David Ferguson

The more they witness the suffering of patients, the more likely already-stressed physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers will experiencecompassion fatigue,according toan article inU.S. News & World Report.

Workplace violence is rampant in healthcare but several factors make the problem difficult to assess and solve, according to a newarticlein theNew England Journal of Medicine.

New York's medical schools are finding it hard to get their students clinical clerkship placements, an essential part of their training process. An article published this week in The Wall Street Journal explains that universities are now competing with offshore, for-profit medical programs, which are willing to pay to place their students in clinical rotations.

The current conventional wisdomholdsthathigher volume hospitals produce better outcomesin a number of surgical procedures and have lower rates of patient mortality. But a newstudypublished inApplied Health Economics and Health Policy calls that idea into question.

Rankings of so-called "Top Hospitals" can produce wildly different results depending on the questions asked and the criteria used to determine each healthcare institution's rating,according toa commentary published atMedPageToday.

Apanel of independent expertshas called for sweeping changes in the patient safety practices at the National Institute of Health'sClinical Centerin Bethesda, Maryland. The task force writes in a report that an overemphasis on research came at the expense of patient safety.

Fox Newsconsumer reporter John Stossel has a bone to pick with the U.S. healthcare system. The journalist is undergoing treatment for lung cancer at one of the highest-rated hospitals in the country. Although his prognosis is good and he trusts his doctors, he is much less enamored with the hospital'scustomer service.

The resurgence of illnesses like measles, mumps, diphtheria, pertussis and other vaccine-preventable diseases presents special problems for hospitals and healthcare institutions, particularly in their intensive care units and operating rooms, according to research published in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia.

The number of patients sickened by endoscopes carrying carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae between 2010 and 2015 is much higher than the Food and Drug Administration previously reported, according to the results of a Congressional investigation obtained byKaiser Health News.

Nurses face some of the highest levels of work-relateddepression,stressandburnoutof any profession. It may help to reduce that stress if hospitals rethink how nurses and staff fit into the healthcare chain of command while making the organizations better and more profitable places to work,according toNational Public Radio.