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Biomedical subjects

S Rabin

Publications and source records attributed to S Rabin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The influence of nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and health beliefs on their safe behavior with cytotoxic drugs in Israel.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and health beliefs on their behavior and their actual usage of safety measures while handling cytotoxic drugs in their daily work surroundings. The Health Belief Model (HBM) and its extensive form, the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), were used as the theoretical frameworks. Sixty-one nurses participated in the study, 31 hospital-based nurses daily exposed to cytotoxic drugs for the last 5 years, and 30 non-exposed community nurses. An occupational questionnaire was used to test the nurses' actual safe behavior and compliance with the recommended guidelines. A randomly selected group of exposed nurses were observed to validate their compliant behavior. A gap was found between the nurses' knowledge and their actual behavior concerning the potential risks of cytotoxic drugs and their use of protective measures (p < .005). Significant correlations were found among the components of the extensive HBM (perceived susceptibility, barriers, benefits and self-efficacy). The observational findings supported the above results. The study's findings support the need to promote primary prevention by providing a safe environment for the employee by means of education, training with regard to safety measures, clear policy, written guidelines and their enforcement.

Adult↗

Knowledge and attitudes of primary care physicians regarding battered women. Comparison between specialists in family medicine and GPs.

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence is a widespread public health problem and an important part of primary care practice. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the approach of primary care physicians (family physicians and GPs) to the care of battered women. METHODS: A self-report questionnaire containing items about experience, knowledge and attitudes regarding the care of battered women was mailed to a random sample of 300 primary care physicians employed by the two major health management organizations in Israel. The population included family physicians, who have 4 years of residency training in primary care, and GPs, who do not undergo specialization after completing their medical studies. RESULTS: A total of 236 physicians (130 family physicians and 106 GPs) responded. In general, the physicians had had very little exposure to the problem and estimated its prevalence in the community as less than half that indicated in the medical literature. Compared with the GPs, however, the family physicians reported more exposure to the subject (P < 0.001) and had better knowledge of its prevalence and risk factors (P < 0.001). They also showed a greater tendency to view the problem as universal (P < 0.05) and as part of their professional responsibilities. However, both groups tended not to include the care of battered women with no physical injury within their professional duties. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians should be made more aware of the problem of battered women within the context of their routine professional practice and of the importance of keeping abreast of the subject. Educators should place more emphasis on imparting knowledge and skills in the management of battered women, especially for GPs.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

A pictorial review of coronary artery anatomy on spiral CT.

Coronary artery calcification quantification (scoring) has been done with electron beam CT (EBCT), but is now being done with spiral or helical CT. Many radiologists and cardiologists who do not have EBCT but do have access to spiral CT will now be able to do coronary artery calcification scoring, and will now need to know the spiral CT appearance of the coronary artery anatomy. This pictorial review will demonstrate the anatomy needed for coronary artery calcium scoring.

Calcinosis↗

A multifaceted mental health training program in reducing burnout among occupational social workers.

This article looks at ways of reducing stress through a multifaceted training program involving the acquisition of mental health knowledge and skills and experiential training in a group of occupational social workers. The training group of 13 occupational workers was compared to a group of occupational social workers not attending the program. Post-training revealed statistically significant increases in professional self-efficacy associated with awareness of psychological and psychopathological issues and professional social support. Reduction in cognitive weariness and listlessness associated with burnout was also found. Gaining competence in mental health issues relating to the occupational setting coupled with emotional sharing helped to reduce professional burnout.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Primary care physicians' attitudes to battered women and feelings of self-competence regarding their care.

BACKGROUND: Previous descriptive studies have demonstrated the problematic nature of physicians' attitudes toward battered women. However, little empirical research has been done in the field, especially among the various medical specialties. OBJECTIVES: To compare the approach and feelings of competence regarding the care of battered women between primary care and non-primary care physicians. The non-primary care physicians who are likely to encounter battered women in the ambulatory setting are gynecologists and orthopedists. METHODS: A self-report questionnaire formulated for this study was mailed to a random sample of 400 physicians working in ambulatory clinics of the two main health maintenance organizations in Israel (300 primary care physicians, 50 gynecologists and 50 orthopedists). RESULTS: In both physician groups, treating battered women tended to evoke more negative emotional states than treating patients with infectious disease. The most prevalent mood state related to the management of battered women was anger at her situation. Primary care physicians experienced more states of tension and confusion than non-primary care physicians and had lower perceived self-efficacy and self-competence in dealing with battered women. CONCLUSIONS: Though both physician groups exhibited negative feelings when confronting battered women, the stronger emotion of the primary care physicians may indicate greater sensitivity and personal awareness. We believe that more in-service training should be introduced to help physicians at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels to cope both emotionally and professionally with these patients.

