Medical Practice
Complementary medicine use often not disclosed to medical providers
Research reveals that 1 in 3 complementary medicine (CM) users do not disclose their use of these medicines to their medical providers, posing significant direct and indirect risks of adverse effects and harm due to unsafe concurrent use of CM and...
Missed GP appointments 'substantially' increase all-cause mortality
January 16th, 2019 Missing GP appointments is associated with early death, and those with long-term mental health conditions are at particular risk, according to a large Scotland study over three-years. Dr Ross McQueenie led the study from the University of Glasgow...Discrimination a reality for most female surgeons
More than half of female surgeons have faced or witnessed discrimination in the workplace, with orthopaedics was seen as the most sexist of all the surgical specialities, a UK survey found. The researchers were from Imperial College Healthcare...Medical providers most likely to be the culprits in health data breaches
Personal identity may fall at the mercy of sophisticated hackers on many websites, but when it comes to health data breaches, hospitals, doctors’ offices and even insurance companies are oftentimes the culprits, a US study found. Research from...
Why patients lie to their doctors
December 5th, 2018 A study has found that 60% to 80% of people surveyed have not been forthcoming with their doctors about information that could be relevant to their health. Besides fibbing about diet and exercise, more than a third of respondents didn't speak up...
Med scheme actions trigger practitioner calls to 'rein in' and 'rise up'
November 28th, 2018 The SA Private Practitioners Forum has lodged a complaint with the Council for Medical Schemes that the two largest medical schemes — Discovery and GEMS — are ‘circumventing’ payment for Prescribed Minimum Benefits. Meanwhile, at a media...
Review of SA's 15 years of compulsory community service for doctors
September 12th, 2018 The SA experience of compulsory Community Service (CS) over the first 15 years has been 'overwhelmingly positive', largely meeting objectives of redistribution of health professionals and professional development, found a University of Cape Town...
BHF calls on govt to regulate where private sector doctors work
September 5th, 2018 The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has called on the government to consider regulating where private sector doctors and specialists work, in order to distribute their services more evenly across the country, reports Business Day....
Women more likely to survive heart attack if treated by female doctor
August 8th, 2018 A large US study found higher mortality among female heart attack patients treated by male doctors than those treated by women. Male and female patients experience similar outcomes when treated by female physicians, suggesting that unique challenges...AI cannot replicate the 'gut feelings' of human doctors - MIT study
Many technology companies are working on artificial intelligence systems that can analyse medical data to help diagnose or treat health problems. Such systems raise the question of whether this kind of technology can perform as well as a human...
UCT leader should apologise for aggravating student trauma
August 1st, 2018 University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng owes students an apology for aggravating the 'trauma' students experienced at the suicide of Professor Bongani Mayosi , writes Mohammed Abdullah. "Like many former students –...
Health Science dean's suicide spotlights SA workplace stress
August 1st, 2018 The suicide of Professor Bongani Mayosi – a cardiologist‚ researcher‚ and dean of health sciences at the University of Cape Town – has been attributed some to the pressure he had to endure from abusive protesting students. It again...
Mayosi's death a reminder that actions have consequences
August 1st, 2018 Following the suicide of Professor Bonging Mayosi, South Africans cannot deny the oppositional tide unleashed against anyone who dared to speak critically about the student protests of 2015-17, writes Siseko Kumalo. Addressing the media on...Physicians at small practices have considerably lower levels of burnout
Physicians who work in small, independent primary care practices – also known as SIPs – report dramatically lower levels of burnout than the US national average (13.5% versus 54.4%), according to a study led by researchers at NYU School of...End-of-life: The disconnect between patients' wishes and physicians's beliefs
Health care leaders have for years been calling for patients to have a greater say in their care, but, dishearteningly, doctors’ beliefs outweigh patient values at the end of life, a Harvard study into cancer patients found. Stat News writes...