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Medical Practice
Would you trust a 90-year-old doctor?
Daily, doctors must use sophisticated cognitive skills, and – depending on the specialty – fine-tuned manual dexterity, but these sometimes decline with age, leading...
Doctor at every primary healthcare clinic vital – KZN study
Not all government clinics have doctors on their teams but the skills and knowledge of a medical doctor in such settings were absolutely critical...
Study shows obvious gender bias in patient advice on heart disease
Although guidelines for preventing heart disease stress that patients, irrespective of sex, should focus on things like good eating and exercise habits, maintaining a healthy weight,...
Modern twist to Hippocratic Oath
Medical school administrators, including those at Columbia, Yale, Washington University, and Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, are putting a contemporary spin on oaths,...
Life after dark for hospital 'nocturnists'
Long hours and sleep deprivation are nothing new to hospital physicians, yet it may seem counterintuitive that health professionals would choose a path that...
New US guidelines recommend weight loss drugs for obesity
For the first time, long-term use of four approved anti-obesity drugs has been strongly recommended for adults unable to lose weight through lifestyle changes...
How doctors can deal with rising scepticism of patients
It can be extremely frustrating for doctors when patients question or disbelieve their physician’s medical advice and explanations, and many medical professionals resent the...
Blood pressure: standing readings outperform seated
Standing office blood pressure (BP) readings, alone or in combination with seated BP readings, outperform seated BP readings for the initial diagnosis of hypertension,...
NHS trials new £12m non-medical intervention programme
In efforts to relieve the pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) in England, and to improve the population’s physical and mental health, doctors...
Hospital-at-home concept grows in popularity
South African patients, who would normally be admitted to hospital for acute-level care, are choosing to have the same services in the comfort of...
SA nursing under threat as UK, Canada lure staff to address crippling shortages
The global crisis of medical staff shortages – particularly nurses – is worsening, with South Africa by no means the only country critically affected....
Scientists call for stigma education after study reveals strong 'weight bias'
Overweight and obese patients are often shamed over their weight by doctors and nurses due to unconscious biases, resulting in them often avoiding appointments,...
The obstacles stifling nurse training in SA
South Africa’s nursing workforce is ageing, and existing nurse shortages may well get worse rather than better in the coming years, writes Thabo Molelekwa...
Medical posts added to revised Critical Skills List – finally
In a major concession by government to the growing medical staff crisis, the revised Critical Skills List – gazetted on 2 August – includes...
How therapeutic fashion trumps medical evidence
Profit motives and fear of missing out or going against the trend, has led to health professionals following therapeutic fashions instead of questioning accepted...
The high price medical whistle-blowers have to pay
Medical whistle-blowers face victimisation, intimidation and assassination, writes MedicalBrief. New information indicates that chief accountant Babita Deokaran flagged potentially fraudulent Tembisa Hospital contracts worth...
More than 90% of British women doctors experienced workplace sexism
A campaign highlighting the sexism, harassment and misogynism endured by female healthcare workers has been launched after a British Medical Association survey showed 91%...
Moonlighting drains specialist care at state hospitals
At least a quarter of senior government doctors and specialists are abusing a dual-practice system allowed by the state by working both jobs at...
Tired night duty doctors biased in pain management – Israeli-US study
Exhaustion, burnout and ‘physician fatigue’ have a negative impact not only on doctors’ well-being, but also on patient care, a study has showed. According...
Researchers call for structural and cultural change to address physicians suicide
Physician burnout and suicide are a growing public health concern, with one in 15 physicians experiencing suicidal ideation. Studies consistently show that they are...
Scathing ruling against state's bid to control where doctors work
The Department of Health’s plans to control where doctors work have been dealt a blow by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) which has declared...
UK pharmacists to assess symptoms, refer patients to cancer specialists
Pharmacists in the UK will now be allowed to check people for potential signs of cancer and refer them for hospital check-ups. The National Health...
Exhausted medical staff as dangerous on roads as drunk drivers
About half of all sleep-deprived hospital doctors and nurses have had accidents or experienced near misses while driving home after a night shift, and...
NHI fears increase pessimism among medical professionals
The National Health Insurance (NHI) has led to widespread uncertainty and pessimism among health professionals, with a number of them losing confidence in their...
Anti-fat bias training for doctors in the US
Physicians are less likely to respect patients who are overweight or obese, with doctors often approaching the practice of medicine with an anti-fat bias,...
Demise of the white coats – more casual attire now the trend
With fewer and fewer physicians wearing the traditional white coats these days, there’s an increasing tendency for patients to mis-identify them.
While more doctors now...
GPs told: No more taking tests, sending patients home, or medicine that fails to work
No more taking tests, sending a patient home, or medicine that fails to work. “Outdated medical language that casts doubt, belittles, or blames patients...
GPs worldwide harshly impacted psychologically by pandemic – Meta-analysis
The pandemic has left many GPs worldwide feeling depressed, anxious and burned out, found a systematic review led by the University of York and published...
Harassment of US public health officials widespread in pandemic – Johns Hopkins
More than a third of local and state public health officials in the US who resigned or were fired in the first 10 months...
‘Just a hernia’: The common operation with recurrence and complication rates stuck in the 1990s
Hernia repair is one of the most common operations performed and is widely viewed as a simple procedure carrying minimal risk, writes MedicalBrief. Yet...
Seeing the same GP consistently has major health benefits for dementia sufferers
Dementia patients who see the same GP every time are 35% less likely to develop delirium, almost 60% less likely to experience incontinence, 10%...
Despite workplace improvements, US junior doctors have high depression risk
A 13-year effort to track the mental health of new doctors in their most stressful time of training shows that despite workplace improvements, that...
Critical remarks by a medical colleague spark ‘most negligence claims’
Around 60% of patients taking action against healthcare professionals said they only considered doing so when another healthcare professional suggested they had received sub-standard...
COVID-related stress levels higher in paramedics than doctors — COVISTRESS survey
Worldwide in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals demonstrated very high stress levels, with the risk more acute for paramedical staff...
Getting to see a British GP is ‘like breaking into Fort Knox’
Unlike other NHS health care workers during the pandemic, many British GPs have become invisible to their patients, avoiding face-to-face consultations at any cost,...
‘Compassion fatigue’ Mpumalanga physician won’t see unvaccinated patients
The decision by a Mbombela specialist physician not to accept at his practice patients who are not vaccinated has caused a social media debate...
Severe traumatic brain injury: Don’t be too hasty in pulling the plug
Recent research adds to a body of evidence indicating decisions about withdrawing life-sustaining treatment for patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) should not...
‘Compassion fatigue’ Mpumalanga physician won’t see unvaccinated patients
The decision by a Mbombela specialist physician not to accept at his practice patients who are not vaccinated has caused a social media debate...
Black NHS surgeons ‘promoted far less than white colleagues’
Black surgeons are far less likely to be promoted than their white colleagues, according to what the Royal College of Surgeons described as a...
A two-minute strategy can get your patients vaccinated against COVID
Gastroenterologist Dr Chau Che has developed a two-minute strategy aimed at persuading patients of the importance of being vaccinated against COVID-19. In MedpageToday, she...