The world of healthcare has been in a tizzy over the last year and a half. Each division of healthcare has faced its own difficulties, with the return of normalcy, we now have the time and energy to truly begin addressing these challenges.

There are more articles and news outlets than we could singularly report on, so we put together a highlight of some of the biggest industry news from each of the specialties we regularly work with. Take a look and let us know where you stand on these industry updates!

Advanced Practice

PAs, often referred to as Physician Assistants, had a major change in title being officially backed by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) on May 24th. The newly approved title for PAs will now be Physician Associate.

We are not expecting to see this change come into effect for the next several years, as legal and financial challenges will need to be addressed to ensure PAs are protected as practitioners. While this is a change that will take quite some time to implement, we should be sure to not let that delay take away from the victory that this decision is.

To learn more about how this came to be and what next steps look like, check out our article here!

Healthcare Management

Ransomware is a regular threat hospitals and health systems are facing. As technology progresses, it works to develop stronger and more secure cybersecurity, but older technology cannot keep up with these newer threats. Once the forefront of medical technology, legacy medical devices are now considered outdated. They use insecure software, hardware, and protocols, which present a major threat to hospitals.

Even with this growing security threat in mind, it is nearly impossible to run an efficient hospital with technology that connects to a network nowadays. This is a war of security and finances that exists on two fronts, as it is expensive to replace outdated and insecure technology, but also expensive to be an easy target for ransomware attacks.

To read more about growing hacker threats threaten the world of healthcare, check out the article here!

Laboratory

The creation and approval of COVID-19 vaccinations was a huge step to bringing health and safety back to the general population. As we work to increase the vaccination rate in the US, our timeline to do so is being shortened by the rapid emergence of COVID genomic variants.

America’s lack of Next Genetic Sequencing (NGS) gene sequencing capacity has made it difficult to predict and track the next variations of the SARS-CoV-2. While leaders are pushing the medical community to make progress in the tracking of the lineage of VOCs, the continued national bottlenecking of NGS has delayed progress beyond reasonability.

To take a more detailed look at in increased demand for genomic surveillance, check here!

Life Sciences

The world of life sciences has boomed during the pandemic. One of the more recent major developments in life science research has been the use of Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) to create a new medical device that improves the accuracy of pre-term birth (PTB) diagnosis.

This technology is being brought to market by EveryBaby, a UK based company backed by South Korean investment. Methods for assessing the likelihood of a preterm birth, such as transvaginal ultrasound, can be expensive and less than perfectly accurate.

Take a look at the article here too read more about what we can expect from this new technology.

Mental Health

Due to generations of societal repression, the LGBTQI+ community finds itself commonly at a high risk for experiencing mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. In the transgender community, the likelihood of developing mental health challenges are nearly 50%. Even more harrowing is that 41% have attempted suicide.

States in the US have introduced more than 100 bills that look to limit the rights of transgender people. These bills range from restrictions to bath or locker rooms to banning or restricting transgender medical care. Even treatments such as puberty blockers, which give young adults and children the chance to confront gender dysmorphia before deciding how to proceed, are being fought, despite the fact that they are largely harmless with reversible effects.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has been vocal about their disagreement with these bills, addressing the governmental leaders of the harm that this could do to the mental and emotional, and possibly physical, health of many transgender or gender dysmorphic people.

To read more about the ongoing war and the AMA’s stance on these restrictive and outdated bills, check out the AMA article here!

Nursing

COVID-19 brought attention to several areas of our healthcare that needed an update and nursing homes have been at the forefront of this revelation. There have been complaints about the type and quality of care provided in nursing homes since long before COVID, not due to the lack of efforts by staff, but often due to the lack of staff in general.

While legislators have been putting in efforts to clear bills that could improve quality of life and care in long-term care facilities, their focus has been off. Instead of fighting for increased staff requirements to combat slow wait times for care and help with residents, legislators have found shallow popularity by pushing social bills, such as those that designate an “‘essential support person who may enter a nursing home in spite of visitor restrictions”.

To learn more about this and find the most updated news of the presented bills, read the article here!

Pharmacy

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is on the rise in terms of an assessment standard. The ESG model takes into account the environmental and social impact of a company’s or product’s choices, including sustainability, responsibility, and even market influence.

The governance aspect, which is often ignored, is becoming more popular of a factor, as who and how a company is run has become increasingly important to stockholders, employees, and consumers.

To learn more about the patterns seen emerging with ESGs, check out the article here!

Radiology/Imaging

Ultrasound technology has the opportunity to become the unsung hero in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Aduhelm, a Biogen anti-beta-amaloid recently approved by the FDA, shows promising results when combined with ultrasound to combat the disease’s progression.

This discovery is still in it’s earliest stages. The treatment has been tested on mice, with good results, so now it comes to starting clinical trials. This will take some time before we see long-term results of this treatment, but it’s a great step in the right direction.

To learn more about the process, check out the article here!

Therapy

COVID has brought of flurry of new challenges to multiple branches of therapy. Now that we are seeing the first true long-term effects of the virus on the human body, therapists are recognizing and working to combat the damages present.

While we knew early on that the virus effected the lungs and muscles, we are now seeing that long COVID patients are experiencing extreme fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This has reignited the debate of the use of exercise in rehabilitation and gives a chance for professionals to study and speak out on the reality of post-viral syndromes.

To learn more about what this could mean for the world of therapy, check out the article here!

Staying updated on industry news is a lot of work. Thankfully, our recruiters are active in designated fields of healthcare and aware of changes in recruiting. We keep updated so you don’t have to! If you are interested in hearing about new opportunities in your field, check out our job page or send us an updated resume and we’ll connect you to a recruiter.