Writing op-eds won’t solve N.J. doctor shortage | Letter
Updated Dec 21, 2020;
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In their recent op-ed, ”Here’s how we fix New Jersey’s doctor shortage ….,” U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., and Bill Pascrell Jr.,D-9th Dist., correctly identify the cap on the number of graduate medical education slots in New Jersey (and the rest of the country) as the main cause of the physician shortage.
What the lawmakers fail to address is the reason for that cap. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985 set this cap because the primary source of funding for these residency slots is the Medicare system. In order to increase the cap, Medicare funding would need to increase. Since that system is already on the brink of bankruptcy, that can’t happen without a substantial increase in Medicare revenue supported by taxes.
, in-person
operations anytime soon, according to experts.
New Jersey’s plan places essential workers including school staff in a top tier of people who could receive vaccines in mid-January through February. But it will take time to administer vaccines and, even then, people could still be contagious even if they don t show symptoms.
“If we can get 150 million people vaccinated [in the U.S.], and we can then in the summer hopefully get children vaccinated before school, then maybe next fall we can begin to think about what normal looks like,” said Dr. Lawrence Kleinman, professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “We’re not going to be able to approach that for a sizable length of time.”
Reducing Infectious Diarrhea in Organ Transplant and Leukemia Patients by Pooja Shete on December 10, 2020 at 1:00 PM
The most common form of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients is caused by bacteria Clostridium difficile. Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) results in inflammation of the colon.
The most vulnerable population to develop CDI are those patients undergoing blood and bone marrow transplant (BMT) due to their prolonged hospitalization and previous exposure to antimicrobials.
The members of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey examined the use of a low dose of oral vancomycin. At higher dose, vancomycin is used to treat CDI and it is the first and only intervention that decreased CDI rates in a five-year period.
3 months old
Vaccine progress is fantastic. But therapeutics can help Covid patients now
JayanthVatsonandSabihaHussain
This article is more than 3 months old
Vaccine development has gotten the lion’s share of funding - leaving important therapeutic trials ignored and underfunded
‘The development and distribution of a truly effective vaccine will take time – time during which people will continue to become infected, hospitalized, and die as a result of Covid-19.’ Photograph: Sanjeev Gupta/EPA
‘The development and distribution of a truly effective vaccine will take time – time during which people will continue to become infected, hospitalized, and die as a result of Covid-19.’ Photograph: Sanjeev Gupta/EPA