Americans are falling farther behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to health and life expectancy, a new study shows.
Life expectancy in the United States is expe...
Hospitals across America are shuttering their obstetric units, and the issue is most acute for women served by rural hospitals, a new study finds.
By 2022, a majority (52%) of rural U.S. hospitals no longer had any maternity ward, compared to 36% of urban hospitals, acco...
Most children and teenagers can shake long COVID within a couple of a years, a new, reassuring study finds.
About 70% of children and teens diagnosed with long COVID recover from the disorder within 24 months of their initial infection, researchers reported Dec. 4 in the...
AI can’t yet help doctors improve their ability to diagnose complex conditions, a sobering new study has found.
Doctors had about the same diagnostic accuracy whether or not they were using ChatGPT Plus, according to results published recently in the journal
More than a third of surgical patients develop complications as a result of their procedure, a new study shows.
About 38% of adult patients suffer an adverse event during or following their surgery, researchers reported Nov. 13 in the
Walking pneumonia cases are surging among young children in the United States, federal health officials warn.
"Bacterial infections caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae increased in the United States since late spring and have remained high," a
The repeated fasting required for multiple surgeries in a row can slow a patient’s recovery and increase the risk of death, a new study war...
A handheld pinprick blood test could someday deliver results in as little as an hour, a new study shows.
The portable device, which fits in the palm of a hand, uses sound waves to separate a tiny whole blood sample down into microscopic biomarkers, researchers reported O...
Following hurricane damage that shuttered a North Carolina plant that makes 60% of the country's IV fluids, U.S. health officials have invoked the Defense Production Act to hasten rebuilding of the factory.
A nationwide shortage of IV fluids has only worsened since Hurri...
Half of people who develop blood poisoning, otherwise known as sepsis, are dead within a couple of years, a new study finds.
Facing a nationwide shortage of vital IV fluids after Hurricane Helene knocked out a North Carolina production plant, officials heaved a sigh of relief at the news that a second plant in Daytona Beach, Fla., was spared by Hurricane Milton and remains functional.
Accordin...
After Hurricane Helene knocked out a North Carolina production plant for a major supplier of IV fluids for U.S. hospitals, officials said the federal government is reaching out internationally to help restore supply.
The situation could get even worse: As Hurricane Milto...
As Hurricane Milton barreled toward the west coast of Florida, hospitals in its path were making ready.
Milton is projected to make landfall a bit south of the Tampa area late Wednesday night. Long-term care facilities in counties where mandatory evacuations have been i...
AI isn’t ready to run a hospital’s emergency room just yet, a new study concludes.
ChatGPT likely would ask for unnecessary x-rays and antibiot...
Teens from minority groups seeking treatment at pediatric trauma centers are more likely than their white counterparts to be tested for drugs and alcohol.
That's the takeaway from a new study led by researchers at UCLA and Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
"Wh...
One in 14 hospital patients may be the victim of damaging diagnostic mistakes, new research suggests.
The finding is from a study of 675 patients admitted to one large hospital in Boston at various periods between July 2019 and September 2021. The patients were randomly ...
Therapy dogs can help boost the spirits of health care workers in the same way they brighten the moods of hospital patients, a new study shows.
The furry, four-legged friends reduced emotional exhaustion and
Rural hospitals – and their patients -- are particularly vulnerable to the aftershocks caused by ransomware attacks, a new study reports.
“Ransomware attacks are bad news for hospitals and pa...
Patients discharged from a hospital stay are bringing antibiotic-resistant “superbugs†home with them, a new study warns.
Family members of...
Hospitals could be frequently misdiagnosing pneumonia, causing patients to receive the wrong treatments and potentially become deathly ill, a new study fi...
The number of people who trust doctors dropped steeply during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study says.
Worse, those who lost their faith in medicine are less likely to get vaccinate...
Hospitals and clinical laboratories across the United States are facing a critical shortage of bottles used to culture blood samples, federal health officials report.
Without the ability to culture blood, patients might receive the wrong antibiotics to treat conditions l...
Youngsters so sick they’ve needed treatment in an ICU appear to bear the scars of that experience years later, a new study finds.
Children and teenagers treated in an intensive care unit have a significantly higher risk of developing a mental illness as they grow ...
After an anesthesiologist may have exposed thousands of people treated at several hospitals in Oregon to hepatitis and HIV, those patients are being advised to get tested for the diseases.
Two health care providers in Portland -- Providence and Legacy Health -- have been...
Seventeen women in nine states have fallen ill after getting fake Botox shots, with 13 of them landing in the hospital and one requiring a ventilator, a new report warns.
In the report, pu...
Many Americans like the idea of receiving hospital-level care at home, believing they'd recover from their ills faster and without safety risks.
"Patients of course want the best-quality care, but often prefer to be at home, especially if technology allows them to ...
