Three Ways to Celebrate PA Week

Here are three ways to celebrate PAs, while also raising awareness of the profession’s significant impacts on healthcare, from October 6th through 12th.

National PA Week is an annual week-long event, from October 6th through October 12th, which aims to not only celebrate the profession, but educate the public in regards to the value PAs add to healthcare.

Here are three ways to celebrate, while also raising awareness.

Take to Social Media

Raise awareness for PAs by using the hashtag #PAWeek while you celebrate your profession and peers across social media, or better yet, share the AAPA produced “Your PA Can Handle It” video.

Get Political

Advocate for your profession on Capitol Hill by joining the only federal healthcare Political Action Committee (PA PAC) dedicated to advancing the PA profession. To learn more about or to join the PA PAC, please click here.

Make a Small Donation

A great way to make a difference for PAs nationwide is by making a small monetary donation to the PA Foundation’s Pay It Forward campaign. This is a great way to honor a peer or mentor, while also making a lasting impact.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Drugmakers Play The Patent Game To Lock In Prices, Block Competitors

Drug companies typically have less than 10 years of exclusive rights once a drug hits the marketplace. They can extend their monopolies by layering in secondary patents.

Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News

David Herzberg was alarmed when he heard that Richard Sackler, former chairman of opioid giant Purdue Pharma, was listed as an inventor on a new patent for an opioid addiction treatment.

Patent No. 9861628 is for a fast-dissolving wafer containing buprenorphine, a generic drug that has been around since the 1970s. Herzberg, a historian who focuses on the opioid epidemic and the history of prescription drugs, said he fears the patent could keep prices high and make it more difficult for poor addicts to get treatment.

“It’s hard not to have that reaction of, like … these vultures,” said Herzberg, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo.

James Doyle, vice president and general counsel of Rhodes Pharmaceuticals, the Purdue subsidiary that holds the patent, said in an email statement that the company does not have a developed or approved product and “therefore no money has been made from this technology.”

“The invention behind the buprenorphine patent in question was developed more than a dozen years ago,” he wrote. “If a product is developed under this patent, it will not be commercialized for profit.”

Yet, the patenting of a small change in how an existing drug is made or taken by patients is part of a tried-and-true pharmaceutical industry strategy of enveloping products with a series of protective patents.

Drug companies typically have less than 10 years of exclusive rights once a drug hits the marketplace. They can extend their monopolies by layering in secondary patents, using tactics critics call “evergreening” or “product-hopping.”

Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, a patent law expert at Stanford University, said the pharmaceutical industry gets a greater financial return from its patent strategy than that of any other industry.

AztraZeneca in 2001 famously fended off generic versions of its blockbuster heartburn medicine Prilosec by patenting a tweaked version of the drug and calling it Nexium. When Abbott Laboratories faced multiple generic lawsuits over its big moneymaker Tricor, a decades-old cholesterol drug, it lowered the dosage and changed it from a tablet to a capsule to win a new patent.

And Forest Laboratories stopped selling its Alzheimer’s disease drug Namenda in 2014 after reformulating and patenting Namenda XR to be taken once a day instead of twice.

Another common strategy is to create what Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb calls “patent thickets,” claiming multiple patents for a single drug to build protection from competitors. AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira has gained more than 100 patents, for example.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awards patents when an innovation meets the minimum threshold of being new and non-obvious. Secondary patents are routinely granted to established drugs when an improvement is made, such as making it a once-a-day pill instead of twice a day, said Kristina Acri, an economist and international intellectual property expert at the Fraser Institute and Colorado College.

“Is there a better way? Maybe, but that’s not what we’re doing,” Acri said.

The controversial patent that Sackler and five co-inventors obtained is widely known as a “continuation patent.” (The original patent application for the wafer was filed in August 2007.)

Continuation patents do not necessarily extend the patent life of a drug, but they can have other uses. In 2016, Rhodes filed a lawsuit against Indivior alleging patent infringement.

Indivior, formerly part of Reckitt Benckiser, sells a film version of the popular addiction treatment drug Suboxone that is placed under the tongue — an oral medicine similar to what Rhodes has patented. Indivior’s comes in a lime flavor.

Indivior’s film, which federal regulators approved in 2010, dominates the market with a 54 percent average market share, according to the company’s most recent financial report. And the company has vigorously fought rivals, including filing lawsuits against firms such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which sought approval to manufacture generic versions. Indivior declined to comment.

