Medicine

A study found that antibiotic prescriptions as we know them are no match for the replicative power of drug-resistant bacteria -- and that combining them can actually make things much worse.

By Alison Cooper

Working in health care is inherently stressful, but some jobs have higher rates of worker burnout than others. Would you rather provide nursing care or work in a hospital billing department?

By Maria Trimarchi

Mixing medications is always tricky - the last thing you want is a cocktail of side effects that makes you feel sick. But fear not! There's really only one class of antibiotics to watch out for when it comes to adding pain relief.

By Alison Cooper

Some antibiotics cause red, itchy or dry eyes (or all three), but the majority of infection-killers aren't known for their vision side effects. There is one big exception, however, and doctors prescribe these drugs far more often than they should.

By Alison Cooper

"Better safe than sorry" is a dubious maxim when applied to medication prescriptions. If you're on the pill and holding a script for penicillin, just how worried should you be about an unintended pregnancy?

By Alison Cooper

Accidents happen. Severe illness arrives unannounced. You have no other choice than to head to the emergency room for treatment. How can you make the process as smooth as possible?

By Maria Trimarchi

If you got injured after a tornado, wouldn't it be great if you could get treated on the spot, rather than going to an emergency room? You could if a mobile emergency unit was nearby. That's just one type of mobile health unit available.

By Alia Hoyt

Hospital emergency departments are ready to handle life-threatening illness and injury. But some patients may not have a clear picture of what qualifies as life-threatening.

By Maria Trimarchi

What do the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and a '70s TV show have in common? They all helped shape the field of paramedicine. Learn more about how these first-responders save lives every day.

By Oisin Curran

Sudden cardiac death is a huge global killer. Even if you survive such an incident, your neurological outcome isn't so hot. A serious chill could change that.

By Nicholas Gerbis

You probably know that in an emergency room, patients aren't seen on a "first-come, first-served" basis. There's a system called triage to sort the order so the sickest get priority. Does that mean you'll wait forever if you're not dying?

By Alia Hoyt

Emergency nurses have been around since way before the first emergency room. They not only save lives, but also keep everything running as smoothly as possible. So what does it take to be an ER nurse, and how is the field changing?

By Oisin Curran

With Americans living longer, a wealth of new, innovative jobs in the health care field will be coming online. Some are already in play. Anyone want to be a medical roboticist or genetic counselor?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

You know how bad guys never die in horror movies? Bacteria are rapidly becoming like that. So how do we wipe out bacteria and the resulting infections without antibiotics?

By Meisa Salaita

When you pack a lot of people with infections into one place, sometimes even more occur. Here are 10 that are keeping hospitals really busy.

By Ed Grabianowski

As children, we couldn't use fancy words to describe our scrapes, but we could point and wince, and somehow the medicine knew where we hurt. It still does. How?

By Nicholas Gerbis

We've all heard of blood donation, but did you know you can donate blood plasma? Find out how the process works, and how plasma is isolated from the rest of your blood.

By Maria Trimarchi

Future Victor Frankensteins won't have to become grave robbers to obtain body parts. Instead, we're betting they'll take advantage of a rapidly developing technology known as bioprinting. What do you know about this crazy offshoot of 3-D printing?

By William Harris

These 10 hospitals have the best doctors and facilities in the United States. See what makes Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic and others the best hospitals

By Mara Betsch

When genetic testing determines a high likelihood of cancer in patients' futures, some consider serious risk-reducing measures. Prophylactic mastectomies are controversial -- so what are the real pros and cons?

By Maria Trimarchi

Think of it as organically mulching your ailing gut garden - except with (someone else's) poop, not pine bark.

By Nicholas Gerbis

As professions go, nursing is pretty new -- and in the mid-19th century, anyone who served as a caregiver could be considered a nurse. But today, training and certification helps set the different types apart.

By Jennifer Sellers

Whether in the hospital or a variety of other health care settings, nurses are at the frontlines to ensure that patient needs are being met.

By Brion O'Connor

Nurses perform critical duties under high pressure as part of a day's work. What parts of a job with lives on the line can be called the most challenging?

By Christine Venzon

Nursing is a valuable and vital profession, but it's not for the faint of heart. And once you put aside the TV stereotypes, you'll find there's a lot more to the field than just wearing white.

By Kevin P. Allen