Torie Bosch

5 days ago | statnews.com | Torie Bosch

When I was recently at the vet’s office, I started eavesdropping a little on the conversation between two older women. When they started talking about the measles outbreak in Texas, I couldn’t help it. I joined in. One of the women, who wore thick glasses, shared that she had lost much of her sight to a bout with measles as a child. She just couldn’t understand why so many parents today are reluctant to vaccinate.

1 week ago | statnews.com | Torie Bosch

No one goes to medical school because they want to type quickly while listening to patients talk. But that’s what practicing medicine means for many today: fingers flying over the keyboard to log data. Later, they will use that information to create a note for the patient’s file. Technology now offers a solution to this problem in the form of the AI ambient scribe, which records the encounter between physician and patient and then generates the summarizing note for the patient’s file.

2 weeks ago | statnews.com | Torie Bosch

In the 19th century, medical schools were desperate for corpses from which their students could learn. Grave robbers would sell bodies; sometimes, janitors, students, or even instructors would themselves dig up corpses. Today’s medical students don’t have to go into cemeteries themselves, but schools still struggle to find cadavers that are both ethically sourced and affordable. So many are deciding to forgo the use of cadavers to teach students about human anatomy.

2 weeks ago | statnews.com | Torie Bosch

First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and provocative articles about the life sciences writ large, written by biotech insiders, health care workers, researchers, and others. To encourage robust, good-faith discussion about issues raised in First Opinion essays, STAT publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to them. You can submit a Letter to the Editor here, or find the submission form at the end of any First Opinion essay.

3 weeks ago | statnews.com | Torie Bosch

When a person with dementia gets something fundamental wrong — the year it is, your relationship to them — it can be difficult to know what to do. Do you correct them and risk upsetting them? Is it a lie or unethical to go along with it? Ted Johnson, who chairs the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the Emory School of Medicine, says that playing along is not only OK; it’s often the best thing for both the patient and the caretaker.