Medical Practice
Patients happiest with doctors in less busy practices
Doctors who see fewer patients may get better online reviews than physicians who have higher-volume practices, a study of US urologists suggests, reports Reuters Health. Researchers examined data on 665 urologists with Medicare patients in...
Clerical burden a huge driver of burnout in medicine
February 7th, 2018 A relentlessly increasing clerical burden is one of the biggest drivers of burnout in medicine, write two practitioners in the New England Journal of Medicine. In late 2016, a primary care physician with a thriving practice decided it was...SA'S family physicians make significant contribution to district health system
Though few in number, South Africa's family physicians make a significant contribution to health care in the country by helping strengthen the country's district health system and improve the health and well-being of millions who can't afford...
Why are there still so few women doctors?
January 17th, 2018 “When my friend was in her fourth year of medical school, she and her boyfriend sat down with their dean to discuss their residency applications.” Elisabeth Poorman, a primary care doctor in Everett, Massachusetts and a clinical instructor...40 days is average for cancer diagnosis in England
The average time for a patient in England to be diagnosed with cancer is 40 days, rather than the target 28 days, a study suggests. Health officials have set a target for all cancer patients to be diagnosed within 28 days by 2020. But the study...
Technology is leaving some doctors out in the cold
December 13th, 2017 The bizarre case of Dr Anna Konopka, a popular rural doctor in the US, who claims to have been barred from practice because she does not know how to use the Internet, raises important questions, writes a Yale University professor of...
UK doctors put demanding patients at risk with complaint avoidance techniques
November 29th, 2017 Patients in the UK are being put at risk because doctors are giving them drugs they do not need and sending them for unnecessary surgery to avoid a complaint being made against them, The Guardian reports research has revealed. Medics are so scared...
'The doctor will see you now… Briefly!'
November 15th, 2017 Primary care consultations last less than 5 minutes for half the world's population, but range from 48 seconds in Bangladesh to 22.5 minutes in Sweden, reveals the largest international study of its kind. Shorter consultation times have been...
Healthcare professionals keep the flu cycle rolling...
November 15th, 2017 Some four in 10 of healthcare professionals (HCPs) work while experiencing influenza-like illness (ILI), according to the findings of a US survey. As in all workplaces, contagious employees risk infecting others when they turn up for work. But with...
If the cap fits: Study into effectiveness of OR headgear
November 1st, 2017 One of the first studies testing the effectiveness of different operating room (OR) head coverings in preventing airborne contamination has found that surgeon's caps that expose small amounts of the ears and hair are not inferior to the...
Eating placenta a potentially harmful fad that 'should be discouraged'
October 25th, 2017 Post-partum placenta ingestion is potentially harmful with no documented benefit, so physicians should discourage the practice, according to a research review in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecolology. There is no professional...
A plastic traffic cone masquerades as bronchial carcinoma
October 11th, 2017 A toy traffic cone has been found in the lung of a man 40 years after he inhaled it. The Guardian reports, however, that it was originally thought that the unnamed 47-year-old man from might have cancer. He was referred to a respiratory clinic...Hospitals should re-assess pre-surgery food and fluid intakes - Free State study
Most patients start fasting too early preoperatively, consequently withholding food and oral fluids for longer than recommended, a University of Free State study found. As a result, the Universitas Hospital Annex, where the research took place, has...
GPs prescribe costly 'rubbish' homeopathic treatments
October 4th, 2017 More than 700 GPs in the UK are prescribing millions of pounds worth of useless homeopathic and herbal treatments, an Oxford University study has revealed. The research comes as the NHS announced plans to ban GPs from prescribing such remedies,...
GPs prescribing anticoagulants for AF against official safety advice
July 26th, 2017 British GPs are at times prescribing anticoagulants to patients with atrial fibrillation against official safety advice. The study was carried out by researchers at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Applied Health Research. Best...