After facing harsh workplace conditions while caring for Covid-19 patients at the height of the pandemic—such as working 24-hour shifts without adequate protective gear—a rising number of healthcare workers are looking to unionize.

In 2021, 13.2% of healthcare workers were unionized (so that’s about 2.4 million people). That number hasn’t changed much in the past 12 years, according to a December 2022 study published in JAMA from Harvard and the University of Washington researchers. But amid “crisis levels” of worker burnout post-pandemic, experts are starting to see an increased interest in unionization.

“During the pandemic, we were getting a couple of leads a week. We’re now getting 8–10 leads a day from all over the country about folks needing to join a union,” Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), a California-based union that represents more than 16,000 healthcare workers, told Healthcare Brew.

Not only are more healthcare workers unionizing, but there’s also more union activity since the pandemic, including several high-profile strikes.

Keep reading.—MA

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Domperidone, Anakinra, Pancuronium. Prescription drugs have some pretty weird names, but that’s not (just) because pharmaceutical executives have a weird sense of humor. There are actually a lot of science and safety regulations behind drug names.

Pharma companies have to keep safety in mind when it comes to names, because if two drugs have names that sound too much alike, providers could easily mistake one for the other, Scott Piergrossi, president of creative at Brand Institute, a company that works with drugmakers to come up with brand names, told Healthcare Brew.

A drug’s name could also affect how much it costs—it could influence how physicians, pharmacy benefit managers, or investors perceive the drug, which could impact how it’s priced, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).

So here, take a microdose of journalism and join Healthcare Brew as we break down the complex (and lengthy) drug naming process.

Keep reading.—MA

We’re all hangin’ on by a thread here: The pandemic has had a “significant impact on mental health,” according to the US Department of Labor, which noted that 83% of workers reported suffering from work-related stress.

While some companies have chosen to adopt a four-day workweek, broadened holiday schedules, or offered inflation-based bonuses to help ease employees’ mental burdens, it’s clear we still have a ways to go in combating the mental health crisis.

For Mental Health Awareness Month this year, brands, agencies, and organizations have chosen to address the issue in both their policies and campaigns—some deeper than others.

Policy is personal: According to Ad Age, agencies like RPA are offering employees mental health support via office hours with an HR professional, while VMLY&R partnered with Bright Horizons to provide help with caring for children, elders, and pets.

Talk it out: Other companies have opted this month to create campaigns around mental health, many of them focused on prevention and awareness.

Keep reading at Marketing Brew.—KH

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: At least one in five US adults has nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Most don’t know they have the condition, but they’re unlikely to develop serious complications. (the Washington Post)

Quote: “The idea that we’re going to solve 400 years of racism in an hour’s worth of bias training is a cruel joke. Systems have to remodel their approach. It’s going to take funding, and it’s going to take a sustained effort.”—Scott Sullivan, division chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Virginia-based Inova Health System, on addressing racial disparities in infant and maternal deaths (KFF Health News)

Read: Studying bats could help scientists prevent the next pandemic. (ProPublica)

Stat: 70% of respondents from our 2023 State of the Industry Report said they’d consider leaving traditional medicine to work at a healthcare-focused company. Learn more and secure your copy of our State of the Industry Report here.

Catch up on the top Healthcare Brew stories you may have missed:

• What’s masseter Botox, and why is everyone scrambling to get an injection?
• Hundreds of prescriptions interact with cannabis, but drug labels won’t tell you that
• International nurses hit by visa processing delays