"Health & Medical News"

It only takes a year to start draining empathy from future physicians, according to a study of medical students in the March issue of Academic Medicine. But empathy is a key quality medical schools should promote, experts said, because it makes for better physicians.

“We know as a medical community that really good communication skills with patients help the patients to comply with the instructions of the physician,” said lead study author Bruce W. Newton, PhD. “It puts them more at ease with the physician, a bond of trust is established, and if something unfortunately goes wrong, if you have this bond and communications skills, you are much less likely to be sued.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Three Clemson University fraternity brothers were charged with furnishing the alcohol that contributed to the overdose death of an 18-year-old freshman student, the Associated Press reported Jan. 31.

The misdemeanor charges were filed against the members of Sigma Nu even though victim Benjamin Garrison Sprague was not forced to drink and prosecutors determined that their actions did not directly lead to his death.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Nearly one in ten first-year college students at a mid-Atlantic university have a cannabis use disorder (CUD), according to a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded study of drug use conducted by Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) investigators.

First-year students attending new student orientation were randomly selected to participate in a multiyear follow-up study. Overall, 9.4% of first-year students met the clinical definition for cannabis abuse (5.4%) and/or dependence (4.0%).

Popularity: unranked [?]

The millennial generation is a big topic among those who teach medical school as they seek to shape an educational experience that meshes with this group’s particular characteristics and learning styles.

“This is a new generation of students,” said Michael Kavan, PhD, national vice chair of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges’ group on student affairs and associate student affairs dean at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb. “How do we interact with them? How do we help guide them? There’s a lot of talk about it but not a lot of guidance.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

A growing number of high schools nationally are using breath tests to detect alcohol use among students attending football games, dances, and other extracurricular activities, USA Today reported Oct. 15.

Bill Judge, an attorney who advises schools on the use of drug testing, says that thousands of schools are now conducting alcohol screens using Breathalyzers and other breath tests. “It’s increased dramatically,” he said. KHN Solutions, which markets Breathalyzers, says orders from high schools have risen 120 percent annually over the past four years, and other sellers also report rising orders.

Popularity: unranked [?]

The largest medical school expansion since the 1970s is taking place, fueled by growing alarm that not enough new physicians are graduating each year to keep up with the needs of a surging U.S. population.

With some work force experts estimating that by 2020 the country will need anywhere from 85,000 to 200,000 more physicians than the existing pipeline can produce, nearly all of the nation’s 149 medical schools have increased enrollment or are considering it. Among allopathic medical schools, at least 10 new ones are under discussion, eight existing schools have added new campuses and five new schools are in the process of opening. Osteopathic medical schools have added 10 new campuses since 2003.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Students who earn good grades in school are less apt to use alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, according to researchers from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

Science Daily reported Oct. 6 that researchers studied a group of 3,000 students from about age 14 to age 22 and found that those who set an early pattern of educational achievement were less likely to smoke, drink, or take drugs.

Popularity: unranked [?]

About 12 percent of U.S. schools now drug-test students, and another 10 percent are reportedly considering doing so. But the policy still generates plenty of controversy and debate, NBC News reported Sept. 10.

Springfield, Mo., parent Maryellen Stratmann believes that drug testing at her son’s Catholic high school “might help identify a teen who needs help. We also think it makes the campus a safer place, since drugs can interfere with an individual’s ability to make good decisions.”

Popularity: 6% [?]