Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medical Students Are Ditching The ER, Choosing Other Specialties
The Washington Post: Working In The ER Used To Be A Cool Job. Now Medical Students Shun It.
Daryl Traylor dreamed of becoming an emergency room doctor ever since working as an ER technician in the mid-90s helping physicians care for children who broke their arms or nearly drowned. But now he’s a first-year medical student, and those same doctors are urging Traylor not to follow in their footsteps. They warn of burnout after covid and patients’ increasing suspicion of doctors. The pay is not as good, they say, especially as hospitals rely more on nurse practitioners and physician assistants to staff emergency departments. And job prospects may be grim, they caution, as emergency medicine residency programs aggressively expanded in recent years. (Nirappil, 3/17)
Axios: Future Doctors Match Into Residencies
More medical school graduates are steering away from emergency medicine and opting for specialties like orthopedics and plastic surgery, raising concern about a field that bore the brunt of COVID-19 and remains beset by the overdose epidemic and other health crises. (Dreher and Reed, 3/20)
American Medical Association: Over 40,000 Land Spots On Match Day. What Are This Year’s Trends?
Following a trend observed for half a decade, the 2023 Main Residency Match again broke a record for offering the largest number of total positions in the program’s 70-year history: 40,375 certified spots. (Henry, 3/17)
CBS News: Match Day: Future Brain Surgeon Makes History At UPenn
The moment medical students wait for, Match Day for residency programs. For Canada Montgomery, she'll be staying at the University of Pennsylvania, her first choice. "It was very emotional," Montgomery said. "I was shocked." Her residency will be in neurosurgery. ... Montgomery will be one of only 31 Black female neurosurgeons in the United States. (Stahl, 3/17)
In other news about health care workers —
The Boston Globe: Medical Residents At Mass General Brigham Could Soon Unionize. Here’s Why
Medical residents and fellows at the state’s largest health system are preparing to unionize, frustrated that their salaries have not kept pace with the rising costs of housing and child care. If successful, the effort would create one of the largest unions of medical residents and fellows in the country, part of a wave of such unionizations. (Bartlett, 3/18)
St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis Clinics Report Shortage Of Medical Interpreters
Medical providers in St. Louis are having trouble finding people with the knowledge and language skills to be interpreters, a critical need for clinics and hospitals. Even finding interpreters for Spanish and other widely spoken languages can be taxing, said workers at local clinics. (Fentem, 3/17)
Oklahoman: Mental Health Advocates Protest Proposed Rule To Share Patients' Data
Mental health providers are demonstrating their opposition to a proposed state rule that would require them to share patient names and diagnoses information to regulators and other health professionals through a health information exchange. About 500 providers and patients gathered Saturday at noon outside of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which will consider adopting a revised rule that would require those disclosures when it meets at 2 p.m. on March 22. (Money, 3/18)
Indianapolis Star: Indiana State Senator Sued In Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Sen. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo, which is just outside Fort Wayne, is being sued for malpractice in a wrongful death lawsuit after a woman reportedly died less than an hour after his treatment. Johnson works as an ER physician. A lawsuit filed in May 2022 alleges his treatment caused 20-year old Esperanza Umana of Fort Wayne to have a heart attack resulting in her death, according to court documents. (Charron, 3/16)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: Hospital ‘Black Boxes’ Put Surgical Practices Under The Microscope
Black boxes on airplanes record detailed information about flights. Now, a technology that goes by the same name and captures just about everything that goes on in an operating room during a surgery is making its way into hospitals. The OR Black Box, a system of sensors and software, is being used in operating rooms in 24 hospitals in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe. Video, audio, patient vital signs and data from surgical devices are among the information being captured. (Sadick, 3/19)
