Search PubMedSearch

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Mandatory Programs”

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 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Recertification: update and future issues.

This article describes the history and substance of New York State's proposal for a mandatory recredentialing program for physicians, its implications for the medical profession, and the pros and cons of instituting a recertification policy for ophthalmology.

Certification

Prenatal screening for illegal drugs. Dilemma for the nurse-midwife.

Prenatal screening for illegal drugs poses very complex ethical problems for the nurse-midwife who must make the decision whether to screen for illegal drugs and whether to report positive results to state child abuse investigators. We argue that the results of prenatal screening for illegal drug use should not be used for determination of child abuse and that the nurse-midwife should not be required to report the results of these screens for illegal drugs to state child protection agencies. It is far from clear that required reporting offers any benefit to the fetus or future child, and there are serious ramifications of reporting for the fetus, the pregnant woman, and the nurse-midwifery profession. However, we do argue that prenatal screening for both illegal and legal drug use should be encouraged and should be done as early as possible in the pregnancy. Prenatal screening for drugs should only be used by the nurse-midwife as a diagnostic procedure wherein standard informed consent and confidentiality restraints are maintained.

Child Abuse

Mandatory parental involvement prior to adolescent abortion.

The issue of parental involvement in an adolescent's decision to abort a pregnancy is complex and controversial. Consequently, the impact of legislation to mandate parental involvement is reviewed. Although the costs of such legislation are high, there are at least three important clinical benefits. First, a legal mandate will require many adolescents who would not otherwise involve their parents in this decision process to seek their counsel and emotional support. Second, parent's responsibility for the actions of their adolescent children is acknowledged within the legal system. Third, family unity may be promoted by allowing parents and adolescents an opportunity to deal more openly with the causes and implications of the pregnancy.

Abortion, Legal

Medicalization and its discontents.

This paper raises the question of the ethically proper balance in health care policy between the medical-clinical-high technology model of health service and the grass-roots, community based or traditional models of care. Paradoxical imbalances between the two approaches are traced to political, economic or prestige factors. Case studies examined include the hospitalization of non-contagious leprosy patients while protecting the anonymity of AIDS-infected prostitutes, medical resistance to the adoption of a clinical role by Community Cancer Centers, and the continued preference in some quarters for elaborate (and often delayed) hospital treatment for such problems as infant diarrhea, despite the availability of much simpler solutions, as in the case of the widely successful oral rehydration therapy. A balanced approach to world health problems, we argue, rests not on inflationary lowering of health care standards to achieve nominal victories, nor on stainless steel high technology panaceas but on mobilizing resources around human needs.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

The blood transfusion taboo of Jehovah's Witnesses: origin, development and function of a controversial doctrine.

Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to accept a blood transfusion. According to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society this therapy is a transgression of divine precepts. Additionally, in the judgement of the believers, secular proof is abundant these days; to them AIDS is a powerful justification to abstain from blood. Founded on the work of the anthropologist Mary Douglas, it is argued that the rejection of this medical therapy is based on perceptions of pollution and purity inherent in the Watch Tower Society's ideological concept of anti-worldliness. Rooted in the movement's pre-war opposition to vaccination the implementation of the taboo was triggered by the prevailing social-political climate surrounding the Society during the Second World War, resulting in this intriguing and controversial religious proscription. For the community of Jehovah's Witnesses the blood transfusion taboo still functions as a significant mechanism of sectarian boundary maintenance.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

International behavioral responses to a health hazard: AIDS.

This paper expands on Jonathan Mann's third wave of the AIDS pandemic: the epidemic of economic, social, political, and cultural reaction and response to the HIV infection and to AIDS. This worldwide epidemic is a major economic challenge, especially in Third World countries, which can ill afford additional health care costs. AIDS is also a harbinger of political and cultural conflicts between and among nations, states, institutions, and people everywhere. It may ultimately transform law as radically as it has health care practices. In terms of management, it is possible to approach AIDS much as we do natural and technological hazards. The biology and epidemiology of AIDS require a coordinated attack, involving research on vaccines and drugs, modification of human behavior and education of populations to arrest the disease. All of these require money, of which the United States was the major contributor before the Reagan years. Funding to the United Nations and WHO has since languished, jeopardizing the AIDS efforts of those two organizations.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Facing AIDS: reactions among police officers, nurses and the general public in Sweden.

