Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NIH's Plan To Tackle Structural Racism Faces Criticism
Stat: NIH Releases A Plan To Confront Structural Racism. Critics Say It’s Not Enough
Saying structural racism is a chronic problem throughout biomedical research and within their own walls, leaders of the National Institutes of Health Thursday unveiled a plan intended to eliminate a big gap in grants awarded to white and minority scientists and boost funding for research on health disparities. The agency, the largest funder of biomedical research in the United States, said it would also expand a program to recruit, mentor, and retain researchers from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and appoint diversity and inclusion officers at each of its 27 institutes and centers. (McFarling, 6/10)
In other news about health care personnel —
The Boston Globe: Dartmouth Medical School Drops All Cheating Sanctions Against Students
The medical school at Dartmouth College has dropped sanctions against all students it had found guilty of cheating on exams, a stunning reversal that came after students vigorously maintained their innocence. Duane Compton, dean of the Geisel School of Medicine, announced the development Wednesday in an e-mail to the medical school community, writing the decision came “upon further review and based on new information received from our learning management system provider.” He apologized for the stress the accusations put on students and vowed to restore trust. “We will learn from this and we will do better,” Compton wrote. (Krantz, 6/10)
Modern Healthcare: Poor EHR Design Leads To Nurse Burnout, Higher Surgical Patient Mortality, Study Finds
Poorly designed electronic health record systems may accelerate clinician burnout and increase risks safety risks for patients having surgery, according to a new study published in Medical Care, the journal of the medical care section of the American Public Health Association. The study, which included 12,004 nurses, 1.3 million surgical patients and 343 hospitals in four states, found that surgical patients receiving care in hospitals with poor EHR usability were 21% more likely to die in the hospital after their procedures and 6% more likely to be readmitted within 30 days than those being treated in hospitals with better EHR usability. (Christ, 6/10)
Health News Florida: USF Expanding Enrollment In Nursing Program To Meet Growing Need
The University of South Florida College of Nursing is expanding enrollment in response to a nationwide shortage of nurses due in part to the coronavirus pandemic. Health care professionals have played a major role in the nation’s response to the pandemic but it has taken a toll, especially on frontline workers like nurses. The pandemic caused many nurses to leave the profession or retire early. According to the university, more than 22% of nurses nationally are expected to leave the industry within the next year. (Marlow, 6/10)
North Carolina Health News: Residents Tackle NC Rural Health Care Provider Shortage
Later on this month, more than 550 newly graduated physicians will hang their stethoscopes around their necks, don their scrubs and begin residency training at medical centers across North Carolina. Despite a crushing need for primary care practitioners, few of those residents — roughly 1 in 4 — will train in family medicine. (Engel-Smith, 6/11)
Modern Healthcare: Providers Focus On Staff Mental Health 5 Years After Pulse Shooting
After receiving an early morning call about a mass casualty incident on June 12, 2016, Dr. Joseph Ibrahim, trauma medical director for Orlando Regional Medical Center, made his way to the hospital. At first, everything was relatively quiet and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But he was one of many clinicians aiding the victims of a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, that killed 49 and injured 53. "Once I opened the doors into the trauma bay, it was obvious that this was something on a larger scale than what I anticipated and what we had seen before," Ibrahim said. (Devereaux, 6/10)