The Rhodes Pharmaceuticals version would be a wafer that melts quickly in the mouth. The inventors list potential flavors including mint, raspberry, licorice, orange and caramel, according to the patent.

For opioid historian Herzberg, the patent battles between companies like Rhodes and Indivior are “absolute madness.”

Decisions on what is available on the market to treat addicts should be based on what is the best way to treat the people who have the problem, he said.

Patent battles, Herzberg said, are “not how you want drug policy getting made.”

Attempts to change the patent system have intensified over the past decade as prices of prescription drugs continue to climb.

In 2011, President Barack Obama signed the America Invents Act, which included the creation of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The PTAB is an alternative to using the cumbersome U.S. court system to challenge weak patents. Generic drug manufacturers have used the board’s “inter partes review” process and overturned 43 percent of the patents they challenged, according to recent research.

Critics of the administrative process, including the pharmaceutical industry trade group PhRMA, said it creates “significant business uncertainty for biopharmaceutical companies.” Often companies have to defend their products twice — both in the courts as well as before the PTAB, said Nicole Longo, PhRMA’s director of public affairs.

Drug giant Allergan attempted to overcome the PTAB’s review process by arguing that the patent couldn’t be challenged at the review board because they sold the patent to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which had sovereign immunity. A federal appeals court ruled this summer that Allergan could not shield its patents from the PTAB review this way.

This year, several members of Congress proposed bills that would unwind or limit changes made by the America Invents Act, though nothing is likely to happen before the midterm elections. The STRONGER Patents Act, introduced in both the House and Senate, would weaken the PTAB board by aligning its claims standards with what has been established by court rulings.

KHN’s coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Stark Facts About Opioid Misuse in the U.S.

Physical therapy is a viable alternative to opioid use. Yet, nearly 48,000 Americans died due to opioid related overdoses last year.

The news about the opioid crisis faced by the United States continues its grim and downward path. As chronicled in the latest HHS report, overdose deaths in 2017 increased by almost 10% over 2016, killing more than 70,000 Americans. Nearly 70% of those deaths were due to opioid overdose, with the sharpest upsurge seen in deaths from the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

It is no secret that physical therapy is a viable alternative to these deadly drugs, and the CDC has gone so far as to recommend nondrug approaches, such as physical therapy, over long-term or high-dosage use of addictive prescription painkillers.

In the September 20th HHS news release, Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, stated, “Medication-assisted treatment combined with psychosocial therapies and community-based recovery support is the gold standard for treating opioid addiction.”

As a therapy professional, here are some facts to arm yourself with in the fight against opioid addiction.

  • Every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids, and additionally, more than 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids.
  • Roughly 21% to 29% of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them.
  • An estimated 4% to 6% of those who misuse prescription opioids transition to heroin.
  • The CDC estimates that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse in the U.S. amounts to $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, loss of productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice costs.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Celebrate National PT Month by Giving Back

October is National Physical Therapy Month. Consider celebrating by giving back via the Global PT Day of Service and impact change around the world.

Physical Therapy is, at its heart, a giving profession. So, it’s incredibly fitting that National Physical Therapy Month be celebrated every October by scores of PTs who participate in the Global PT Day of Service, which will be taking place this year on October 13th.

The official PT Day of Service website encourages participation by, “Treating at a pro bono clinic. Working in a soup kitchen. Cleaning up a park. No matter where or how, we have the ability to positively impact change.”

Last year’s PT Day of Service brought together PTs from 55 countries to help better communities around the world.

To pledge your service this year, please click here.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Celebrate National PT Month by Giving Back

October is National Physical Therapy Month. Consider celebrating by giving back via the Global PT Day of Service and impact change around the world.

Physical Therapy is, at its heart, a giving profession. So, it’s incredibly fitting that National Physical Therapy Month be celebrated every October by scores of PTs who participate in the Global PT Day of Service, which will be taking place this year on October 13th.

The official PT Day of Service website encourages participation by, “Treating at a pro bono clinic. Working in a soup kitchen. Cleaning up a park. No matter where or how, we have the ability to positively impact change.”

Last year’s PT Day of Service brought together PTs from 55 countries to help better communities around the world.