Adult↗

Job satisfaction among certified and non-certified general practitioners.

BACKGROUND: The aim of family medicine is to provide patients with comprehensive care within the biopsychosocial model. High job satisfaction is necessary to attract physicians to this specialty. OBJECTIVE: To compare job satisfaction levels between primary physicians with training in family medicine and physicians without specialty training. METHODS: A self-report questionnaire, the "Task Profiles of General Practitioners in Europe," was mailed to a stratified random sample of 664 primary care physicians in Israel. The response rate was 77.6%. Bivariate and logistic regression procedures were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Physicians with training in family medicine were less satisfied with the rewards for their work than general practitioners with no formal specialization in family medicine. Satisfaction with the intrinsic aspects of the work was found to be equal. Women and rural physicians were more satisfied than men and urban physicians. CONCLUSION: Measures should be taken by health maintenance organizations to increase the level of job satisfaction of specialist-certified family physicians to avoid a crisis in the profession.

Adult↗

Doctors' narratives in Balint groups.

There is a limited place today for narratives in traditional medicine. However, the Balint group is a legitimate forum providing doctors to unconditionally engage in discussing patients' stories within a secure and safe environment. This paper examines the importance of doctors' narratives in Balint groups and describes how insightful listening may help them move from a mainly biomedical mode to a narrative one, in order to change and repair their patients' and their own personal narratives.

Culture↗

Stress and intervention strategies in mental health professionals.

There is growing evidence to show that mental health professionals by the nature of their work are particularly vulnerable to stress with all its detrimental effects on service delivery and quality of care. This comes at a time when mental health services in many countries are under considerable strain. The present paper examines the multifaceted stressors encountered by the mental health team and recommends possible ways of reducing burnout through innovative intervention strategies. The detection of emotional distress and psychological dysfunctioning in mental health providers is outlined and their management carefully considered.

Burnout, Professional↗

Impact of managers' personal determinants in notifying workplace hazards.

Notification about work hazards is a legal requirement in advanced industrial countries, but workers have claimed, that in many cases, they do not receive enough information regarding risks, exposure, and medical problems. The recent professional literature on the subject has explored the ways in which notification is delivered without sufficiently considering the psychological incentives and barriers that may affect managers in transmitting risk information. The present study aimed at examining managers' personal determinants and notification of work hazards in a sample of 106 managers and 460 workers in 40 departments of three industrial plants in Israel. Results of our study showed that both managers and workers perceived the importance of the delivery of safety information as quite high (means of 3.43 and 3.7, respectively, out of 5), with managers reporting that they rely primarily on personal modes of communication. Immediate supervisors were regarded by both groups as the most important persons in notification. Managers having past experience in treating injured workers notified more, primarily using personal notification. The most important personal determinants that positively predicted managers' notification were their sense of self-efficacy and positive expectation of notification. Outcome denial and coping by distancing were negatively correlated with notifying about these risks.

Adult↗

Malingering assessment in behavioral toxicology: what, why, and how.

Neurobehavioral assessment is frequently made in a forensic context. The cognitive assessment may be biased due to an international manipulation of data by the patient motivated by attainment of compensation, that is, malingering. Although malingering is highly relevant in behavioral toxicology, the issue and its assessment are underrepresented in the literature. A routine assessment of malingering is important to reduce false-positive and false-negative errors in assessment, thereby establishing the credibility and validity of behavioral assessment. In the long run, the routine inclusion of malingering measurements might reduce claims and encourage employers to be more cooperative in behavioral toxicology studies. Guidelines for malingering assessment and research, inferred from the clinical and research literature, are discussed. Sensitivity to the problematic issues involved in assessing malingering behavior is an important step toward malingering detection in the clinical setting and to the establishment of assessment methods that are less confounded by these issues.

Behavior↗

A descriptive study of stress management in a group of pediatric oncology nurses.

