Tag: health care policy

Grace Hatton Grace Hatton (2 Posts)

Contributing Writer

University of Birmingham (UK)

Grace is a final-year medical student at the University of Birmingham (UK), a qualified pharmacist (University College London, UK) and a research scientist (Basit Laboratories, University College London, UK).




The UK Junior Doctors’ Contract: An Insight into Industrial Action

Published by Grace Hatton

Recent announcements by the British government that a revised contract on junior physicians’ salary and working hours across England will be imposed has come under intense scrutiny. Criticisms from the national workforce to media figures and opposing party politicians have ranged from accusations of compromising patient safety to ensuing longer working hours with reduced pay as compared to the current scheme for around 55,000 affected doctors. But the retaliating strikes on part of the National Health Service (NHS) workforce in protest have certainly proved controversial.

A Comprehensive Strategy to Increase Organ Donation

Published by Ryan Denu

Over 120,000 adults and children are waiting for an organ in the United States, and another patient needing an organ is added to the transplant list every ten minutes. On average, about 20 Americans die every day from the lack of available organs for transplant. Specific to kidney transplant, it has been estimated that by 2015, over 700,000 Americans will have end stage renal disease and over 26 million will have some form of chronic kidney disease.

Ontario’s Health Care Cutbacks are Affecting Medical Students

Published by Andrew Micieli

The Ontario government is cutting physician services. Two rounds of unilateral fee cuts, with the most recent on October 1, saw physician fees cut by 1.3 percent. Different from other public sector employees, physicians have a commitment to patient care, limiting their legal and ethical ability to take job action. As a medical student not currently earning a salary — but rather paying $24,000 a year in tuition — and junior member of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), I can only passively observe the reaction of many doctors in Ontario to these cuts, and the accompanying provincial government’s almost apathetic response.

medical cannabis

Why Floridians Should Vote Yes to Marijuana

Published by Paige Finkelstein

Soon Floridians will be heading to the polls to vote in the upcoming election. Among important positions that will be voted upon, the decision to allow the sale of medical marijuana to qualified patients will be one of them. Currently there are 23 states that legalized the use of medical marijuana, including Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. In the previous general election of 2014, Florida marginally missed legalizing marijuana: 57 percent of voters said yes, but it takes 60 percent to make it into law.

Policy Briefing: Residency Funding

Published by Aishwarya Rajagopalan

Whether you’re a first-year trying to survive the last few hours, days or weeks of school, or you’re a seasoned third-year ready to start applying for residency programs, a crucial piece of legislation was just brought to Congress and it’s time to talk about it. As you may know, funding for residency programs has remained virtually stagnant since 1997. While the funding has remained consistent, enrollment in medical schools has increased nearly 30% since 2002. How have we accommodated the increased number of entering medical students in residency training programs?

Between the Lines

Published by Corey Meador

This story revolves around a single piece of paper. Among those who use this piece of paper, and among those who benefit from it, there exists much confusion about the paper’s intention. Some of the providers suspect intentional misguidance by those who designed the form.

Hormuz Nicolwala Hormuz Nicolwala (5 Posts)

Editor Emeritus: Former Medical Student Editor (2013-2015)

Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine

I am currently a first-year pediatric resident at the Children's Hospital of West Virginia. I received my MD degree from Texas A&M Health Science Center in 2014. I love medical writing!