To pledge your service this year, please click here.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

80,000 Flu Deaths Reported in the U.S. in 2017

900,000 Americans were hospitalized and 80,000 Americans, including a record-breaking 180 children, died from the flu during the 2017-2018 season.

900,000 Americans were hospitalized and 80,000 Americans died from the flu during the 2017-2018 season, according to figures released during a news briefing held last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). This is the highest flu-related death toll in over a decade, according to federal health officials.

Among the 80,000 dead were 180 children under 18, the highest reported death toll of any non-pandemic year since the CDC began tracking pediatric deaths. 90% of the flu-related deaths from last flu season were reported in people over age 65.

The high mortality rate is unusual and alarming, as it was not caused by a new pandemic influenza strain, but by a “normal”, albeit severe, flu season.

As we head into the 2018-2019 U.S. flu season, Americans are urged to prepare by getting vaccinated by the end of October.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Health Data Breaches Are on the Rise

Healthcare data breaches are trending upward, rising from 199 reported incidents in 2010 to 344 reported incidents in 2017.

A research letter, penned by Thomas H. McCoy Jr, MD and Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc and published this month by the American Medical Association, took an in-depth look at reported healthcare data breaches from 2010 through 2017 and found breaches are on the rise, while postulating that the ongoing transition to EHRs may increase such breaches.

The authors of the letter analyzed all data breaches occurring between January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2017 that were reported to the Office of Civil Rights at the US Department of Health and Human Services, as is mandatory under the 1999 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Trends and types of breaches were observed across three types of reported categories, including those taking place at healthcare providers, at health plans, and at businesses associated with healthcare.

The analysis revealed that 2,149 breaches took place during the seven-year period, involving a total of 176.4 million patient records. From 2010 through 2017, it was found that the total number of breaches increased every year except for 2015, starting at 199 reported breaches in 2010 and ending with 344 reported breaches in 2017.

It was found that the most common type of breach was paper or film, accounting for 24% of total reported breaches, comprising a total of 3.4 million breached health records. However, tech-related breaches are on the rise, with the most popular form of breach shifting from laptop or paper or film to network server and email by 2017.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Day Shift vs. Night Shift: A Consistent Nursing Dilemma

Days versus nights is the nursing conundrum that never gets old. This article breaks down the pros and cons of both shifts.

From Nurse Keith’s Digital Doorway

As a career coach for nurses, I receive a lot of questions and complaints about nursing careers, and one of the most contentious and confusing issues for many nurses is whether to work days or nights. Perhaps you, dear Reader, have experienced such confusion yourself.

Days vs. nights is an old nursing puzzle that so many nurses face: Do I work nights and get the differential while ruining my social life, or do I work days and run my tail off when the residents, surgeons, NPs, and doctors are on hand all day to send me running with new orders and admissions?

When I was decided to go to nursing school, my wife was very supportive but she issued one warning: I could never work nights, and I promised her I never would. So, 22 years later, I’ve fulfilled my promise to the letter.

In the end, days vs. nights is the nursing conundrum that never gets old.

Working Days

In terms of hospital employment, many nurses regularly work day shift. Day shift is when a lot happens: physicians, surgeons, PAs, and nurse practitioners make their rounds; tests are ordered; meds are changed; charts are reviewed; admissions can come in fast and furious. If you work in a teaching facility, residents and interns are also part of the mix.

Depending on the milieu or facility, day shift can be rather intense. There are generally more meds and procedures during the day, and patients may be poked and prodded more than they are at night when their main job is to try to get some rest (which can sometimes feel impossible in a hospital setting).

During day shift, meals are distributed to patient rooms three times a day and there are simply more personnel running around from task to task. Many nurses say that the potential for all hell to break loose is often more likely on days.

Pros of Day Shift

There are many benefits to working days — here are a few that are worthy of highlighting:

Sleep: Humans are generally wired to sleep at night. Period. Working days allows you to honor your normal circadian rhythms and sleep like everyone one. Your partner or spouse may also very much appreciate you being around to keep the bed warm, especially in winter.

Learning: Some anecdotal evidence from nurses shows that many feel that they have more opportunities to learn during day shift. With surgeons, physicians, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists roaming the halls and available, consults and rounds and off the cuff conversations can really help a nurse to gain and sharpen clinical knowledge. Other staff are also on hand during the day, including but not limited to respiratory therapists, case managers, and other valuable colleagues.

