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1: Scrubbing Out for Good?

A cross-sectional survey of 452 surgical faculty across 10 US medical centres found that the top reasons for seriously considering leaving their job were unhappiness with current leadership/governance, lack of work-life balance, burnout, and seeking new leadership opportunities. These concerns were more common among surgeons in their first job after training, offering insight into how addressing these issues could help improve retention of younger surgeons.

2: A New IUDea for Less Painful Placement

An RCT of 370 women undergoing IUD placement tested whether intrauterine mepivacaine reduced pain compared with placebo. Mean age in each group was ~22 years, and mean pain scores were significantly lower among those who received mepivacaine. With 172 of 175 women reporting tolerable pain in the treatment group, the results support intrauterine mepivacaine as an option to reduce pain and improve tolerability during IUD placement.

3: Scrolling into Troubled Waters

A cross-sectional pilot survey of 472 teens aged 13 to 17 years found that more time online was associated with greater exposure to several harms, including violent imagery, unwanted sexual images, and content encouraging self-harm. Additionally, 51.5% of adolescents self-reported disruptions to their sleep routines due to technology use. The findings highlight the range of risks adolescents may face across platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook.

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1: 😴 After an all-nighter, there’s feeling sharper, and then there’s being sharper. In a new McGill-led study, after 30 hours awake, 20 minutes of cycling protected memory about as well as a 90-minute nap, with both groups performing roughly 22% better than those who did neither. Only the nap made people feel less tired, but the sleepy exercisers still remembered more than controls. Researchers think exercise may help the brain use its remaining resources more efficiently, which could be useful when sleep isn’t possible mid-shift.

2: 📝 AI scribes continue to make a strong case for their wheelhouse: paperwork. In a small Ontario simulation, 9 primary-care physicians spent 69.1% less time documenting with AI, cutting charting from 36.3% to 11.2% of the visit. Doctors still reviewed and edited the notes, and some took scratch notes to prompt clinical thinking. Researchers still need to see how these scribes perform in real clinics — and what happens when the patient says no.

3: 🫀 There’s jet lag, social jet lag, and now “eating jetlag.” In a study of 104,806 French adults, researchers compared weekday and weekend eating schedules and found that each extra hour of difference between the 2 was associated with a 14% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 21% higher risk of coronary heart disease in men. No significant link showed up in women, and the association held after accounting for diet quality and sleep. The study can’t prove the schedule caused the risk, but it suggests your body clock may care when you eat, not just what you eat.

4: 🇨🇦 Cheese, booze and motorcycles are the latest casualties of the Canada-US trade war. As of Tuesday, the US has banned imports of several Canadian products, including dairy, alcoholic beverages and motorcycles over 800 cc. The stakes aren’t small: Canada exported more than $700 million in dairy products to the US in 2024, while 90% of its alcohol exports went south of the border in 2023. Wondering what else is caught in the crossfire? See the full breakdown here.

13: the age of a Long Island boy accepted into a master’s program at NYU. He has an IQ of 168 and scored 1590 on the SAT at age 10. Meanwhile, the rest of us were just trying to survive Grade 8.

86.7%: the share of physicians who credited substantial improvements in burnout or professional fulfillment to making at least one change (e.g. adjusting workload, taking time off, therapy, etc.) Some also credited better staffing, leadership, or other system changes. Physician, heal thyself… or at least thy schedule.

1 in 8: the share of new cancers worldwide in 2024 attributable to infections. A new analysis points to H. pylori, HPV and hepatitis viruses as major culprits, with many cases potentially preventable. See what’s driving the risk.

🚢 Travel: from Bali to Sydney and earn up to 34 hours of CME along the way. This 16-night cruise sails in December, with stops in Komodo, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and more, and CME sessions saved for sea days. Check out the dates, itinerary and CME details here.

💊 Check: the latest ADHD stimulant safety update from Health Canada. Children under 6 may face a greater risk of weight loss than older children taking the same dose, prompting updates to Canadian product monographs.

🍎 Make: the most colourful soup of fall. This apple-beet soup blends sweet apples and beets with a splash of cider vinegar, then tops the whole thing with creamy feta. Cozy, colourful and simple.

🎧 Save: on headphones built for the pool. These bone-conduction headphones are on sale at Costco, with a waterproof design and built-in storage so you can swim without keeping your phone nearby. One for the swimmers, runners and chronically tangled-earbud crowd.

📖 Read: why birth control is still largely a women’s responsibility. Male contraceptives have been “on the way” for decades, from hormonal gels to pills, yet none has made it to pharmacy shelves. So what’s taking so long?

📺 Watch: are work-hour limits creating “soft” doctors? Dr. Glaucomflecken takes on the argument that tougher schedules build better physicians and offers a very different take.

First clue: Patient’s record

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