One hospital's push to transition patients who are nearing the end of life from the emergency room to hospice care appears to be working.
After the program went into effect, 54% of ER patients at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston transitioned to hospice care within ...
Cancer patients receive less effective treatment at hospitals that mainly serve minority communities, a new study shows.
More than 9% of cancer patients are treated at hospitals...
At major medical centers across the southeast, 1 in every 20 visits to emergency departments involve people who are homeless or face "housing insecurity," a new U.S. study finds.
Concerns of suicide was the leading medical reason bringing these types of patients to the ...
Childbirth is a harrowing ordeal, and it's being made worse by mistreatment from health care providers during labor, a new study says.
More than one in every eight women are mistreated during childbirth, researchers found.
Most commonly, women's requests for help d...
It's hard for some folks who suffer illness-related urinary incontinence to judge whether they'll be able to hold it until they get home, or if they should rush to a bathroom now.
<...Americans living in areas where primary care doctors and nurse practitioners are in short supply face a greater risk for emergency surgeries and complications, new research shows.
They're also more likely to wind up back in the hospital after they've left it.
That'...
Hispanic Americans who are hospitalized and placed on ventilators have a higher risk of death than their white peers, and new research may reveal a reason why.
The study found that Hispanic patients in respiratory failure receive heavy sedation at a rate that is five tim...
Nearly half of health care workers nationwide say they've seen discrimination against patients while on the job, a new report reveals.
While 47% of health workers said they've witnessed discrimination against patients in their facilities, 52% said racism against patients...
The doctor tapped at his computer, ordering a routine prostate exam for an 80-year-old man, when a dramatic yellow alert popped up on the patient's electronic health record.
"You are ordering a test that no guideline recommends," it warned. "Screening with PSA can lead t...
Pediatric care for kids who aren't white is worse across the United States, a new study finds.
Racial inequities for children of color are pervasive, extending from neonatal care, emergency medicine and surgery to treatment of developmental disabilities, mental health is...
Palliative care is meant to ease suffering at any stage of disease, but too often many patients wait too long for this type of care to be ordered.
Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania may have come up with a solution: Make consultations regarding the need f...
The average cost of hospital care for COVID-19 patients skyrocketed during the pandemic, outstripping what might be expected under inflation, a new study shows.
Average hospital costs for COVID patients increased five times faster than the rate of medical inflation throu...
When hospitals support trauma survivors' mental health during and after treatment, patients are less likely to return in crisis, researchers report.
There's no uniform guidance on how to offer mental health services to these patients, noted lead study author
A person's toothbrush could be a true lifesaver if they land in a hospital ICU, according to new evidence review.
Regular toothbrushing is associated with lower rates of death in the intensive care unit (ICU), shorter lengths of stay, and shorter times spent on a mechani...
Nurses are less likely to discharge still-recovering Black patients to home health care than white patients, a new study has found.
About 22% of Black patients are referred to home health care by discharge nurses, compared with 27% of white patients, according to a repor...
Health care workers at America's nursing homes are woefully under-vaccinated for both flu and COVID-19, threatening their own health and that of the frail elderly patients under their care, a new report finds.
Looking at 2023 data collected at nearly 14,000 nursing homes...
Black and Hispanic Americans might be receiving worse hospital care following cardiac arrest than Whites do, a new study reports.
Only about 20% of Blacks and 22% of Hispanics admitted to a hospital after initially surviving cardiac arrest had a positive outcome, researc...
Advisors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have voted to recommend that health providers wear masks during routine care for patients who are thought to be contagious.
Still, health care workers were frustrated that the draft recommendation does not s...
Advisors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to approve new draft guidelines for hospital infection control this week, the first update since 2007.
But healthcare workers worry whether the guidelines, which suggest that surgical masks are ...
A new study on Clostridioides difficile infections finds that choosing an alternative antibiotic for high-risk patients with pneumonia can reduce infection risk.
C. diff infections can be deadly, and they are often acquired by hospitalized patients taki...
Health workers are experiencing ever-increasing levels of harassment and burnout in the wake of the pandemic, a new federal survey has found.
Reports of harassment on the job more than doubled during the pandemic years, and nearly half of health care workers often experi...
Drawing smaller amounts of blood from patients in the intensive care unit could lead to fewer blood transfusions, according to new research.
The large clinical trial in Canada found that making this small change could save tens of thousands of units of blood each year in...
When Hannah, a California marketing professional, showed up at her local emergency room in March 2023 for a pregnancy-related complication, she wasn't prepared for what happened next.
"I arrived at 2 p.m. and finally saw the obstetrics team at midnight,"she recalled.
The life-threatening infection sepsis was more common than once thought among COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic.
Massachusetts researchers linked SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, to about 1 in 6 sepsis cases at five Boston hospitals during the pandemic's fi...