med ed
Med schools are already overcomplying with rule against affirmative action
Adobe
Medical schools are being told by their lawyers to stop using strategies to diversify classes that are still legally permitted, despite a Supreme Court ruling against the use of affirmative action in admissions. Experts told STAT's Usha Lee McFarling that this response to the court decision helped fuel the double-digit decline seen in this year's overall enrollment of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students — and may be a form of discrimination in itself.
"This was entirely predictable and may just be the beginning of steeper declines," James Hildreth, president of the historically Black Meharry Medical College, told Usha. "This represents a huge setback. This is not a time for us to reverse course, or lose highly qualified candidates."
Read more from Usha on what exactly is happening at medical schools.
guidance
Why are some people still taking baby aspirin?
The standard guidance used to be that almost anybody could take a daily, low-dose ("baby") aspirin with little risk, in order to prevent heart attack or stroke. But in 2019, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association narrowed those recommendations, so that only those who are at elevated risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, who are also under 70 and without bleeding risks, should take a daily baby aspirin.
But that message might not have reached everyone, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA. Using national survey data from more than 18,000 people between 2011 and 2023, researchers found that the percentage of white people taking daily baby aspirin against recommendations fell by 8.3%, compared to 0.2% among Black patients. The researchers noted that further attention to reducing unnecessary aspirin use is "warranted," but did not propose any specific strategies.
first opinion
The duty of clinicians if ICE enters the hospital
This week, the Trump administration revoked longstanding protections that barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from conducting raids in "sensitive" areas including hospitals and medical clinics. In a new First Opinion essay, clinician and anthropologist Eric Reinhart argues that this decision is not just cruel, "it is a public health catastrophe in the making."
Health care workers must be prepared to protect their patients and uphold their own ethical obligations, Reinhart writes. This involves developing clear protocols for responding to ICE. Read more on how Reinhart believes health care workers should respond to the change.
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