21 Sep
A new study suggests ChatGPT performs as well as doctors in diagnosing emergency department patients and may shorten hospital wait times.
The gender of your doctor may play a part in your prognosis: New research shows that hospitalized patients are less likely to die if they’re treated by a female physician.
About 10.15% of men and 8.2% of women died while under the care of a female doctor, versus 10.23%...
Most seniors have embraced “doc-in-a-box” strip mall clinics and urgent care centers as a means of getting prompt medical care, a new poll has found.
About 60% of people ages 50 to 80 have visited an urgent care center or a retail health clinic during the past two ye...
It might be too soon to rely solely on machine learning for health advice, a new study finds.
After pitting the latest AI against actual human physicians, the doctors easily won, reports a team led by D...
In a letter sent to teaching hospitals and medical schools across the country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that written consent must be obtained from patients before performing sensitive procedures such as pelvis and prostate exams.
The a...
Artificial intelligence programs could be an effective way to relieve the paperwork burden that keeps doctors from seeing more patients, a new study finds.
The AI program Chat GPT can write administrative medical notes up to ten times faster than doctors without compromi...
The #MeToo movement has done little to blunt sexual harassment among health care professionals, a pair of new studies report.
More than half of all new doctors are subjected...
Americans living in areas where primary care doctors and nurse practitioners are in short supply face a greater risk for emergency surgeries and complications, new research shows.
They're also more likely to wind up back in the hospital after they've left it.
That'...
Although the pandemic has ended, staffing shortages and employee burnout still plague U.S. nursing homes, a new government report finds.
Women working in health care endure significantly more stress and burnout compared to their male co-workers, a new review concludes.
Gender inequality, a poor balance between work and life and a lack of workplace autonomy all create pressure on female health care profess...
Doctors are bailing on the profession for a reason that may surprise their patients.
It's not frustration with government rules or cumbersome insurance requirements, but problems securing suitable childcare for long and ever-changing working hours, a new survey published...
Nearly half of health care workers nationwide say they've seen discrimination against patients while on the job, a new report reveals.
While 47% of health workers said they've witnessed discrimination against patients in their facilities, 52% said racism against patients...
The doctor tapped at his computer, ordering a routine prostate exam for an 80-year-old man, when a dramatic yellow alert popped up on the patient's electronic health record.
“You are ordering a test that no guideline recommends," it warned. "Screening with PSA can lead...
A doctor or nurse might be the only person capable of convincing a vaccine-hesitant person to get the COVID jab, a new study shows.
Those who trust the medical profession are most likely to get vaccinated against COVID, despite their initial hesitancy or resistance, acco...
American physicians have mixed feelings on the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) into mainstream medical practice, a new survey shows.
The survey of nearly 1,100 doctors, conducted...
Doctor's brains are great decision-makers, but even the smartest physicians might be well-served with a little diagnostic help from ChatGPT, a new study suggests.
The main benefit comes from a thinking process known as "probabilistic reasoning" -- knowing the odds that s...
States that ban abortion could be headed to a brain drain when it comes to up-and-coming medical professionals.
Three out of four future U.S. doctors say state access to abortion is a key factor in choosing where they'll apply for their residency training, according to a...
When doctors advise patients to lose weight, an optimistic approach is more likely to get results.
Researchers found that patients were more likely to participate in the recommended program and shed pounds if doctors presented obesity treatments as an “opportunity.” ...
Health workers are experiencing ever-increasing levels of harassment and burnout in the wake of the pandemic, a new federal survey has found.
Reports of harassment on the job more than doubled during the pandemic years, and nearly half of health care workers often experi...
A breast cancer diagnosis often causes anxiety and depression, but an empathetic doctor can help.
Supportive communication is key to reducing patient uncertainty and promoting mental well-being, Rutgers University researchers have found.
“Our findings suggest tha...
Extra efforts by primary care doctors to reach out to patients who need follow-up after an abnormal cancer test result leads to better results in getting that care, a new clinical trial shows.
The trial involved nearly 12,000 patients who were receiving care at 44 primar...
The ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) program could grow into a source of accurate and comprehensive medical information, but it's not quite ready for prime time yet, a new study reports.
ChatGPT's responses to more than 280 medical questions across diverse specialtie...
Transgender people have a tough time receiving adequate medical care due to issues like voyeurism, being treated as abnormal and even being denied care due to their gender identity, a new study finds.
“I would say what I read was not surprising at all, based on things...
Helping undocumented immigrants in the United States connect with primary care doctors could be a money-saver, substantially reducing emergency department use and lowering health costs, a new study finds.
The findings are from a New York City program that helped arrange ...
Nearly one in five counties across the United States lack psychiatrists or internet service, making it difficult for around 10.5 million Americans to find mental health care, a new study shows.
The counties examined in the study were more likely to be in rural areas, ha...
A new survey of U.S. doctors specializing in the care of transgender kids finds they're alarmed by pressure to limit patient care, threats to personal and patient safety, and the possibility of legal action.
“The increasing number of bans on gender-affirming care ...
Over 3 million American children now take medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but new research shows medication errors have spiked nearly 300% in the past two decades for these kids.