Teamwork: Since more people are around during day shift, you have more opportunities to interface with others and develop your teamwork skills. Working days also allows you to interface with patients’ families and do some important patient and family education.

You’re in on the action: Don’t get me wrong, night shift can be full of surprises and learning for sure. However, the faster pace of day shift may feel more exciting to some nurses who like seeing the hours fly by.

Connecting with patients and families: During day shift, you have more opportunity to connect with patients and their families. That relationship-building can be important, and only the day nurse has the chance to truly do that work. When you work days, you’re also around to see the changes in your patient. You also have the chance to send him or her to procedures and then assess them when they return to the floor. If you work days, you also have more chances to say goodbye to patients when they’re discharged.

Food: Cafeterias in acute care facilities are always open during the day. Having access to a warm meal (if you can manage to get a break) is a real boon, especially for those nurses who aren’t so good about bringing food from home.

Going out after work: Some nurses who work nights may go out for breakfast with colleagues after working all night, but reason leads me to believe that nurses who work days may be more likely to go out with colleagues for happy hour or a treat after day shift.

Cons of Day Shift

Day shift may be a panacea for some, but for others there are far too many detracting factors to make day shift a good choice for them.

Missed opportunities with your kids: If you work 7am to 7pm, you need to leave the house before the kids are barely awake and you miss the opportunity to be present for preparing for their school day. You also don’t get off of work until well after they get home, so you miss out on after school time as well. If you work 7am to 3pm, that shift will allow you more chances to be around for the kids after school.

Getting stuff done: Back in the days before electronic banking and online shopping, people who worked days would often have a hard time getting normal stuff done. If you work Monday-Friday during the day, making medical appointments can be very difficult, and some businesses and services are simply only available in the daytime during the week.

The relative chaos of days: Some nurses loathe days because it’s just too chaotic. In the previous section, we mentioned having other colleagues around as a plus, but it can also be a huge minus, especially for introverts who prefer more solitude and autonomy. Working days, there’s also more chances of being bossed around by a physician or other provider.

Patients’ families: Whereas having the chance to do patient and family teaching during day shift can be exciting and satisfying, families and visitors can often make your shift much more difficult. Some nurses love interacting with families, but some can’t stand it and prefer nights when no families or visitors are allowed (except for very special circumstances).

Working Nights

Some nurses simply love night shift and would never trade it for days. Night shift has a certain mystique, and night nurses share that particular world with gasoline and convenience store attendants, law enforcement, first responders, firefighters, factory workers, hotel staff, and a host of other professionals and non-professionals who toil away while the rest of us are asleep.

Pros of Night Shift

The things that drive some people crazy about day shift may be the reasons why certain nurses love night shift.

Autonomy and relative quiet: During night shift, patients’ families and visitors are generally not around, nor are most physicians and providers. Thus, things are pretty quiet and nurses can focus more on patient care with fewer distractions.

Earning potential: Night shift salary and differentials can be significantly higher than days, and the extra earnings can really add up. Some nurses have a hard time giving up nights for this reason alone.

Errands: Getting off of work in the early morning means that the night nurse can (ever so sleepily) do a few important errands on the way home. Having to be at work at 3pm also means that the nurse has more opportunities to fit in medical and other appointments, although lost sleep may result if those appointments take longer than expected.

Fewer traffic woes and better parking: Commuting during off hours can make the drive to and from work must more pleasant and faster. Those nurses who work day shift have to deal with countless other commuters who are on the road at the same time. Meanwhile, parking can be much easier at night.

Time with the kids: Night shift nurses can sometimes make it home in time to get the kids off to school. Sleeping during the day and waking up mid-afternoon can also allow for the night nurse to receive the kids when they come home from school. This can be a big plus for busy families, including being available for parent-teacher conferences and other important events and meetings.

Time to think: The quieter environment and slower pace of night shift can allow for more time to think, plan, and sort out one’ life.

Cons of Night Shift

Marital/relationship issues: Not being around during many nights of the week can sometimes lead to relationship problems. Spouses and partners gain much from sleeping in the same bed, including but not limited to sexual intimacy. Working nights can cause some marital discord if energy isn’t put into making up for lost time to remain connected as a couple.

Your social life: Working nights, especially Fridays and Saturdays, can cause you to miss out on a lot in terms of your social life. If you head to work at 6:30pm on the weekends, you’re going to be slogging away on the unit while your friends are out to dinner or partying without you. Some night nurses feel their social life suffers enormously.

