Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Medical Writing”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources

[Edeka does all--machine speech recognition in social medicine expert testimony].

UNLABELLED: Automatic speech recognition systems are already being used in spheres employing a restricted vocabulary. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate whether low-cost speech recognition software for PC is capable of being usefully employed in the sphere of sociomedicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To this end 34 representative pages of text (a total of 11,000 words) taken from expertises on cases of suspected medical malpractice (many different subspecialties) were dictated using IBM's "Voice Type Simply Speaking" software. Having completed a page, the resulting error rate was recorded, and the text was corrected before we proceeded with the dictation. Finally, 3 pages of text were re-dictated and the resulting error rate determined. RESULTS: The error rate in the previously unknown text ranged between 10 and 23 per cent (mean 15.9%) without any significant reduction during the training phase, while that in the re-dictated text was drastically reduced to less than 3 per cent. It became evident that once a word was corrected the system hardly ever repeated that particular mistake. CONCLUSION: The system's poor performance on unknown text and the missing reduction in the error rate during the training phase are obviously not due to any incompetence of the system but to the huge amount of technical jargon in the scope of medical writing. To attain an acceptable performance we suggest to either extend the training phase, or, preferably, to confine the application to a single medical subspecialty. Its overwhelming learning ability makes the system a serious candidate typist in the sphere of sociomedicine.

Expert Testimony↗

How to write an English medical manuscript that will be published and have impact.

English has become the international language in our world of learning. Yet to write a medical manuscript in a second language that is so difficult to master is a challenge for many doctors whose native language is not English. My aim is to convey that it need not be such a challenge if you follow a few simple rules based on the concept of "simplicity = clarity = effective communication." Your aim is to publish important research findings and contribute to medical advancement; however, your paper will have impact only if the readers can understand it easily.

Language↗

[Theoretic medicine in Egypt].

Egyptian medical writings - especially those surviving on papyri - provide a rich material for historical research. They did not only serve the memory of old healing methods and practices, but that of contemporary medical theories and views as well. On the one hand, Egyptians knew illnesses caused by factors physicians could easily identify by mere empirism, or by their anatomical or physiological knowledge. (Their main physiological theory was probably based on the idea of specific materials circulating through a system of canals (mtw) in the body. It produced illness, either by the system being blocked, or by its original materials changed into the pathogenic material (wxdw). On the other hand however, they supposed the existence of illnesses, caused by the activity of supernatural forces or demons. The two different but parallel etiologies demanded different therapies. Consequently, besides physical also magical therapies were used, and in the healing process the healer him/herself played a double role. Egyptian thinking regarded both ways of healing - the physical and the magical - as equally useful and rational. This richly documented article gives an overview of the Egyptian medical heritage, as illustrated by the original texts and objects.

Egypt, Ancient↗

[The borders of hysteria].

Medical writing dealing with the nosology of hysteria has evolved through successive national and international classifications, while in parallel the expression of hysteria has changed with time, with cultural evolution and with increased medical knowledge. Hysteria, by definition, is distinguished both by psychic or physical symptoms reported or voluntarily induced by patients (simulation or pathomimic behaviour) and by somatic disorders having an underlying, associated organic pathology, favoured by an emotional context or a conflictual situation (psychosomatic disorders). The divergence, but above all the analogies between hysterical symptoms and such limits are underlined, showing the frequency of succession with time, associations and transitional forms ("somatisation disorder" of the DSM III, psychogenic pain, and psychosomatic disorders termed "psychofunctional").

Humans↗

[Dentistry in antiquity].

