Healthcare News and Policy

Learn about different topics in healthcare policy and how current and future healthcare professionals can work in and shape our healthcare system.

Healthcare In Occupied Palestine: The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

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The challenges of providing healthcare in an occupied territory

Steve Sosebee is the president and CEO of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. He’s married to Dr. Zeena Salman, a pediatric oncologist working with the PCRF. For 25 years, PCRF has been leading medical missions to help children in the Middle East, helping children get medical treatment abroad, and delivering humanitarian aid. Their recent visit to the Carver College of Medicine gave Short Coats Reem Khodor, Ethan Craig, and Nico Dimenstein a chance to sit down with them to discuss the challenges and realities of working to provide healthcare within the confines of an occupied territory.

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What Lies Ahead in the Healthcare Industry

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When you applied to medical school, you probably had an excellent answer to the question “why do I want to become a doctor?” If that answer is still valid for you today, when you are ready to embrace healthcare as your career, you should know the road ahead is not always a smooth sailing through a field of roses. There are plenty of challenges ahead, and today we will look at some of them to keep you prepared for the future.

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The Power of Listening: What I Learned From My Trip to Rwanda, Africa

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listening

I woke up abruptly from my jet-lagged sleep surrounded by a bed net, two fans, and the smell of the DEET bug spray I had applied before going to bed. One of my team members was knocking on the door, saying that a large group of women was already outside the hostel where we were staying and had been waiting for us to come out. I was surprised to find out they had been coming every morning, anticipating our arrival, but I also realized how different this place had already become in my mind.

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Refusing to Treat: A Collision of Medicine and Conscience

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Do doctors need protection from having to provide treatments they don’t believe in?

During Human Rights Week at the Carver College of Medicine, we heard some hard truths from national news commentator, human rights activist, and podcaster Angela Rye. In her speech to the College of Medicine, she clued white people in on what black Americans face every day in 2017.  She also pointed out that Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was just the beginning of his activism.  Meanwhile,  Mackenzie Walhof, Joyce Wahb, Claire Casteneda, and Gabe Conley discuss the department of Health and Human Services announcement that it would be forming a department to protect doctors from having their religious rights infringed. Do doctors need protection so they can refuse to treat as a matter of conscience?  Or do they self-select what they do and don’t do by where they practice and what they specialize in?

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State Exchange Program Helps Healthcare Students With No In-State School Option

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No available or affordable program for your healthcare profession in your home state? Take heart! Students in Western U.S. states  do  have access to affordable professional degree programs in nearly a dozen healthcare specialties, thanks to the  Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s (WICHE)  Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP).

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Medical Families Affected By Hurricane Harvey

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Today I woke up groggy after a night of restless sleep. I tossed and turned thinking about this storm – what has happened and what is yet to come. The devastation is unfathomable and it’s not even over yet.

I live in Galveston, TX and my husband is PGY-2 Family Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). I have grown to absolutely love the people, culture, and the medical community here. Our group of medical families is strong and we have adopted each other like family. I am so incredibly grateful for these friends, especially as we go through this heartbreaking and challenging time together.

Last week when we heard that Hurricane Harvey was coming, it looked like Galveston would be a target. It has been in the past with storms such as Hurricane Ike in 2008. Many people who work in Galveston choose not to live on the island because of the threat of storms. The mainland is supposed to be the safer option. Not this time.

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