This study compares police officers and registered nurses and the general public concerning their perceptions of the risk of HIV infection, attitudes toward HIV-infected individuals, and attitudes toward measures used to fight the AIDS epidemic. Information was obtained through mail questionnaires sent to random samples of individuals, aged 25-44 years, from the 3 groups. The samples included 525, 501 and 1600 individuals respectively. Response rates were 85, 93 and 74%. The study showed good knowledge concerning verified carriers of HIV infection (blood, sperm, vaginal secretion, etc.). A widespread fear of unverified carriers of infection (public toilets, kissing on the mouth) existed particularly among the public and police officers. Negative attitudes toward HIV-infected individuals and demands for compulsory measures were common among all groups, although least common among nurses and most common among the police. Positive relationships were established between the fear of unverified carriers of infection, repulsive attitudes toward individuals infected by HIV, and demands for compulsory measures.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Ethical and legal implications of the new genetics: issues for discussion.

The so-called 'new genetics,' a phrase sometimes associated with The Human Genome Initiative, poses no really new ethical problems, but exacerbates old ones. The issues of most concern to geneticists and their patients are summarized under the eleven headings below. These issues emerged from a 19-nation study of ethics and genetics in 1985-86 and from preliminary work on a forthcoming 36-nation study by the same authors.

Abortion, Legal

Drug addiction in pregnancy: the interface of science, emotion, and social policy.

The problem of drug addiction in pregnancy has been posed as a conflict between the rights of women and those of their fetuses. This paper presents a framework that incorporates emotion, identification, scientific research, and ethical issues as components to be used in establishing policy with respect to drug addicted pregnant women. Three approaches--voluntary treatment, involuntary treatment or incarceration, and maintaining of the status quo--are discussed with attention to class and economic aspects of women's lives and society's concern for fetal well-being. A model is proposed that addresses the needs of pregnant drug-addicted women and their fetuses, and that serves as an alternative to forced treatment or criminal prosecution.

Attitude

Health workers and the human immunodeficiency virus: knowledge, ignorance and behaviour.

The attitude of health personnel towards the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a great influence on public opinion. Thus appropriate knowledge about HIV and its routes of transmission, plus safe and professional behaviour are crucial. A survey of 359 Norwegian health workers (75% response) revealed that factual knowledge was good. Fear of occupational transmission was substantial, but was not reflected in behaviour: 25-50% of the personnel reported not using gloves when exposed to blood. No relationship was found between knowledge and behaviour. A majority (79%) of the sample held the view that every hospital patient should be routinely tested on admission. Seventy-four per cent advocated preoperative screening, with special precautions if the results are positive. Knowledge did not seem to influence these attitudes. It is concluded that the behaviour of health personnel in relation to occupational risks is unrelated to factual knowledge, and further studies are needed to uncover behavioral determinants.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Outcome of short-term hospitalization for children with severe asthma.

This study presents results of a family-centered, short-term residential program in which medical, behavioral, and treatment assessments were provided to the child with severe asthma and the family. After a median stay of 15 days, forty-four consecutively admitted children with severe asthma achieved a 93% reduction in hospital days (median, 7 hospital days for the year before treatment versus median 0 hospital days per patient per year at 20 1/2-month follow-up; p less than 0.001) and an 81% reduction in emergency care (median, 4 visits for the year previously versus median, 0.4 visits per patient per year at follow-up; p less than 0.01). There was also a significant reduction in corticosteroid bursts and improvement in FEV1. Unique to this program was mandatory family participation focusing on the child's and family's adaptation to severe asthma and development of family-specific interventions to promote compliance with the treatment regimen. Child and family functioning was assessed at admission and follow-up. Hospital use at follow-up was greater for children from dysfunctional families. Families demonstrating difficulties in disciplining the child with asthma required more hospital days both before admission and at follow-up. Short-term hospitalization for children with severe asthma is associated with significant improvement in pulmonary morbidity when the family of the child is included in assessment and treatment.

Acute Disease