Does international medical law exist, in the first place, as an independent area of study? If so, is it urgently required in an era of comparative studies? Namely, to what extent, if at all, international studies differ from comparative ones? Besides, what are the particular characteristics of such international discipline? ...

Self-medication is defined as the use of medicines without medical supervision to treat one's own ailment. It is apart of a help-seeking behaviour that depends on socio-cultural and personal factors, which is why people react to the illness differently and also take different measures to cope with it. The aim ...

Anthropological and STS scholars of biomedical work have traditionally explored contexts where inconsistencies and lacunas in diagnostic knowledge-production are problematic for medical practitioners, and such scholars have consequently focused on the social and political processes by which such epistemic uncertainties are resolved. This article draws on ethnographic material from a ...

Self medication is usually defined as intake of any type of drugs for treating oneself without professional supervision to relieve an illness or a condition. Self medication is an issue with serious global implications. In this study it was aimed to determine the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of self medication ...

Over the past twenty years or so, historians of science have become increasingly sensitized to issues involved in studying and interpreting scientific and medical instruments. The contributors to this Focus section are historians of science who have worked closely with museum objects and collections, specifically instruments used in scientific and ...

This essay proposes that our understanding of medical instruments might benefit from adding a more forthright concern with their immediate presence to the current historical focus on simply decoding their meanings and context. This approach is applied to the intriguingly tricky question of what actually is meant by a "medical ...

The coordination of the Military, Diplomatic and Economic/Development levers of power, the so-called "hard" and "soft" powers, to bring about the strategic aims of governments, supported by Non-Governmental Organisations and international organisations, is commonly known as the Comprehensive Approach (CA). The CA is now part of both NATO and UK ...

Context-Although medication nonadherence is associated with severe complications including graft rejection and loss, its prevalence remains high among organ transplant recipients. Still, little information exists on clinical use of interventions to improve medication adherence.Objective-To identify transplant health care professionals' methods of assessing medication adherence, classify the used interventions, and measure ...

Objectives:  This study surveyed Web 2.0 application in three types of selected health or medical-related organisations such as university medical libraries, hospitals and non-profit medical-related organisations. Methods:  Thirty organisations participated in an online survey on the perceived purposes, benefits and difficulties in using Web 2.0. A phone interview was further ...

It has been shown that medical student professionalism is influenced by the hidden curriculum, although the extent to which this occurs during the surgery clerkship is unknown. Furthermore, the processes within the hidden curriculum have been used to teach professionalism to medical students, but this strategy has not been used ...

Smarter solvency legislation and urgently revisiting the creation of a risk equalization fund would enable private medical schemes to help a budding NHI shoulder patient burdens when most needed, Discovery Health's CEO, Dr Jonathan Broomberg says. Broomberg, a former co-chair of a pivotal government committee of enquiry into health reforms ...

Mediation offers a process by which two parties work towards an agreement with the aid of a neutral third party. Physicians and nurses can apply healthcare mediation model to ordinary medical practice for preventing conflict. Communication using mediation skills improves patient-physician relationship, and prevents medical malpractice and conflict.

Effective goal setting is an important practice management tool and a personal development strategy that many individuals credit for their success. Yet, establishing worthwhile professional and personal goals can be challenging. This article explores why goal setting is an important strategy for both the medical practice and the practice's employees. ...

This qualitative study sought to explore facilitators and barriers to adherence to multiple medications among low-income patients with comorbid chronic physical and mental health conditions. The 50 focus group participants identified personal/contextual and health system factors as major impediments to adherence to multiple medications. These factors included medication side effects, ...

The purpose of this study was to assess the beliefs and attitudes of healthcare providers about prescribing opioids for chronic pain. The setting was a continuing medical education conference that was specifically designed to deliver content about chronic pain and prescription opioids to providers without specialty expertise in pain medicine. ...

Appraisal for general practitioners (GPs) has been in place since 2002. We conducted a review of current literature on what benefits GPs perceived appraisal to offer. GPs recognised that appraisal offers the chance to reflect on their personal development, and promotes educational activity. Furthermore, there is a strong perception that ...

