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Medical Resources (medical + resource)
Selected AbstractsIS IT ETHICAL TO STUDY WHAT OUGHT NOT TO HAPPEN?1DEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2006STUART RENNIE ABSTRACT In the Democratic Republic of Congo, only an estimated 2% of all AIDS patients have access to treatment. As AIDS treatment access is scaled-up in the coming years, difficult rationing decisions will have to be made concerning who will come to gain access to this scarce medical resource. This article focuses on the position, expressed by representatives of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), that the practice of AIDS treatment access rationing is fundamentally unethical because it conflicts with the ideal of universal treatment access and the human right to health. The conclusion is that MSF's position lacks coherence, has negative practical implications, and is unfair to governments struggling to increase patient's access to AIDS treatment in unfavorable circumstances. [source] Suicidal thoughts among elderly Taiwanese aboriginal womenINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 10 2008Cheng-Sheng Chen Abstract Objectives The aims of this study were to investigate prevalence of suicidal thoughts among a population of elderly aboriginal women in Taiwan over a 1-month period and to examine the risk factors for suicidal thinking in terms of individual (self-perceived health, disability and financial difficulty), family (marital discord) and social (medical accessibility) aspects. The mediating effects of depression on the above risk factors were also investigated. Furthermore, we examined the buffer effect on suicidal ideation of emotional social support for dealing with marital discord. Methods One thousand three hundred and forty-seven elderly Taiwanese aboriginal women were enrolled. Suicide thoughts within the past month, demographic data, adverse life events, emotional social support and depressive state were assessed. The 1-month prevalence of suicide thoughts was calculated. The risks of suicide thought based on individual, family and community aspects were estimated. Results The 1-month prevalence of suicidal thoughts among the community-dwelling aboriginal elderly women was 17.8%. Those subjects with poorer self-perceived health, difficulty in accessing medical resources, or experiencing marital discord were at higher risk of having suicidal thoughts. After controlling for depression, the odds ratio of self-perceived health and marital discord remained statistically significant. The odds ratio of interaction of marital discord and emotional social support was 0.41. Conclusion Suicidal thoughts are common among the community-dwelling aboriginal elderly women in Taiwan. Risk factors for suicidal thoughts comprise individual (depression and physical condition), family (marital discord) and community (medical resources) aspects. Better emotional social support can effectively buffer the effect of marital discord. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Socioeconomic instability and the availability of health resources: their effects on infant mortality rates in Macau from 1957,2006JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 5-6 2010Moon Fai Chan Aim., To investigate the effects of socioeconomic instability and the availability of health resources on infant mortality rate. Background., In 1960, the infant mortality rate was 46·3 infants per 1000 live births in Macau but by 2006 it had declined to 2·7 infants per 1000 live births. Design., A retrospective design collecting yearly data for the Macau covering the period from 1957,2006. The infant mortality rate was the dependent variable and demographics, socioeconomic status and health resources are three main explanatory variables to determine the mortality rate. Methods., Regression modelling. Results., Results show that higher birth (Beta = 0·029, p = 0·004) and unemployment rates (Beta = ,0·120, p = 0·036) and more public expenditure on health (Beta = ,0·282, p < 0·001) were significantly more likely to reduce the infant mortality rate. Conclusions., These results indicate that the socioeconomically disadvantaged are at a significantly higher risk for infant mortality. In contrast, more public expenditure on health resources significantly reduces the risk for infant mortality. This study provides further international evidence that suggests that improving aspects of the healthcare system may be one way to compensate for the negative effects of social inequalities on health outcomes. Relevance to clinical practice., The implication of these results is that more effort, particularly during economic downturns, should be put into removing the barriers that impede access to healthcare services and increasing preventive care for the population that currently has less access to health care in communities where there is a scarcity of medical resources. In addition, efforts should be made to expand and improve the coverage of prenatal and infant healthcare programmes to alleviate regional differences in the use of health care and improve the overall health status of infants in Macau. [source] The cost of health care for children and adults with sickle cell diseaseAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Teresa L. Kauf Although sickle cell disease (SCD) is marked by high utilization of medical resources, the full cost of care for patients with SCD, including care not directly related to SCD, is unknown. The purpose of this study was to estimate the total cost of medical care for a population of children and adults with SCD. We used data from individuals diagnosed with SCD enrolled in the Florida Medicaid program during 2001,2005 to estimate total, SCD-related, and non-SCD-related cost per patient-month based on patient age at the time of health care use. Across the 4,294 patient samples, total health care costs generally rose with age, from $892 to $2,562 per patient-month in the 0,9- and 50,64-year age groups, respectively. Average cost per patient-month was $1,389. Overall, 51.8% of care was directly related to SCD, the majority of which (80.5%) was associated with inpatient hospitalizations. Notably, non-SCD-related costs were substantially higher than those reported for the general US population. These results suggest a discounted (3% discount rate) lifetime cost of care averaging $460,151 per patient with SCD. Interventions designed to prevent SCD complications and avoid hospitalizations may reduce the significant economic burden of the disease. Am. J. Hematol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Asbestos fiber concentration in the area surrounding a former asbestos cement plant and excess mesothelioma deaths in residentsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 10 2009Shinji Kumagai D Eng Abstract Background Many persons who had lived near a former asbestos cement plant (AC plant) died from mesothelioma in Amagasaki city, Japan. Methods Asbestos fiber concentration in the area surrounding the AC plant was estimated so that the female mesothelioma death number predicted by a mathematical model was the same as the observed excess death number. We used the estimated asbestos fiber concentration to predict the excess mesothelioma deaths from 1970 to 2049. Results In a grid just south of the AC plant, the fiber concentration was estimated to be more than 3,f/ml for KM (asbestos potency factor for mesothelioma) of 7.75,×,10,9. An uncertainty factor of five yields a KM range 1.55,×,10,9 to 38.8,×,10,9; these in turn correspond to fiber concentrations of 15 and 0.6,f/ml. For KM,=,7.75,×,10,9, grid units with higher fiber concentrations than 0.01,f/ml were estimated to extend 4.1,km (95% CI: 3.8,4.4,km) south-southwest of the plant. Over the 80-year study period (1970 to 2049), we predicted that the exposure under study will cause 346 excess mesothelioma deaths with range of 296 to 382 deaths. Conclusions This prediction suggests that considerable medical resources will be needed through 2049 as a result of past asbestos exposure in this region. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:790,798, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] WHEN GOOD ORGANS GO TO BAD PEOPLEBIOETHICS, Issue 2 2008DIEN HO ABSTRACT A number of philosophers have argued that alcoholics should receive lower priority for liver transplantations because they are morally responsible for their medical conditions. In this paper, I argue that this conclusion is false. Moral responsibility should not be used as a criterion for the allocation of medical resources. The reason I advance goes further than the technical problem of assessing moral responsibility. The deeper problem is that using moral responsibility as an allocation criterion undermines the functioning of medicine. [source] | |||||||||||||