Fatigue and other health issues: There’s no escaping that working nights has many deleterious physiological and psycho-emotional effects due to significantly impacted biorhythms. Proper nutrition, self-care, and high-quality dietary supplements can help, but the negative side effects of nights are real. Working night shift has been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, mood disorders, gastrointestinal issues, and more. The National Sleep Foundation even has a name for it: Shift Work Disorder. One of the main problems with night shift is a lack of exposure to the sun. Sleeping all day in a blacked out room certainly increases your risk. Having to sleep so much to make up for your fatigue can cause you to lose a great deal of time at home when you just need to rest and can’t do anything else.

Time goes by so slowly: For many night nurses, the hours go by incredibly slowly since the pace of work is generally much less intense. Night shift can seem endless, especially when you’re already tired.

Less connection with patients: Working nights means patients are often asleep most of the night and you have fewer opportunities to connect, talk, educate, and form a nurse-patient bond.

Making the Choice

Choosing between days and nights is never set in stone (unless you’re married to someone like my wife and you promise to never ever work nights!) If you’re new to nursing, you might want to try both and see what you like better. Luckily, you can always change your mind, but remember that making the change from nights to days (or vice versa) can be challenging for a while.

Some night shift nurses become very dependent on the extra money, a factor that can make it hard to return to days. Day shift nurses also value their regular sleep schedule and time with family and friends, so moving to nights can seem improbable, if not impossible. For those who like nightlife and partying, you’re definitely going to miss out on some fun when you’re doing the nighttime nursing thing.

In the final analysis, we need nurses working both days and nights, and there are luckily always people who prefer one over the other. Both days and nights have their ups and downs, and every nurse has to find the workstyle that fits with their chosen lifestyle. And as your life changes over the years, the shifts that seemed totally unworkable to you in the past may begin to seem more attractive as you and your life evolve.

You’re not married to your work-related choices forever. Make the best choice for now, and be open to a new way of working in the future.


Keith Carlson, RN, BSN, NC-BC, is the Board Certified Nurse Coach behind NurseKeith.com and the well-known nursing blog, Digital Doorway. Please visit his online platforms and reach out for his support when you need it most.

Keith is co-host of RNFMRadio.com, a wildly popular nursing podcast; he also hosts The Nurse Keith Show, his own podcast focused on career advice and inspiration for nurses.

A widely published nurse writer, Keith is the author of “Savvy Networking For Nurses: Getting Connected and Staying Connected in the 21st Century,” and has contributed chapters to a number of books related to the nursing profession. Keith has written for Nurse.com, Nurse.org, MultiViews News Service, LPNtoBSNOnline, StaffGarden, AusMed, American Sentinel University, the ANA blog, Working Nurse Magazine, and other online publications.

Mr. Carlson brings a plethora of experience as a nurse thought leader, online nurse personality, podcaster, holistic career coach, writer, and well-known successful nurse entrepreneur. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his lovely and talented wife, Mary Rives.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Caring for Yourself in the Face of Compassion Fatigue

Compassion is “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others,” and it is felt, often deeply, by those in the nursing profession.

Compassion is defined as “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others,” and it is felt, often deeply, by those in the nursing profession. But at what cost?

Burnout—the feeling of being physical, mental, and emotional exhausted—is an all too common job hazard that impacts a large percentage of nurses, as well as other healthcare professionals. While the numbers vary across studies and from year to year, an estimated 36% to 70% of nurses have reported symptoms of burnout and those numbers are on the rise.

Compassion fatigue is a part of burnout—it is part of the emotionally exhausting part of burnout. The term itself was coined by Carla Joinson in 1992, when she observed that nurses dealing with repeated heartache had lost their “ability to nurture.” While compassion fatigue can develop in any care relationship where empathy is present, it is common in nurses who work in pediatrics, oncology, intensive care, emergency services, and hospice, and those who experience chronic or prolonged exposure to trauma.

Caring for yourself—especially while caring for others—is essential to combat compassion fatigue. Here are some tips on how to do so.

Practice Self-Compassion

Suffering from compassion fatigue and burnout is not a personal flaw. They are job hazards, and you are not a lesser person for succumbing to them. Remind yourself of this often. Be gentle and understanding with yourself, not hyper-critical. You are only human and you are doing the best you can.