Pediatric oncology nursing is associated with highly stressful and emotional situations. This article describes and discusses major sources of occupational stress among a group of nurses participating in a stress management group. The stress sources for these nurses were preoccupation with death and dying, the professional image of the oncology nurse, the nurse as fighter in the war against disease and death, the nurses' perceived isolation from the medical staff, the nurses' perceived inferior professional status compared with that of physicians, emotional overinvolvement with patients and families, suppression of anger, and difficulties in balancing work and home demands. The following factors are suggested as major contributors to the nurses' stress and burnout: increased tendency for irrational-dysfunctional thinking styles (mainly "demandingness" and "awfulizing"), diffuse boundaries between nurses and patients, low professional self-efficacy, and wide prevalence of military metaphors.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

A combined clinical approach to treating and understanding prolonged combat stress reaction.

Over the last decade combat stress reaction (CSR) has received increasing attention in Israel and abroad. The treatment of prolonged CSR is known to be complicated and unrewarding, and the majority of cases became chronic. The authors describe the difficulties of diagnosing delayed and prolonged CSR and present a model of combined treatment approach through a case study.

Adult↗

Improving the professional self-efficacy cognitions of immigrant doctors with Balint groups.

Immigrant doctors have been found to exhibit professional distress, especially if they are retrained to another medical specialty. This study looks at the effects of a long-term Balint group in increasing professional self-efficacy cognitions of immigrant physicians treating drug addicts in a home-based community program in their adopted homeland. Results of the group showed positive significant changes in specific self-efficacy cognitions related to treatment of drug addicts in the community, and an increase in psychosocial self-efficacy from baseline to three other assessment points. The importance of long-term Balint groups with doctors in general and with retraining immigrant doctors in particular is also carefully elucidated.

Community Mental Health Services↗

Calcific phacolysis. Salvageable vision following treatment.

Calcific phacolysis has been previously described histopathologically in the enucleated eyes of three patients with unilateral posttraumatic total blindness. Each eye showed dissolution of a mature cataractous lens with dispersion of calcific lens material throughout the globe. We studied a patient in whom the signs of calcific phacolysis developed 19 months following intraoperative dislocation of a cataract into the vitreous. Partial removal of calcific particles was achieved by subtotal vitrectomy and lensectomy, with subsequent penetrating keratoplasty. Corneal histopathological findings showed a deposition of calcified lens particles between Descemet's membrane and retrocorneal fibrous membrane. Despite diffuse retinal calcification, the patient's visual acuity was 20/400. To our knowledge, this is the first report of calcific phacolysis occurring after surgical dislocation of a cataract into the vitreous and wherein treatment resulted in some preservation of vision. Early diagnosis and aggressive therapy may improve the visual prognosis in this condition.

Aged↗

Peroneal nerve palsy and compartment syndrome in bilateral femoral fractures.

Four patients with bilateral femoral shaft fractures sustained 4 peroneal nerve palsies and 2 compartment syndromes during supine intramedullary nailings of their fractures. In each case, the compartment syndrome or common peroneal nerve palsy or both developed in the leg that was placed initially in the calf-supported leg holder during intramedullary rodding of the contralateral femur. Three of 4 patients had near to full recovery of motor strength postoperatively. The authors recommend that a leg with a fractured femur not be positioned in a calf-supported leg holder.

Adolescent↗

Neurotrophin-induced trk receptor phosphorylation and cholinergic neuron response in primary cultures of embryonic rat brain neurons.

Tyrosine phosphorylation of trk type neurotrophin receptors in primary cultures of embryonic rat brain cells was studied by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. In cultures containing basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, but not in cultures of cerebral cortex, nerve growth factor (NGF) treatment for 4 min induced tyrosine phosphorylation of trk family proteins. Stimulation with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) or neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), resulted in a very robust phosphorylation signal in basal forebrain and cortical cultures, suggesting actions of these neurotrophins not only on cholinergic cells but probably on most embryonic brain neurons. Trk tyrosine phosphorylation was completely abolished by 5 microM K-252b. Inhibition was rapid, being evident by 30 s following addition of the drug. Corresponding stimulatory and inhibitory effects were seen for phospholipase-C gamma 1 (PLC gamma 1) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (Erk1), two enzymes involved in second messenger mechanisms. Our findings indicate involvement of trk receptor activation in the NGF response of basal forebrain cholinergic cells and provide evidence for widespread presence of BDNF and NT-3 responsive neurons in the embryonic brain.

Animals↗