The Etruscan gold dental appliances to women of means were a remarkable start of the application of inserted teeth. The Romans that followed paid great attention to the dental system and the poet Martialis is one of the first Roman writers who speaks clearly of artificial teeth. Celcus, with his medical writings in eminent Latin, made a nice contribution to dental surgery and some of the prescriptions and remedies of Scribonius Largus were fairly effectual. Dioskorides distributed a most comprehensive pharmacological guide presenting a great number of medical applications - some related to teeth and gums. Plinius collected a celebrated encyclopaedia on medicine and natural science crammed with all sort of facts - some absurd. The passages concerning teeth and gums has thus got a miscellaneous description of current folklore and more reliable treatments. Galenos, after Hippocrates the greatest physician of ancient times, was a prolific writer. He produced medical reference books covering all medical branches that became authoritative for nearly two thousand years and the portions of dental treatments are detailed. The Romans had a widespread interest of mouth-care with toothpicks, mouthwashes, pain relieving remedies, the use of instruments and in some cases constructions of false teeth - but no real explanation of caries.

Dentistry↗

Neurological concepts in archaic Greece: what did Homer know?

There are few written records which tell us about Archaic Greek thought and certainly no medical writings. The earliest notions about neurologic matters can be found, however, in the Homeric epics. The attitudes and information which made up the culture of the Archaic Greeks were the starting point from which the later Greek medical literature grew. Although the Odyssey and Iliad are not medical texts, they contain many neurologic descriptions which can be analyzed to reveal the knowledge and concepts which were held by the people in Archaic Greece. By knowing the beginnings of the ancient medical traditions one is better equipped to understand the later works written specifically about medical matters.

Greece, Ancient↗

[How to edit a scientific article and where to publish it?].

The editorial aspect of scientific writing cannot be dissociated from the scientific message it carries. Precision, clearness and conciseness are qualities which express the level of rigour reached in the scientific work presented. By gaining knowledge of the universally accepted rules for medical writing, and abiding by them, authors can expect optimal diffusion of the scientific content and facilitate reader comprehension. This paper outlines the precise rules common to all scientific articles and gives details on the elements on which a biomedical journal bases its decision on whether or not to publish the results of the author's work.

Humans↗

Innovations in human genetics education. Medical student elective in clinical genetics.

The fourth-year medical student elective in clinical genetics has been enhanced by the addition of a problem-solving project. The assignment requires students to pose and answer a practical question about a professionally relevant genetic problem. Exemplary questions and the details of the exercise are given. Six of 10 students choosing an elective in clinical genetics have undertaken the project. Their feedback suggests that the requirements of decision making, library research, discussion with consultants, and medical writing in a limited time period are beneficial additions to the standard elective.

Curriculum↗

How much gin in the tonic? The problems of writing a provincial medical history,.

This paper describes the problems and resources involved in writing a Canadian provincial medical history, (Manitoba Medicine: A Brief History). The first decision was whether it should be a scholarly or a popular history; The authors' background, and the realities of publishing dictated the latter. Resources available were local and easily accessible: archives and records, the Manitoba medical journals, a series of local medical journals (almost continuous for a century), and the Manitoba medical biographies, books variable in length, and content, but relating to a wide variety of physicians. Such a paper leads to a question- "Is local history merely trivial?" The answer to such a question is "no."

Canada↗

[Analysis of errors in ICD 9 diagnostic classification in compliance with the Federal health care regulation].

In the present study the diagnosis from 1221 letters of discharge of the years 1986 and 1987 were additionally coded by the documentation doctor of the orthopaedic department and compared with the documentation sheets and the computer lists of the administration. Supplementary to this after one year there was carried out an additional coding of the letters by the documentation doctor. The transfer errors of the administration were amounting to 1.72 p.c. with regard to three digit numbers and to 11.87 p.c. with regard to four digit coding. During the repeated examination the documentation doctor made an error of 4.3 p.c. for the three digit coding and of 15.6 p.c. if the maximum coding was required. The corresponding errors of the house physicians for three digit numbers (maximum) were amounting to 8 p.c. (33.6 p.c.) for frequent diagnoses, to 28 p.c. (48.5 p.c.) for rare diagnoses and totally 13.7 p.c. (37.8 p.c.). In the present documentation validity and reliability still shows a good result compared to other studies. Nevertheless a documentation with an error rate to such an extend is of no use for a base documentation, and this error rate must be taken into consideration in the interpretation of global medical statistics. Automatic coding systems integrated into medical writing service seems to be the only help in view of removing these problems.

