First-year doctors will be allowed to work 24-hour shifts in hospitals across the United States starting July 1, when a much-debated cap that limits the physicians to 16 consecutive hours of patient care is lifted, the organization that oversees their training announced Friday.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education said the change will enhance patient safety because there will be fewer handoffs from doctor to doctor. It also said the longer shifts will improve the new doctors' training by allowing them to follow their patients for more extended periods, especially in the critical hours after admission.
The controversial decision ends the latest phase in a decades-old discussion over how to balance physician training with the safety and needs of patients whose care is sometimes handled by young, sleep-deprived doctors — a practice that a consumer group and a medical students' organization oppose as dangerous. The council said Friday that under the amended standards, the physicians' mental and physical health actually will be bolstered by requiring their supervisors to more closely monitor their well-being.
Those standards will allow four hours to transition patients from one doctor to the next, so first-year residents could work as long as 28 straight hours, the same as more senior medical residents. The 125,000 doctors in training, known as "residents" and "fellows" depending on how many years they've completed, are the backbone of staffs at about 800 hospitals across the country, from large medical centers to smaller community facilities.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/03/10/first-year-doctors-will-be-allowed-to-work-24-hour-shifts-starting-in-july/?
Friday, March 10, 2017
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Medicine and literature: two treatments of the human condition | Aeon Essays
Every month or so, I see a patient called Fraser in my primary care clinic, a soldier who was deployed in Afghanistan. Fifteen years after coming home, he is still haunted by flashbacks of burning buildings and sniper fire. He doesn't work, rarely goes out, sleeps poorly, and to relieve his emotional anguish he sometimes slices at his own forearms. Since leaving the army, he has never had a girlfriend. Fraser was once thickly muscled, but weight has fallen off him: self-neglect has robbed him of strength and self-confidence. Prescription drugs fail to fully quieten the terror that trembles in his mind. Whenever I used to see him in clinic, he'd sit on the edge of his seat, shakily mopping sweat from his forehead and temples. I'd listen to his stories, tweak his medications, and tentatively offer advice.
When Fraser began coming to see me, I was reading Redeployment (2014) by Phil Klay – short stories about US military operations, not in Afghanistan, but in Iraq. No book can substitute for direct experience, but Klay's stories gave me a way to start talking about what Fraser was going through; when I finished the book, I offered it to him. He found reassurance in what I'd found illuminating; our conversations took new directions as we discussed aspects of the book. His road will be a long one, but I'm convinced those stories have played a part, however modest, in his recovery.
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https://aeon.co/essays/medicine-and-literature-two-treatments-of-the-human-condition
When Fraser began coming to see me, I was reading Redeployment (2014) by Phil Klay – short stories about US military operations, not in Afghanistan, but in Iraq. No book can substitute for direct experience, but Klay's stories gave me a way to start talking about what Fraser was going through; when I finished the book, I offered it to him. He found reassurance in what I'd found illuminating; our conversations took new directions as we discussed aspects of the book. His road will be a long one, but I'm convinced those stories have played a part, however modest, in his recovery.
More ...
https://aeon.co/essays/medicine-and-literature-two-treatments-of-the-human-condition
As mental health crises soar, colleges can't meet student needs - STAT
Colleges across the country are failing to keep up with a troubling spike in demand for mental health care — leaving students stuck on waiting lists for weeks, unable to get help.
STAT surveyed dozens of universities about their mental health services. From major public institutions to small elite colleges, a striking pattern emerged: Students often have to wait weeks just for an initial intake exam to review their symptoms. The wait to see a psychiatrist who can prescribe or adjust medication — often a part-time employee — may be longer still.
Students on many campuses are so frustrated that they launched a petition last month demanding expanded services. They plan to send it to 20 top universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, and Columbia, where seven students have died this school year from suicide and suspected drug overdose.
"Students are turned away every day from receiving the treatment they need, and multiple suicide attempts and deaths go virtually ignored each semester," the petition reads. More than 700 people have signed; many have left comments about their personal experiences trying to get counseling at college. "I'm signing because if a kid in crisis needs help they should not have to wait," one wrote.
