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Medical Practice
Doctors are ambivalent about the looming catastrophe of ‘long COVID’
The medical community has been ambivalent about recognising “ long COVID” as a legitimate disease or syndrome, partly because it currently has no accepted...
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...
Female surgeons face more major pregnancy complications
A US study in JAMA Surgery found that 48% of surveyed female surgeons experienced major pregnancy complications, with those who operated 12-or-more hours per week...
COVID-19: A ready-reference of current and failed treatments
Under the ferocious onslaught of COVID-19, there’s been a scramble not only to find new medicines but to repurpose old ones, writes MedicalBrief. Not...
AI outperforms humans in creating cancer treatments — but doctors balk
The impact of deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) for radiation cancer therapy in a real-world clinical setting has been tested by Canadian researchers in a...
FDA's approval of aducanumab will bring enormous pressure on doctors
Alzheimer's treatment aducanumab (Aduhelm) won controversial US Food and Drug Administration approval this week, writes MedicalBrief. With no eligibility restrictions imposed in the decision,...
A fifth of IVF cases in UK are now over-40s women
Over the past three decades, there’s been a 20-fold increase to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment for UK women in their 40s, who now comprise...
US patients' new electronic access to records hits snags
Since last month, US health care providers must, upond request and without delay, give patients free electronic access to their health information, reports Kaiser...
Accurate medical record keeping 'not to be underestimated'
The importance of accurate medical record keeping cannot be underestimated for its vital role in providing evidence in medical malpractice litigation, says Johannesburg lawyer Natasha...
CDC's health sector masking guidelines were a deadly mistake
Until a month ago, the gold-standard guidelines on health sector mask usage were based on the belief that N95 masks should be reserved for...
Pandemic resulted in 30% cut in SA procedures and year-long backlog
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a paradigm shift in the management and risk-stratification of patients presenting for both elective and emergency surgery, write researchers at...
'Moral distress' significantly link with burnout in ICU clinicians during COVID-19
While clinicians working in the ICU experienced burnout symptoms during COVID-19, several were significantly associated with "moral distress," such as scarcity of resources and...
High stress prompts nearly half of younger SA doctors to consider quitting — Philips survey
Work-related stress levels are so high that 43% of younger South African healthcare workers have considered leaving the profession. The Future Health Index 2020 produced by Philips South Africa also reveals, however, that younger doctors have...
Need For Recovery among UK emergency care doctors at highest level yet
A survey of more than 4,000 UK emergency care doctors has shown that they need more support to recover from work pressures between shifts....
Telemedicine: The end of the physical examination can mean losing touch
Because of COVID-19, primary care practice has moved to teleconsultations and the physical examination has fallen out of use. A US doctor muses on the...
Doctors are failing nicotine addicts, international experts warn
Too many doctors and other healthcare professionals fail to properly support nicotine addicts and fall short of their immediate duty of care – let...
Cash incentives for GPs led to sharp fall in abortion rates
A scheme that gave GP surgeries cash incentives to tell women about long-acting reversible methods of contraception has been linked to a sharp fall...
Many asthma patients exposed to high oral corticosteroids doses
More than one quarter of 120,000 Australian asthma patients have been prescribed potentially dangerous amounts of steroid tablets, with researchers warning this puts them...
Having a doctor who shares the same race may ease patient's angst
When doctors are the same race as their patients, it can sometimes forge a sense of comfort that helps to reduce anxiety and pain,...
Pandemic's boost of telemedicine in mental health care – evidence review
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about rapid innovation in mental health care, and the move to telemedicine is likely here to stay to at...
The menopause taboo: Female doctors are retiring early
A British Medical Association survey shows that 90% of doctors in the relevant age group believe that menopause has affected their work performance. Yet...
Backlash to UK call for GP's to have virtual consultations only
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is facing a backlash from patient and medical groups after declaring that all consultations should be conducted virtually unless...
Clinicians ignore international guidelines on minimum effective dose for asthma
A large UK study found that asthma patients were increasingly prescribed higher levels of treatment, often without clear clinical indication for such high doses,...
Only 30% of paediatricians fully follow guidelines on peanut allergy prevention
While 93% of US paediatricians surveyed were aware of the national guidelines on peanut allergy prevention in infants, only 30% were fully implementing the...
Med scheme support sought for distressed private practitioners
COVID-19 has slashed patient numbers, leaving many private doctors in financial distress and worsening patient health outcomes, writes MedicalBrief. While private health offers to...
Declines in US patient visits during pandemic will cost GPs $65,000 each
US primary care practices are projected to lose more than $65,000 in revenue per full-time physician in 2020, following drastic declines in office visits...
The medical specialisations most at risk of contracting COVID-19
The doctor in China who risked his job to warn the world about COVID-19 was not a frontline emergency medicine or ICU doctor. Dr...
Primary care physicians experience more burnout and anxiety
Clinician burnout is a growing public health concern, with the National Academy of Sciences reporting that 35-54% of US nurses and physicians exhibit substantial...
Most critically ill COVID-19 patients survive with standard treatment
Clinicians from two US hospitals report that the majority of even the sickest patients with COVID-19 - those who require ventilators in intensive care...
Telemedicine experience with COVID-19 may transform future practice
The rapid increase in virtual visits during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic could transform the way physicians provide care in the United States...
COVID-19: Intensive Care Society issues new guidelines on ‘proning’
Following a national survey, the UK's Intensive Care Society has issued guidelines on "proning", a technique usually applied to unconscious patients on ventilation, which...
COVID-19 health workers face stress-based trauma and insomnia
More than a third of medical staff involved in the Covid19 outbreak in China suffered from insomnia, and these sleep-deprived health workers also were...
Age-based triage looms in Italy and UK for allocation of ventilators and ICU beds
Italy's pressured health services has issued guidelines on the rationing of ventilators and intensive care beds, as patient demand escalates, while in the former...
SA doctors at the sharp end over COVID-19 treatment protocols
COVID-19 has barely hit South Africa and already our over-extended healthcare professionals are coming under enormous pressure from fearful and abusive patients, as well...
NICD's guidelines for SA's GPs in treating COVID-19
For many people suspecting they've been infected with the new coronavirus, general practitioners (GPs) will be the first people they turn to. News24 reports...
NHS ends deathbed goodbyes during COVID-19. Use Skype, families are told
Dying patients should be encouraged to say goodbye to their families over Skype during a major coronavirus outbreak, according to official guidance issued to...
NHS tells GPs to replace face-to-face with remote consultations
Millions of patients in the UK will have face-to-face appointments with their general practitioner (GP) replaced by telephone or video consultations under National Health...
Doctors prone to moral distress when caring for cognitively-impaired elderly
Compromised professional integrity, which correlates with burnout and depression, is often experienced by doctors treating older, cognitively-impaired adults who have surrogate decision-makers, a US...
Western Cape Health gets its nose bloodied over 'stolen' broken armchairs
A vindictive, protracted and costly campaign by Western Cape Health against three young doctors for “unlawfully removing two blue chairs with the intent to...
Late diagnosis by GPs link to lung cancer mortality — UK report
More than half of lung cancer patients in some parts of the UK are only diagnosed when they visit A&E, often because their GPs...