Author: Devon Herrick

Nearly 334,000 Medical Providers Quit in 2021

Posted on by Devon Herrick

Public health experts have long predicted that the United States will increasingly suffer from a shortage of physicians. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the physician shortage could reach 120,000 medical providers by 2034. A new report finds that nearly 334,000 health care providers left the field in 2021. This includes doctors and nurse practitioners.

As a profession, physicians lost the most members, with 117,000 individuals leaving their roles last year, followed by nurse practitioners, which lost 53,295 members and physician assistants, with 22,704 positions vacated, according to a report published Thursday by Definitive Healthcare.

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Surgeon General Believes Toxic Workplaces are a Public Health Hazard (Seriously?)

Posted on by Devon Herrick

It seems in recent years that the definition of public health has grown to include a lot of things seemingly unrelated to public health. The age-old definition of public health includes combating infectious disease and communicable illnesses. Covid-19 is definitely something that can be passed around, as is influenza. Attempts to control the spread of deadly pathogens falls well within the area of public health.

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FDA Panel Recommends Withdrawing Premature Birth Drug

Posted on by Devon Herrick

An advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted to recommend revoking approval for a synthetic hormone called Makena. Makena is an obstetrics drug administered as a weekly injection to pregnant women at high risk of premature delivery.

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration voted Wednesday to take a drug intended to prevent premature births off the market, saying that it remains doubtful that the drug works.

The recommendation, in a 14-1 vote, from the agency’s Obstetrics, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee closed a three-day meeting on the clinical trial evidence supporting Makena, the only drug approved in the U.S. to prevent preterm births.

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