This paper introduces the first stage of the NHS Revalidation Support Team's (RST) proposals to strengthen medical appraisal. It reports on four focus groups held at London Deanery in 2010, with the aim of gauging initial reactions from general practitioners (GPs). The four groups consisted of two groups of appraisers ...

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-medication practices among dental out patients presenting at a tertiary health care center in Ibadan, and to determine factors that are associated with these practices. Materials and Methods: All patients presenting over a 4-month period, who consented to ...

Adolescents are at high risk for unintended pregnancy and abortion. The purpose of this study was to understand whether providers caring for adolescents have the knowledge to counsel accurately on medication abortion, a suitable option for many teenagers seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Using an online questionnaire, a survey related ...

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is characterized by an unrealistic need for admiration, lack of empathy toward others, and feelings of superiority. NPD presents a unique and significant challenge in clinical practice, particularly in medical settings with limited provider contact time, as health professionals treat individuals who often require excessive admiration ...

Statistical analysis is an essential technique that enables a medical research practitioner to draw meaningful inference from their data analysis. Improper application of study design and data analysis may render insufficient and improper results and conclusion. Converting a medical problem into a statistical hypothesis with appropriate methodological and logical design ...

The development of medical students' perceptions of different medical specialties is based on many factors and influences their career choices and appreciation of other practitioners' knowledge and skills. The goal of this study was to determine if participation in a series of anesthesiologist-run, simulation-based physiology labs changed first year medical ...

To provide an assessment and comparison of the demographics, medical school academic performance, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) performance, and research experience between American Medical Graduate (AMG) and United States International Medical Graduate (USIMG) candidates who applied for and successfully matched into categorical general surgery residency programs. Data were ...

"Off-label" prescribing is the use of a drug in a fashion other than one approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some courts assume that the PDR is comprehensive enough to apply its guidelines to establish the standard of care. This assumption undermines the physician's judgment in deciding how, ...

Background. Routine medical microbiology diagnostics relies on conventional cultivation followed by phenotypic techniques for identification of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. This is not only due to tradition and economy but also because it provides pure culture needed for antibiotic susceptibility testing. This review focuses on the potential of High Resolution ...

Underrepresented minorities (URMs) make up a disproportionately small percentage of medical school applicants, matriculants, and physicians relative to the general US population. Preprofessional pipeline programs may help introduce URMs to careers in the medical field. MiniMeds was developed as a paracurricular enrichment program that targeted URM students. The curriculum was ...

To explore the gender dimensions on influences of tobacco uptake on medical students using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A phased mixed-method study design was used with in-depth interviews followed by a survey questionnaire in a 'smoke-free' medical college campus in a private university of Karachi. Eight in-depth interviews were ...

To explore the perceptions and the effects on mentors regarding mentoring medical students at Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan. An anonymous data collection tool was distributed to 22 faculty members trained as mentors at Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan. Close-ended questions reflected that majority ...

The economic crisis in the last few years has reduced the role of government in social development and transferred it to the private sector. These changes have affected medical education too. Lack of resources has created a situation where outdated equipment and educational methods produce medical graduates with outdated knowledge, ...

Educating medical students and residents in the office presents the challenges of providing quality medical care, maintaining efficiency, and incorporating meaningful education for learners. Numerous teaching strategies to address these challenges have been described in the medical educational literature, but only a few teaching strategies have been evaluated for their ...

John Cameron has made significant contributions to the field of Medical Physics. His contributions encompassed research and development, technical developments and education. He had a particular interest in the education of medical physicists in developing countries. Structured clinical training is also an essential component of the professional development of a ...

The use of computer and information technology is on an escalation. The internet, one of the key developments in this field, provides instant access to latest medical information. The present study was conducted (i) to estimate the extent and purpose of internet usage among undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) medical ...

The objective of this article is to assess community member knowledge, attitude, and practice of emergency medical care in Baghdad, Iraq. We performed a randomized, cluster-based, household Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) survey regarding pre-hospital and hospital-based emergency medical care among Baghdad community members. A total of 1172 individuals participated ...

Andrés Laguna, a Spanish humanist physician of the 16th century, occupies an important position in the history of medicine. An illustrious and brilliant mind, pioneer of anatomy and urology, Laguna proved to be a true pacifist and humanitarian with his knowledge standards and his political eloquence. He deserves to be ...

