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Tuesday, November 12, 2024

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Trump's emerging team of loyalists is primed for a fast start in his second term; GA activist focuses on zoning violations to advocate for environmental health; Federal tax credits help clinics expand in low-income IL communities; Experts say antibiotic resistance is growing in VT due to 'superbugs.'

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Immigrant rights groups and librarians react to Trump's win. The President-elect names philosophical allies and deregulators to White House positions and Democrats wonder how they can fight Trump policies, given the GOP's congressional majority.

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Texas women travel some of the longest distances for abortion care, Californians the shortest, rural living comes with mixed blessings for veterans, an ancient technique could curtail climate-change wildfires, and escape divisive politics on World Kindness Day.

Indiana's hematologist shortage affects patients

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Monday, November 11, 2024   

Routine blood draws during a doctor's visit can reveal disorders or diseases and as the number of patient caseloads inches upward as the population ages, the Hoosier State is facing a shortage of hematologists, the doctors who treat abnormal blood conditions.

It means patients may experience delayed access to treatment.

Dr. Mukul Singal, hematologist at the Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center in Indianapolis, believes hematologists need to be trained to break the cycle which draws many to only the study of hematology oncology, or blood cancer, after their initial hematology training.

"More and more medical students, and even more than medical students, internal medicine residents, need to be exposed to hematology clinics, to inpatient hematology," Singal contended. "Once they go there and they get exposure to that, it is something that draws people in."

Singal pointed out one way to meet the need is to increase the number of mentors. He added the American Society for Hematology has started 10 fellowship programs to train 50 hematologists over the next 10 years. Four years of medical school, three years of residency, and two to four years of fellowship for adult, pediatric hematology/oncology or pathology training are required to become a hematologist.

Singal argued bureaucrats and decision-makers should allocate more funding for mentoring as a path to increasing the number of hematologists per patient. Doing so would allow more time for patient-doctor engagement during appointments. Singul stressed the average physician spends just 15 to 20 minutes per patient.

"That sort of leeway has to be available to physicians, so they don't have the financial disincentive when they talk to patients, they spend time with patients," Singal emphasized. "That is something that is a little beyond me, but that needs to change as well."

Singal added hematology patients can expect 30 to 60 minutes on average for new patient appointments and longer to ask questions if a patient's condition is complex or if additional exams are needed right away. The Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center is the only federally recognized hemophilia treatment center in Indiana.



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