Disease↗

[Hipocratean pseudepigrapha].

Apart from translations of Persian letter (the first 9 letters from Pseudepigrapha) their critical analises are presented. A point is made that due to their character differing them from medical writings, Pseudepigrapha are an important complement in the research of the Hipocratean tradition.

Greek World↗

Medical practice and manuscripts in Byzantium.

Scholars, past and present, have belittled Byzantine medicine for its perceived static and derivative nature. Applied to the medicine of the centuries immediately before and after the year 1000, these criticisms, though apparently sustainable, fail to recognize its underlying vigour. It was a practical craft medicine, and one which used elements of magic and religion to compensate for the intractability of the many diseases that were not amenable to medicine. These centuries were a time when hospitals flourished in Byzantium, and this paper assembles and describes some of the manuscripts that can be associated with them. The influence of islamic medicine, which had hitherto borrowed from Byzantium, is also examined. If the Byzantine medicine of this period could not claim great originality or innovation, it had none the less distilled what was best and most useful from the long and often complex medical writings of antiquity, ensured its transmission, and preserved much from earlier times that would otherwise now be lost.

Byzantium↗

[Textbooks of western medicine in the early modernization period].

The first modern hospital, royal Kwang-Hye-Won (House of Extended Grace) was established in April of 1885, whose name was changed into royal Che-Jung-Won (House of Helpfulness) in several days. Private (not royal) Je-Jung-Won opened its Medical School in 1899. And the teachers composed of western missionaries taught some Korean student-assistants the Western medicine with English textbooks in English. With very low effectiveness of teaching due to language barrier, Dr. Avison, the principal of that school decided to write medical textbooks in Korean. At first he tried to translate Henry Gray's Anatomy of 1859. In the effort he referred some Chinese and Japanese medical books. With that reason, we can find many Japanese style medical terms in some medical books of his. On the other hand, Eui-Hak-Kyo (the Medical School) was established by the Government of Dae-Han Empire in 1899. The teaching staff of the school published medical textbooks in Korean, some of which were written by Japanese doctors. After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, Japanese government forced teachers of the school to teach with Japanese medical books and to speak Japanese in teaching. ...

Education, Medical↗

Residency in mental-health pharmacy with a research component.

A 12-month postdoctoral specialized residency program in mental-health pharmacy practice with a psychopharmacology research component is described. The resident spent approximately four hours a day in clinical practice and in research activities in the inpatient setting; 10 hours per week in clinical research activities in an ambulatory patient setting; and 10 hours per week in teaching and scholarly activities. The resident was a member of a psychopharmacology research team that also included a research psychiatrist, a nurse, and two psychiatric medical residents at an adult acute-care site. The resident prepared a review of the preclinical evaluations of each investigational drug and participated in the initial screening of study patients. The resident was responsible for patient consent procedures, coordinating clinical evaluations, and scheduling necessary laboratory tests. As a member of the clinical team, she was also responsible for obtaining medication histories, monitoring and reporting adverse drug reactions, maintaining accurate dosage records, and completing the appropriate rating scales in the clinical evaluation of patients. In the ambulatory setting, the resident participated in the outpatient management of study patients. The resident learned to assess patient's clinical progress, maintain progress notes, write medication orders and administer medications in acute situations, maintain individual treatment plans, follow approved drug research protocols, and provide a program of education for patients and families when necessary. In addition, the resident was involved in educational programs for pharmacy students. This training program enables the pharmacist to gain experience in drug research studies, clinical practice, and pharmaceutical education, while contributing to psychopharmacology research.

Ambulatory Care↗

Reconciling medications at admission: safe practice recommendations and implementation strategies.

