'The Phenomenon Itself Isn't New': What We Heard This Week

— Quotable quotes heard by 's reporters

MedicalToday
A female reporter holding two microphones takes notes on a pad

"The term 'administrative harm' is relatively new ... but the phenomenon itself isn't new." -- Marisha Burden, MD, MBA, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, describing administrative decisions that cause harm to clinicians or patients.

"If you have some of the worst symptoms, you're actually waiting the longest for a bed." -- Lindsay Overhage, an MD/PhD student at Harvard University, on long emergency department boarding times for youth awaiting inpatient psychiatric care.

"Unionizing gives me hope that we as physicians have come together to have a voice and advocate for our patients." -- Michelle Pham, MD, of Skagit Regional Health in Washington state, after a group of 40 hospital-based clinicians filed to unionize.

"The average amount of lead we found in a tampon is about 25% of the lead found in a single cigarette." -- Jenni Shearston, PhD, MPH, of the University of California Berkeley, on tampons containing measurable concentrations of 16 toxic metals.

"This study can help to inform patient care and outcomes today, not months from now." -- Tricia Rodriguez, PhD, MPH, of Truveta in Bellevue, Washington, on tirzepatide (Mounjaro) yielding more weight loss than semaglutide (Ozempic) in the real world.

"We want the clinicians to be aware of how simple it is to apply." -- Joan Gil, PhD, of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute in Spain, advocating for individualized hormonal treatment of acromegaly, also known as gigantism.

"Clinicians can feel confident that the vaccination during pregnancy is a safe way to protect infants from harmful RSV infection." -- Moeun Son, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, discussing the maternal respiratory syncytial virus prefusion F vaccine (Abrysvo).

"Higher levels of poor quality air can harm your baby." -- Carmen Messerlian, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, discussing fine particulate matter exposure during pregnancy and cerebral palsy.