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https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/06/mental-health-college-students/
STAT surveyed dozens of universities about their mental health services. From major public institutions to small elite colleges, a striking pattern emerged: Students often have to wait weeks just for an initial intake exam to review their symptoms. The wait to see a psychiatrist who can prescribe or adjust medication — often a part-time employee — may be longer still.
Students on many campuses are so frustrated that they launched a petition last month demanding expanded services. They plan to send it to 20 top universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, and Columbia, where seven students have died this school year from suicide and suspected drug overdose.
"Students are turned away every day from receiving the treatment they need, and multiple suicide attempts and deaths go virtually ignored each semester," the petition reads. More than 700 people have signed; many have left comments about their personal experiences trying to get counseling at college. "I'm signing because if a kid in crisis needs help they should not have to wait," one wrote.
More …
https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/06/mental-health-college-students/
Top US hospitals aggressively promoting alternative medicine offerings - STAT
They're among the nation's premier medical centers, at the leading edge of scientific research.
Yet hospitals affiliated with Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and other top medical research centers also aggressively promote alternative therapies with little or no scientific backing. They offer "energy healing" to help treat multiple sclerosis, acupuncture for infertility, and homeopathic bee venom for fibromyalgia. A public forum hosted by the University of Florida's hospital even promises to explain how herbal therapy can reverse Alzheimer's. (It can't.)
This embrace of alternative medicine has been building for years. But a STAT examination of 15 academic research centers across the US underscores just how deeply these therapies have become embedded in prestigious hospitals and medical schools.
More …
https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/07/alternative-medicine-hospitals-promote/?
Yet hospitals affiliated with Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and other top medical research centers also aggressively promote alternative therapies with little or no scientific backing. They offer "energy healing" to help treat multiple sclerosis, acupuncture for infertility, and homeopathic bee venom for fibromyalgia. A public forum hosted by the University of Florida's hospital even promises to explain how herbal therapy can reverse Alzheimer's. (It can't.)
This embrace of alternative medicine has been building for years. But a STAT examination of 15 academic research centers across the US underscores just how deeply these therapies have become embedded in prestigious hospitals and medical schools.
More …
https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/07/alternative-medicine-hospitals-promote/?
Monday, March 6, 2017
Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD)
OSSD is an international society for basic and clinical scientists from various scientific disciplines who share an interest in exploring sex and gender differences in all areas of biological, medical, and behavioral science. The overall mission of OSSD is to enhance the knowledge of sex and gender differences by facilitating communication and collaboration among scientists and clinicians of diverse backgrounds.
OSSD is the brain child of basic and clinical scientists with established research commitments to the study of sex differences, and staff members of the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR). SWHR has, since 1990, been a thought leader in research on sex differences and is dedicated to improving women's health through advocacy, education, and research. Beginning in 2000, SWHR convened seven innovative meetings that focused on the emerging field of sex-based biology, the Conferences on Sex and Gene Expression (SAGE). SWHR also supported four interdisciplinary Networks in biomedical sciences to promote collaboration among scientists in areas of sex-differences and women's health (referred to as Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex Differences (ISIS) Networks).
http://www.ossdweb.org/
OSSD is the brain child of basic and clinical scientists with established research commitments to the study of sex differences, and staff members of the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR). SWHR has, since 1990, been a thought leader in research on sex differences and is dedicated to improving women's health through advocacy, education, and research. Beginning in 2000, SWHR convened seven innovative meetings that focused on the emerging field of sex-based biology, the Conferences on Sex and Gene Expression (SAGE). SWHR also supported four interdisciplinary Networks in biomedical sciences to promote collaboration among scientists in areas of sex-differences and women's health (referred to as Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex Differences (ISIS) Networks).
http://www.ossdweb.org/
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Drug overdose fatality rate higher than suicides, cars, guns - Axios
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study shows the rate of fatal drug overdoses has more than doubled since 1999. Those between 55 and 64 years of age were the hardest hit. Rates increased for both males and females and increased across all age groups.
The 2015 rate for fatal drug overdoses is higher than deaths from suicides (13.4 deaths per 100,000) car accidents (11.1 deaths per 100,000) and firearms.
More ...
https://www.axios.com/fatal-drug-overdoses-more-than-doubled-since-1999-2282883694.html
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