BACKGROUND: Fifty hospitals collaborated in a patient safety initiative developed and implemented by the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors and the Massachusetts Hospital Association. METHODS: A consensus group identified safe practices and suggested implementation strategies. Four collaborative learning sessions were offered, and teams monitored their progress and shared successful strategies and lessons learned. Reports from participating teams and an evaluation survey were then used to identify successful techniques for reconciling medications. RESULTS: For the 50 participating hospitals, implementation strategies most strongly correlated with success included active physician and nursing engagement, having an effective improvement team, using small tests of change, having an actively engaged senior administrator, and sending a team to multiple collaborative sessions. DISCUSSION: Adoption of the reconciling safe practices proved challenging. The process of writing medication orders at patient transfer points is complex. The hospitals' experiences demonstrated that implementing the proposed safe practices requires a team effort with leadership support and vigilant measurement.

Cooperative Behavior↗

Doctors and retribution: the hospitalisation of compensation claims in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

The cultures in the Papua New Guinea Highlands are characterised by a tradition of retribution. Compensation is part of an elaborate system of exchanging gifts, goods and services. Compensation is paid to those who have suffered some kind of loss for which others are held responsible. Such incidents include death or injury caused by fighting, a road accident or domestic violence, theft, rape, gossip, and property damage. Fear of revenge is an important motive for paying compensation. The hospital has become an increasingly important institution for retribution. It provides medical reports to support compensation claims of physical damage in cases involving violence or an accident. Case material, collected by one of the authors who conducted fieldwork in a hospital in the Southern Highlands, shows that the hospital has established itself as an authoritative actor in the local compensation culture. Doctors spend about one afternoon per week writing medical reports for compensation claims. These reports have become an attractive extra source of income for the hospital. The article describes and analyses a number of cases to illustrate the hospital's role in the production and legitimisation of retribution.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

[Automatic report documentation in cardiology using a speech recognition system].

Computer systems that can convert spoken text into written text have recently become available. In one such system, the phonetics of spoken words are compared with those of 32 000 stored words, with a statistical program helping to choose the word with the highest probability of being correct. We evaluated the practicability of the IBM Voice Type system for writing medical reports using a cardiologic vocabulary. A total of 200 medical documents were generated with a mean of 301 +/- 52 words. In the mean, 12 +/- 5 words were falsely recognized in each document, resulting in a rate of correct recognition of 95.1 +/- 2.5%. It is possible to correct a falsely recognized word by choosing an alternative word from a provided list, which worked in our case in 51% (6.1 +/- 2.8 words in each document). Correction of falsely recognized words had to be done by manual input 49% of the time (5.9 +/- 2.9 words in each document). The mean time demand for word correction amounted to 57 +/- 15 s for each document, whereas correction by manual input needed more time (37 +/- 14 s) than choosing from a list of alternative words (20 +/- 4s). A requirement for use of the Voice Type system is a reduced speech rate. Dictation of our documents took on average 260 s when done with a normal speech rate, and 400 s when done at a reduced speech rate. In conclusion, automatic writing of cardiologic reports can be done easily and with a low failure rate using the IBM Voice Type system with a cardiologic vocabulary. It takes about 3 min longer to create a medical text 1 1/2 pages long which is free of mistakes by using the Voice Type system than to simply dictate the text. Time can be saved by eliminating the need to check a preliminary report. The major advantage of automated reporting is that the written report is immediately available. For each discipline, specific vocabularies should be validated.

Cardiology↗

The Ibn Buhtīsū' bestiary tradition. The text and its sources.

The Ibn Buhtīsū' Book on the usefulness of Animals is extant in several copies, five of them illustrated. After giving an account of the text, the Author of the article investigates its sources, finding that they are two-folded: partly coming from a Greek tradition ultimately related to Aristotle's Zoology, and partly coming from Ibn Buhtīsū' medical writings, which seem to stem from the lengthy tradition of the famous School of Gondēsāpūr. A profile of the main representatives of the Ibn Buhtīsū' family, for the first time translated here from the Arabic sources, is also given.

Animal Population Groups↗