While it has long been understood that clinical practice influenced the youthful writing of doctor-authors like Chekhov and William Carlos Williams, there is now emerging evidence that exposure to literature and writing during residency training can influence how young doctors approach their clinical work. By bringing short stories, poems and essays into hospital wards and medical schools, educators hope to encourage fresh thinking and help break down the wall between doctors and patients.
The field of global health, once perhaps regarded as a noble humanitarian endeavor aimed at healing and helping the world's poorest people, is now becoming something of an "emerging industry" that the Seattle business community sees as a highly competitive enterprise. That was the gist of a three-day conference sponsored by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The meeting also launched a new organization called the Washington Global Health Alliance.
The president of Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, TX, said he must eliminate 17 positions because of the weak economy and tough competition among North Texas hospitals. Fewer people are coming to the hospital, said Philip Wentworth, the hospital's president, in an Oct. 20 letter to workers. "Reduced volumes reflect another national trend of consumers, due to the state of today's economy, opting to postpone elective procedures and diagnostic testing," Wentworth said.
A jury has awarded the parents of a brain-damaged Wisconsin boy $11.4 million in a medical malpractice case. Chad and Amy Jelinek claimed in a 2006 lawsuit that negligent care by a nurse and nurse midwife at Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, WI, resulted in brain injuries to their son Laine during his birth in 2005. A Crawford County jury sided with the Jelineks after a three-week trial.
Five centuries ago, Leonardo da Vinci's intricate drawings transformed understanding of the human heart. Now a new computer model promises to do the same for modern-day cardiac care, experts say. The model is so realistic its four chambers beat in the same asymmetrical rhythm on screen as does a real heart in the human body. The model is the work of three British doctors who say the creation will improve both training and care during surgery.
Half of all American doctors responding to a nationwide survey say they regularly prescribe placebos to patients, results that trouble medical ethicists who say more research is needed to determine whether doctors must deceive patients in order for placebos to work. "This is the doctor-patient relationship, and our expectations about being truthful about what's going on and about getting informed consent should give us pause about deception," said Franklin G. Miller, director of the research ethics program at the U.S. National Institutes Health and one of the study authors.
A survey taken last month shows that 78% of voters say healthcare is a very important or extremely important issue. Both presidential candidates have promised that, if elected, they'll propose significant changes to the way Americans purchase health insurance. The process as it currently stands is often cumbersome and confusing, and has left 47 million people in the United States uninsured.
Doctors and hospital executives say collecting payments from insurers has become an expensive headache that is driving up the nation's healthcare costs. Billing disputes and protracted payment delays are one consequence of a massive consolidation among health insurers that has created de facto monopolies in much of the country, according to findings. In response, the insurance industry lays much of the blame for billing problems on doctors and hospitals.
Birmingham, AL-based Physicians Medical Center Carraway is closing after 100 years and filed for bankruptcy protection to liquidate the assets. The bankrupt hospital transferred its last patient to another hospital late on October 22, for a total of 88 patients discharged or transferred since Physicians Carraway announced its closure two days earlier. This is the second bankruptcy for the hospital. A group of 52 local doctors bought Carraway Methodist Medical Center at a bankruptcy auction in November 2006 and attempted to revive the struggling institution, but they suffered from too little operating capital and too few patients.
Louisiana's efforts to improve healthcare outcomes must put more power in the hands of doctors and patients and should also include broad public health measures, said Gov. Bobby Jindal. The administration is weeks away from unveiling a sweeping overhaul of the $7.5 billion-a-year Medicaid program for the poor, elderly, and disabled. The Louisiana Health First plan would turn over large chunks of the program to privately run managed-care organizations, which would oversee the healthcare of as many as 380,000 residents, mainly children.