Incorporate Self-Care and Mindfulness

Put yourself first. You cannot care for others, if you are not caring for yourself. Begin to practice meditation or yoga, keep a gratitude journal, take time to just breathe, partake in hobbies you enjoy outside of work, never take your work home with you, eat healthy meals, and make sure you are getting enough sleep each night.

Ask for Help

There is no shame in seeking help, if you cannot overcome compassion fatigue on your own. Discuss your concerns with your team and superiors. Any institution worth working for will have protocols in place for fostering good mental health for their employees. And beyond that, if needed, counseling is also an option. Sometimes, just confiding your burdens in another, and not carrying them alone, is all you really need to begin feeling better.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

White Coats As Superhero Capes: Med Students Swoop In To Save Health Care

While doctors have traditionally been branded a mostly conservative group, there is growing evidence that young doctors-to-be are leaning leftward and interested in activism.

Rachel Bluth, Kaiser Health News

Each wall of the library reading room at the New York Academy of Medicine is lined with tall wooden bookshelves holding leather-bound medical tomes. Atop the shelves perch busts — seemingly all white, all male — lit by two large brass chandeliers. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook New York City’s Central Park and Fifth Avenue.

This setting, which speaks to medicine’s staid past, recently became the backdrop for plotting medicine’s future.

On a gray Sunday in September, 150 medical and nursing students dragged themselves in before 9 a.m. to learn how to meld their chosen professional careers with societal and political activism.

“As doctors, we will have this tremendous opportunity to talk to people every day,” said Miriam Callahan, a second-year student at Columbia University medical school. “We’ll have the ability to organize with them, to bring people together.”

While doctors have traditionally been branded a mostly conservative group, there is growing evidence that young doctors-to-be are leaning leftward. This year, the American Medical Association student caucus persuaded the organization to drop its decades-long opposition to single-payer health care and instead study the concept, for example.

The conference at the academy, which was organized by medical students and sponsored by the New York City Department of Health’s Center for Health Equity along with four New York medical schools, sought to help students navigate that path. It featured a panel discussion and speeches by public health workers and doctors, including Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a physician who mounted an unsuccessful progressive campaign this year for governor of Michigan.

Dressed in blazers and dress shirts reflecting their professional identity, some also donned Planned Parenthood Buttons or Democratic Socialists of America pins. The agenda had a clear progressive bent, with workshops on LGBTQ+ health, gun violence, abortion access and criminal justice reform.

Attendees gave each other advice about how to advocate for single-payer, for example. Don’t talk about socialism, focus on the inefficiency and inequality you see, some said. Forget the “decrepit old physicians only worried about money,” their minds will never change, advised others.

Some participants were motivated by a humanitarian streak. Others were galvanized by the conditions they saw at free clinics, where they work as part of their medical education, or by a goal to increase national student engagement on issues like gun violence.

All were struggling with what they perceived as the responsibility that comes with a white coat and grappling with their place in a health care system they saw as broken.

Keven Cabrera, a fourth-year medical student at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University/Northwell, said this notion became real to him when he and some of his classmates participated this year in the March for Our Lives, a rally against gun violence.

Accustomed to the student position at the bottom of the medical hierarchy, he was taken aback by how much the white coat, even a short one that marks a student instead of a full-fledged attending doctor, afforded him respect in the community.

“We were all surprised by how much our voices counted,” Cabrera said.

Everyone came to the table with the general agreement that health care for all was a moral necessity and abortion access was a fundamental right.

So they discussed how best to move these ideas forward. How do you get better reproductive education into a conservative medical school syllabus? How can you organize other students to protest, call legislators and show up for marches?

In one noisy room after lunch, students crowded around tables where doctors with experience lobbying on behalf of Physicians for a National Health Program led role-playing conversations to demonstrate how best to communicate with congressional staff or state assembly members. They also learned how to use the stories of patients they saw on a daily basis to work within the system to advocate for single-payer health care.

The students fretted — at least a bit — about how activism could help or hinder their professional success. A group sat in a semicircle listening to a doctor tell his story of being arrested at a protest.

Students asked about how civil disobedience could affect their residency placements, or get them marked as agitators within their departments. Then another chimed in: “Would you even want to be in a residency program where they would disqualify you for a protest arrest?”


Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.