Residency harvard medical school

(Reuters Health) - The medical establishment may finally be coming to grips with the issue of physician burnout. The evidence: two studies on the topic reported in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.One study found that nearly half of junior physicians were already having burnout symptoms at least one day a week.The other study underscored how hard it is to assess the problem. After reviewing previous studies, researchers found huge variations in definitions of burnout and estimated rates among doctors, which ranged from 0 to 80 percent."With two lead articles in one of the most prominent medical journals in the world, it means that burnout is now being taken seriously by the medical mainstream," said Dr. Albert W. Wu, an internist and professor of health policy & management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland."It is being endorsed at an alarming rate by physicians who range from trainees to seasoned … [Read more...] about Physician burnout taking center stage

(Reuters Health) - The shortage of general surgeons in the U.S. is projected to get worse as the number of these doctors entering the workforce each year fails to keep pace with population growth, a U.S. study suggests.Researchers predict shortages based on their estimates of population growth by 2050 and the number of medical schools and hospital-sponsored general surgery trainee positions in the U.S.By 2050, there will be a deficit of 7,047 general surgeons nationwide, researchers calculated. That's higher than the shortage of 6,000 they projected a decade ago based on the pace of population growth and new surgeons entering the job market at that point in time."Leaders in surgery have predicted a pending shortage in the general surgery workforce for more than 10 years," said lead study author Dr. E. Christopher Ellison of the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus."The impact of the general surgeon shortages on patients is measured in the timeliness of care and the … [Read more...] about General surgeon shortage growing in US

(Reuters Health) - Gender disparities in medical careers - in position, pay and publishing - start early, but even small systemic changes in training programs could begin to narrow these gaps, says a group of Harvard Medical School doctors.They noticed a difference at their hospital in how often male and female trainee doctors, known as residents, were recognized by the training program for achievements like having an article published or receiving an award. When the program made small changes to ensure accomplishments were publicized equally, the results were welcomed by both male and female trainees, the authors of an opinion piece write in the Annals of Internal Medicine."I knew my peers were publishing and doing important work, and realizing the situation at hand motivated us to change it," said coauthor Dr. Lisa Rotenstein, an internal medicine resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.Women are less likely to become full professors and receive lower salaries than their … [Read more...] about Systemic changes may reduce gender disparities in medical training

(Reuters Health) - The knowledge that getting a flu shot can help prevent flu from spreading in the community may help convince more people to get vaccinated, a U.S. study suggests.Even though doctors recommend that nearly everyone, starting at six months of age, get a flu vaccine each year, less than half of Americans follow this advice. Each person who skips their annual flu shot diminishes what's known as "herd immunity," or the potential for vaccinated residents in a community to help prevent the virus from spreading to the minority of residents who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons."The more people who are vaccinated in a community, the lower the risk that influenza will be able to spread even if the vaccine does not perfectly protect against the disease," said senior study author Nicole Basta of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis."Influenza spreads by creating chains of transmission whereby one infected person infects additional people and those individuals infect … [Read more...] about Explaining ‘herd immunity’ may convince more people to get flu shots