Physician burnout is high and climbing. A 2015 report published by Medscape showed that nearly half (46%) of physicians surveyed responded that they were experiencing burnout; that number is up from 39.8% reported in a similar survey in 2013.1 These physicians experience the tell-tale signs of burnout: loss of enthusiasm for work (or emotional exhaustion),…
Telling an employee that they need to improve does not conjure up warm, fuzzy feelings. In fact, many employers dread it and may get gun shy. After all, an employee could take it the wrong way, and the constructive criticism could be ill received. “This is a legitimate fear, because many people have given constructive…
Updated Oct. 22, 2015 (revised to delete inaccurate statistics) The cold, hard facts: This year’s rheumatology fellowship applicant pool resembles those of prior years. It is extremely diverse; every continent is represented, save Antarctica. It is somewhat larger, due in part to the growing influx of graduates from the cluster of Caribbean-based medical schools, where…
(Reuters Health)—Fluorescent lotion and black light revealed that healthcare workers often contaminate their skin and clothing while removing their protective gear, researchers say. This contamination can spread germs and place the healthcare workers at risk for infection, the authors write in JAMA Internal Medicine. “It was surprising for the participants in the study to see…
The American College of Rheumatology Workforce Study Group has been working diligently to develop the 2015 workforce study survey. Ten years have elapsed since the last workforce study, and much has changed since then. This study will help us understand the character and composition of the overall rheumatology workforce, identify demographic and employment trends, and…
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation)—Many of the world’s biggest challenges, such as encouraging people to buy life-saving drugs or unpicking deeply rooted sexism, can be tackled by using subtle psychological cues to change the way people behave, according to experts in London. Behavioral economics, also known as “nudging,” is about making people more likely to make…
(Reuters Health)—Going without sleep the night before does not affect the performance of doctors doing elective surgery the next morning, according to a new Ontario study that runs contrary to research demonstrating that sleep-deprived physicians pose a hazard to patients. The odds of having a surgery-related problem were 22.2% when the doctor had been treating…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Continued efforts are needed to increase the number of women and minorities in graduate medical education (GME) to ensure a diverse U.S. physician workforce, say the authors of a research letter published today. “Diversifying the physician workforce has been discussed as requisite to addressing health disparities and inequities. Minority physicians continue to…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Technologists working in nuclear medicine have a heightened risk for some cancers and myocardial infarction, according to a nationwide U.S. survey led by National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers. “Our results were mainly driven by exposures occurring before 1980, which is consistent with evidence that most cancers and other serious radiation-related chronic disease…
We all know that completely different medical conditions can create the same effects on our patients’ work lives. That is, from the employer’s purely administrative standpoint, an absence is an absence regardless of its cause. Even medical care professionals react differently to similar effects rendered by completely different circumstances. A Personnel Crisis Let me give…