Annals of internal medicine
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Comment
In premature ejaculation, SSRIs improve self-perceived symptoms and satisfaction vs. placebo.
Sathianathen NJ, Hwang EC, Mian R, et al. Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors for premature ejaculation in adult men. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;3:CD012799. 33745183.
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The year 2020 saw the largest social movement in response to the police killings of Black people and anti-Black racism in U. S. history. As a result, medical schools and professional societies such as the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges are reckoning with their role in perpetuating racial inequality and the impact of structural racism on medical training. ⋯ From entrance into medical school through the residency application process, organizational factors such as reliance on standardized tests to predict future success, a hostile learning climate, and racially biased performance metrics ultimately stunt the careers of trainees of color, particularly those from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine (URM). These compounding disadvantages contribute to URM trainees' lower matching odds, steering into less competitive and lucrative specialties, and burnout and attrition from academic careers. In their commitment against structural racism in medical training and academic medicine, medical schools and larger organizations like the Association of American Medical Colleges should prioritize interventions targeted at these structural barriers to achieve equity.
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Historical Article
The Reign of the Ventilator: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, COVID-19, and Technological Imperatives in Intensive Care.
In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a dispute arose as to whether the disease caused a typical or atypical version of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This essay recounts the emergence of ARDS and places it in the context of the technological transformation of modern hospital care-particularly the emergence of intensive care after the 1952 Copenhagen polio epidemic. The polio epidemic seemed to show the value of manual positive-pressure ventilation, leading to the proliferation of mechanical ventilators and the expansion of intensive care units in the 1960s. ⋯ Moreover, the imperative to understand and treat ARDS with mechanical ventilation set the stage for the early confusion about whether patients with COVID-19 should receive mechanical ventilation. This history offers many crucial lessons about how new technologies can lead to new and valuable therapies but can also subtly shape and constrain medical thinking. Moreover, ventilators not only changed how respiratory disorders were conceived; they also brought new forms of respiratory illness into existence.
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Observational Study
Patient Characteristics and Costs Associated With COVID-19-Related Medical Care Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries.
New cases of COVID-19 continue to occur daily in the United States, and the need for medical treatments continues to grow. Knowledge of the direct medical costs of COVID-19 treatments is limited. ⋯ None.