DIGITAL Marketplace for Medical and Dental Classifieds
Volume 16 Edition 4
Circulated to over 6000 Medical & Dental Professionals
CMA Physicians on Human Cloning Study Revelation Human cloning for stem cells remains unethical, impractical and dangerous Responding to a just-released article in the journal Cell, the 16,000-member Christian Medical Association, the nation's largest faith-based association of physicians, cited ethical, practical and safety concerns regarding the cloning of human embryos to harvest stem cells. CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens noted, "Just when ethically uncontroversial stem cell techniques offer a platform for consensus on stem cell research and development, a small band of outliers want to revive the notion of cloning and destroying living human beings to harvest stem cells. As it was years ago when first attempted and discredited, human cloning remains unethical, impractical and unsafe. "Unlike methods such as iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cells) or adult stem cell research that have gained a growing consensus of approval, human cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT) requires the deliberate creation and destruction of living human embryos. "Practically speaking, iPS cells are much better and more easily created for lab models. Most importantly for the patients our physicians treat, adult stem cells already show proven superior achievement at treating patients.
cent) said they were cautionary, while 36 percent expressed a generally negative outlook. Jackson's survey also supported reports that more physicians seek employment over private practice. Respondents reporting hospital employment increased six points between 2012 and 2013 from 20 to 26 percent. The top three reasons physicians left private practice for employment included costly overhead (45 percent), practicing medicine without administrative hassles (34 percent) and reimbursement cuts (32 percent). "If we continue to devalue the experience and skills of our physicians, they will become the most expensive data entry clerks in the nation," said Jackson. Dissatisfied physicians were more likely to work 12 or more hours per day, be in a medical practice at its patient capacity and not utilizing advanced practitioner support. Other topics covered in Jackson's report include physician preferences for advanced practitioners, Medicare/Medicaid patient access and physician participation in ACOs.
Emergency department (ED) overcrowding has been a major issue nationally for 20 years and continues to increase in severity. To address this issue, a pilot study has been launched at UC San Diego Health System’s ED to use telemedicine as a way to help address crowding and decrease patient wait times. The study is the first of its kind in California to use cameras to bring on-call doctors who are outside of the hospital to the patient in need. “This telemedicine study will determine if we can decrease wait times while reducing the number of patients who leave the ED without being seen by a physician,” said David Guss, MD, principal investigator and chair of the department of emergency medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “With the ED physicians on site and an added telemedicine physician, patient care may be significantly expedited. If the use of a telemedicine evaluation can be shown to be safe and effective, it may shift how care in the emergency department is delivered.” The study, called Emergency Department Telemedicine Initiative to Rapidly Accommodate in Times of Emergency (EDTITRATE), brings telemedicine doctors to patients when the ED becomes busy. An offsite doctor is paged who then remotely links to a telemedicine station to see patients. With the aide of an ED nurse, these patients are seen based on arrival time and level of medical need. All patients must sign a consent form to participate in the study. Guided by high fidelity sound and video, the telemedicine physician can examine a patient’s eyes, ears, nose, throat and skin, as well as listen to heart and lung sounds through the module. Laboratory and imaging tests can be ordered and results reviewed. Physician ordering and documentation is accomplished through an electronic medical record. As a final step, the onsite attending physician reassesses the patient to confirm findings and actions, as well as address any unanswered patient questions. “Working in an emergency department opened around the clock, you never know who may come through the door, so you are constantly faced with the challenge of matching staffing resources with the demands for care,” said Guss. “Some emergency departments have placed a physician in the triage area to expedite care, however, if there is low demand for service during these times, an underutilized physician creates an unneeded expense.” To add to the challenge, when an on call physician is needed to augment provider resource, there can be delays in making the call or significant delay until the physician arrives. With a telemedicine doctor, the wait is just minutes.
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Forty-two Percent of Physicians Unhappy with Job Jackson Healthcare Releases 2013 National Physician Outlook and Practice Trends Report In its latest survey of the nation's physicians, Jackson Healthcare found that 42 percent of practicing physicians are dissatisfied in their job. Some are considering leaving medicine altogether, while others are considering early retirement. Physicians cite decreasing autonomy (46 percent), low reimbursement (35 percent) and administrative hassles (23 percent) as the key drivers of their dissatisfaction. Female physicians, as well as those younger than 45 years of age, reported higher levels of dissatisfaction. Fifty-three percent of physicians younger than 45 years of age who have never worked in private practice said they were dissatisfied with their careers compared with only 32 percent of physicians younger than 45 currently working in private practice. "Physicians are working harder and longer hours for less reimbursement," said Richard L. Jackson, chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare. "Plus, they feel like insurers, government and hospitals dictate how they can treat patients." When asked to gauge the outlook of their medical career in 2013 nearly half (48 per-
Pilot Program Using Telemedicine to Decrease Emergency Room Wait Times