PAs say the new title would clarify that they work in a team and don't require direct oversight by M.D.s. Doctors say it obscures the fact that PAs have less education and training than physicians.
Determined to improve the way doctors connect with their patients, a new wave of innovators are using technology to match people of color with culturally competent professionals.
They have shouldered an outsize share of COVID-19's burden, statistics show. Many lost family members; others got sick themselves, recovered and carried on. Meet the caregivers.
An NPR poll finds that while a large majority of people using telehealth during the pandemic were satisfied, nearly two-thirds prefer in-person visits. That may foretell telehealth's future.
The pandemic has intensified burnout among health care workers. They say it's eroding their passion for the job and the quality of patient care. Here's how some of them are trying to solve it.
From 2019 to 2020, assaults on hospital staff by patients tripled at Cox Medical Center in Branson, Mo. Now personal panic buttons are being implemented to alert hospital security more easily.
About a quarter of U.S. health care workers have refused the COVID-19 vaccine as of July. They share demographic traits with other unvaccinated people and are putting hospitals in a tough spot.
At work every day, Agnes Boisvert attends to ICU patients "gasping for air" and dying from COVID-19. But communicating that harsh reality to her skeptical community has been a challenge.
As states suddenly expand the categories of people eligible for the first scarce shipments of vaccine, who will be watching to make sure those hit hardest by the pandemic aren't left behind?
One of my patients in this devastating year stands out — a veteran who'd survived PTSD, cancer and family estrangement. Assisted living raised his COVID-19 risk, but also brought him community.
The state has a law strictly regulating nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in hospitals. But the governor recently said hospitals could lift those limits in pandemic times, and nurses are crying foul.
In the U.S., front-line health care workers are likely first in line to get immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine, once the FDA says yes. But what about the rest of us? Here's what we know so far.
The rule would require health officials to review about 2,400 regulations on everything from Medicare benefits to prescription drugs approvals. Those not analyzed within two years would become void.
Gen. Gustave Perna says as soon as the FDA deems a vaccine safe and effective, his team is ready to coordinate deployment of tens of millions of doses as early as next month.
A team of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a science-based outline for deploying a vaccine when it's ready. The goal is to stop deaths and viral spread fast.
Nurses say COVID-19 patients have sometimes been housed in the same units as uninfected patients. While officials have penalized nursing homes for such failures, hospitals have seen less scrutiny.
America's rural hospitals were struggling even before the pandemic. Now, the loss of revenue from months of deferred treatments and surgeries have pulled more to the brink, as federal relief fades.
Young African American doctors say they hope to change the lack of access to medicine in underserved communities. But many say the system that trains them also alienates them.
Dr. Danielle Ofri says medical errors are more common than most people realize: "If we don't talk about the emotions that keep doctors and nurses from speaking up, we'll never solve this problem."
More than 35% of students surveyed experienced mistreatment in a U.S. medical school. "There's a direct link between this abuse and how some ... health care disparities play out," a black doctor says.
Off-duty nurses, security guards, ambulance workers and others have joined protests against racism and police brutality to work as medics. "When we see suffering, that's where we go," says one.
The unconscious man was a Beatles fan, his sister said. When she couldn't be with him in his final ICU hours she asked Dr. Daniel Colón Hidalgo to play music and say the words she wanted him to hear.
Dr. Ming Lin was let go in March from a hospital in Bellingham, Wash., after posting criticisms and suggestions on social media. The ACLU is helping him sue for damages and job reinstatement.
More than 60,000 health care workers have contracted the coronavirus, up from 9,000 in April. Workers say they face unnecessary risks because of ongoing shortages of protective gear like masks.
