

Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad; editing by John Stonestreet http://news.yahoo.com A team from a Spanish university has discovered what Egyptian authorities are calling the world’s oldest evidence of breast cancer in the 4,200-year-old skeleton of an adult woman. Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said the bones of the woman, who lived at …

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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 …

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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, …

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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 …

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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. …

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Schools Reconsidering How Med School Applicants Are Evaluated

www.ama-assn.org The medical education overhaul continues—and not just with undergraduate med ed. Changes being launched now in medical schools are touching graduate medical education and pre-medical education, seeking to better prepare doctors for a health care system that is constantly changing. Academic physicians covered these innovations in an online video panel Tuesday …

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Can Patients Chew Gum Immediately Before Surgery?

www.physiciansweekly.com A study presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) meeting in October of last year found that patients who chew gum in the immediate preoperative period may safely undergo surgery. The authors, based at the University of Pennsylvania, found that gum chewing increases saliva production and the volume of …

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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 …

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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 …

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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, …

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These Doctors Want To Tell You You’re Stupid If You Don’t Vaccinate Your Kids [VIDEO]

Jonathan Harris whatstrending.com Jimmy Kimmel made a good point. If you don’t believe what a doctor tells you about vaccines, why would you believe him about anything else? If he’s likely to intentionally poison your children so that he can line the pockets of GlaxoSmithKline, why would you go there …

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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 …

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Most Doctors Give In to Requests by Parents to Alter Vaccine Schedules

CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS www.nytimes.com A wide majority of pediatricians and family physicians acquiesce to parents who wish to delay vaccinating their children, even though the doctors feel these decisions put children at risk for measles, whooping cough and other ailments, a new survey has found. Physicians who reluctantly agreed said they did so …

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