Attending medical schools with high levels of racial and ethnic diversity may better prepare white medical students to care for minority patients, according to a study that analyzed data from a survey of 20,112 graduating medical students from 118 medical schools. The study found that white students at medical schools with the highest quintile for student body racial and ethnic diversity, measured by the proportion of underrepresented minority students, were 33% more likely to rate themselves as highly prepared to care for minority patients than white students at medical schools in the lowest diversity quintile.
Just 2% of nearly 1,200 fourth-year students say they plan to work in primary care internal medicine, according to results of a new survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a similar survey in 1990, the figure was 9%.
The results suggest more medical students, many of them saddled with debt, are opting for more lucrative specialties.
Deals between hospitals and nursing students are becoming increasingly common as healthcare providers, nursing schools, and others try to figure out how they'll handle a nursing shortage that's expected to hit sometime in the next decade. Experts estimate there's a need for at least a million new nurses nationwide by 2012, but there aren't enough nursing students to fill the gap. To remedy the problem, the University of Alabama Birmingham is one college that is recruiting nurses almost anywhere it can.
Luling, LA-based St. Charles Parish Hospital and the Ochsner Health System have announced an affiliation designed to give residents better access to Ochsner specialists. The agreement calls for the 59-bed St. Charles Parish Hospital to maintain an open medical staff, but to allow Ochsner doctors to practice there. Ochsner CEO Patrick Quinlan said Ochsner's role in the agreement would be to recruit doctors who would live in the community and work at St. Charles. The agreement could change over time to give Ochsner a larger say in the hospital's operation, including the possibility of leasing the hospital to Ochsner, officials added.
Pfizer, Inc. will globally withdraw all dalbavancin marketing applications, which include the U.S. new drug application and the European marketing authorization application. The applications, withdrawn after feedback from regulatory committees, were for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections in adults. Pfizer plans to conduct an additional clinical trial with dalbavancin.
Nearly $3 million in grant funding will be dedicated to assist heart-related companies develop products and services, thanks to the Cleveland Clinic's Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. A $60 million grant, awarded to the center in 2006, is already being used to help companies with heart-related projects and services.