Tag Archives: students

In writing about whether schools will open for in-person classes, check case counts in kids

Photo: BES Photos via Flickr

As you write about the continuing back and forth over the how and when — and if — it will be safe to reopen schools for on-site classes next month, journalists might ask these questions:

  • What do case counts in children and teens look like in your area?
  • Are they growing every day?
  • If so, how fast?
  • Are the children symptomatic?
  • And are their teachers, administrators, family members and friends getting sick?

In California, for example, case counts among those 17 and younger have been climbing, from 1.3% of the state’s case counts on April 7 (222) to 3.4% on May 7 (2,181) to 8.3% as of Saturday (July 11), (26,652). Continue reading

Journalist, students dive deep into local elder abuse investigation

Photo: Robin via Flickr

Tracy Breton, a Pulitzer prize-winning investigative and legal affairs reporter at the Providence Journal for 40 years, and now professor of English and nonfiction writing at Brown University, finally got the opportunity to report out the elder abuse series she’s wanted to do for a decade. Continue reading

Medical students track former patients via EHRs, but is that ethical?

Photo: rosefirerising via Flickr

Photo: rosefirerising via Flickr

Medical students are accessing patient electronic health records after those patients are no longer in their care, raising some interesting ethical, educational and patient rights issues.

The results of the small survey of about 100 fourth-year medical students, published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week, offer some insights into the reasons why medical students access former patient EHRs and any ethical dilemmas about doing so. Continue reading

Professionals aren’t the only journalists coming to Boston #ahcj13

A look at some of the issues, sessions and ideas to keep in mind for those planning to attend Health Journalism 2013, the annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

While many of the 700 attendees at Health Journalism 2013 in Boston will be professional reporters and editors, there will be about 40 students sitting alongside them.

Eric Jankiewicz, a 22-year-old graduate student, will be making the trip to Boston with the rest of his health reporting class from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

“We’re going because our professor said it’s a really good way to ingratiate yourself in the health and science community,” said the New York native.

Jankiewicz said he became interested in health journalism while reporting on crime and drugs as an undergraduate at New York’s John Jay College. He said he was sometimes reporting on topics, such as synthetic marijuana, that he didn’t fully understand.

“When I went to grad school, I saw the health and science concentration as the perfect way for me to learn about writing about those issues,” Jankiewicz added. Continue reading

Harvard to revise policy on speaking to media

Duff Wilson of The New York Times reports that Harvard Medical School is revising a recent policy that limited students’ contact with the news media.

Students say the policy was enacted to keep them from speaking out about things such as medical conflicts of interest.

The policy says: “All interactions between students and the media should be coordinated with the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Public Affairs. This applies to situations in which students are contacted by the media as well as instances in which students may be seeking publicity about a student-related project or program.”

The dean of students says the policy was intended to help students but it was approved shortly after students spoke to a reporter about the influence of drug company money on faculty.