Crowd contact rates with medical services at cricket matches are unknown. The aim of this study was to detail every contact made with medical services at an international test cricket ground, whether medical or not. Prospective, observational study of 22 matches, from county to international level, over the 2009 summer ...

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a serious adverse effect often associated with the first generation antipsychotic medications used in the management of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia. Pharmacogenomics is the study of human genomic variation in relation to individual and population variability in medication response and side effects. Neuropsychiatry is ...

Purpose: The Rural Medical Scholars Program (RMSP) was created to increase production of rural family physicians in Alabama. Literature review reveals reasons medical students choose careers in family medicine, and these reasons can be categorized into domains that medical schools can address through admission, curriculum, and structural interventions. We examine whether ...

To create a checklist of the tasks that a pharmacist must perform during medication order review in the hospital setting and to evaluate the utility of and pharmacists' satisfaction with the checklist. An evidence-based checklist for medication order review was developed, with items related to order urgency, verification of patients' ...

Bedside barcode technology is used during medication administration to ensure patient safety. This study evaluated the workflow variables related to a bedside barcode technology-based medication administration process. A time-and-motion technique was used to assess the observational episodes related to medication administration conducted by registered nurses. In an observational episode, nurses ...

Abstract  Purpose: Resilience, the capacity to endure and overcome hardship, has been suggested as a basic competency for rural medical practice. Unfortunately for physician educators, the medical education literature offers only limited guidance for nurturing this adaptive capacity. We describe the process and subsequent analysis of a daylong curriculum development ...

  Medico-legal death investigation in China has a long history that can be traced back to the Chhin era in the third century BC. We conducted a national study on the current medico-legal death investigation system in China. Our study showed that, at present, medico-legal death investigations in China are ...

In adopting the medical lobby's preferred definition of collaboration where midwives are legally compelled to seek endorsement for their care plan from an obstetrician, Determination 2010 connotes a form of militarized collaboration and thus negates all that genuine collaboration stands for-equality, mutual trust and reciprocal respect. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, ...

Previous studies of neighborhood deprivation and mental disorders have yielded mixed results, possibly because they were based on different substrata of the population. We conducted a national multilevel study to determine whether neighborhood deprivation is independently associated with psychiatric medication prescription in a national population. Nationwide outpatient and inpatient psychiatric ...

In this article, we describe the use of an information-gathering tool, the Delphi technique, to overcome issues encountered when conducting a Failure Modes Effects Analysis as part of a Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, Control study to improve the processes of a clinical medical laboratory. The study was conducted with the ...

The majority of patients discontinue antidepressant treatment earlier than prescribed. The factors behind this and the influences on patients' choices about whether to take medication remain poorly understood. To explore factors that influence patients' decisions about taking antidepressant medication. Qualitative interview study. Interviews were conducted across three sites: London, East ...

In this paper, I utilise semi-structured interviews with Forensic Medical Examiners (FMEs) in Scotland in order to investigate their diagnostic work. Drawing upon classic medical sociological work on diagnosis (for instance, the work of Paul Atkinson and Michael Bloor), my understanding of diagnosis is as a subjective, but socially-constructed activity ...

In 2006, a medico-legal consultation service devoted to adult victims of interpersonal violence was set up at the Lausanne University Hospital Centre, Switzerland: the Violence Medical Unit. Patients are received by forensic nurses for support, forensic examination (in order to establish medical report) and community orientation. In 2008, a telephone ...

Abstract  Context: Limited research suggests that translational approaches are needed to decrease the distance, physical and cultural, between farmers and health care. Purpose: This study seeks to identify special concerns of farmers in Alabama and explore the need for a medical education program tailored to prepare physicians to address those ...

Medication errors (MEs) in psychiatry have not been extensively studied. No long-term prospective efforts to demonstrate error reduction in psychiatric care using multidisciplinary interventions have been published in the literature. This article discusses the implementation of the Patient Safety Net (PSN) (an error reporting system) and of the Provider Order ...

A medical error is conditioned in most cases by the absence of doctors' experience or by overvaluation of their knowledge and experience. It is necessary to conduct the proper control and set of events which will train them to feel the responsibility, to adhere to the standards of diagnostics and ...