The increase in ADHD medication errors parallels the increas...
It's an important health topic, but both adult patients and their primary care doctors shy away from discussing firearms and gun safety, a new survey finds.
While they may discuss a variety of health risks, firearm safety isn't often one of them, the study from Michigan ...
Asian-American medical professionals commonly experience racism from both peers and patients, claims a new survey that documented myriad slurs and a lack of support.
Researcher David Yang, an emergency medicine fellow at Yale School of Medicine, studied the issue because...
Many Medicare patients can't get help close to home for brain and nervous system issues.
Nearly 1 in 5 Medicare recipients in the United States live at least 50 miles from their neurologist.
“Our study found a substantial travel burden exists for some people with...
Many Americans are behind on recommended colon cancer screenings -- and their doctors often fail to remind them, a new study suggests.
The study, by the American Cancer Society, focused on a nationwide sample of more 5,000 Americans who were overdue for colon cancer scre...
Much has been made of how a lack of English proficiency can interfere with a patient's ability to interact with their doctor and get the best health care possible.
But language barriers can prevent cancer patients from even getting in the door for a first visit with a sp...
The field of surgery has long been dominated by men, and still is today.
But two new studies show that if patients want safe, effective long-term results, picking a female surgeon might be key.
In one study involving more than 1 million Canadian surgical patients w...
An apple a day may be just what the doctor ordered.
New research on “produce prescription” programs finds that when access to free fruits and vegetables is offered, recipients see measurable benefits in health and hunger.
“To me, this shows that there's a ver...
From receiving no response to cries for help to being verbally abused, 1 in 5 U.S. mothers say they were mistreated by a health care professional during pregnancy and delivery.
Rates of mistreatment during maternity care were higher among Black, Hispanic and multiracial ...
As the United States wrestles with soaring drug overdose deaths, new research finds that nurses, social and behavioral health care workers and health care support workers are at particularly high risk.
Compared with employed adults who are not health care workers, ...
Breakthrough new drugs that clear amyloid beta plaques from the brain are shaking up the field of Alzheimer's disease research.
The fact that patients' mental deterioration slows when they're on anti-amyloid drugs is solid proof that abnormal amyloid proteins are one of ...
The need to increase racial diversity among U.S. health care providers is important for many reasons. Among them, Black patients are more likely to believe Black physicians or patients than sources who are white, new research finds.
The race of the presenter in videos ab...
ChatGPT may have some of the reasoning skills doctors need to diagnose and treat health problems, a pair of studies suggests — though no one is predicting that chatbots will replace humans in lab coats.
People with Parkinson's disease often aren't getting the care they need for the debilitating movement disorder, a new study reports.
Three in 10 are relying on primary care doctors to treat their disorder, and 1 in 10 aren't seeing a doc at all, analysis of Medicare data...
Children with disabilities are discriminated against in health care settings -- to the detriment of their health, according to their parents.
Thirty in-depth interviews with parents of children with disabilities revealed a disturbingly common thread.
“They mistr...
Your family medical history may reveal some important details about your health, making it vital information to share with your medical provider.
It's helpful to gather what you can before your next visit with your primary care physician.
“Knowing your family his...
Physicians and scientists are experiencing alarming levels of harassment on social media, according to a new survey.
About two-thirds of respondents said they had been harassed on social media since the COVID-19 pandemic began -- up from 23.3% of physicians surveyed in 2...
Dr. Olena Postuypalenko was caring for patients at Kyiv City Clinical Oncology Center on Feb. 24, 2022, when her mother called to ask what seemed like an odd question: Has Russia invaded Ukraine?
“My mom called me and said, ‘There are explosions. Has the war begun?' ...
New York University doctors and hospital executives are using an artificial intelligence (AI) computer program to predict whether a newly discharged patient will soon fall sick enough to be readmitted.
The AI program “NYUTron” reads physicians' notes to estimate a pa...
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like ChatGPT someday may make a big difference for people seeking answers to questions such as "How can I stop smoking?" They may even offer resources to someone who was sexually assaulted.
But they're not quite there yet, a new ...
Emergency departments aren't perceived as safe for professionals or their patients, according to an international survey from the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM).
More than 90% of emergency professionals surveyed said they felt at times the number of patie...
Older Americans are increasingly likely to log into “patient portals” to access their health care information — but confidence levels vary.
About 78% of people aged 50 to 80 now use at least one patient portal, according to the new University of Michigan (U-M) Nat...
During the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the only ways to see a doctor was via video or phone appointment, and it turns out many people with cancer still prefer telemedicine visits over in-person ones.
The recent end of the U.S. public health emergency...
Only five months have passed since the world got its first taste of the ground-breaking artificial intelligence (AI) tool known as ChatGPT.
Promising a brave new world of human-machine connectivity, AI demonstrates near-instantaneous access to in-depth information on alm...
Lack of transportation isn't just a hassle. When it delays getting care, it also ups the risk of emergency room use and death in adults, new research shows.
This is especially risky for cancer patients.
“Transportation barriers prevent many patients with cancer f...