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Medical Progress (medical + progress)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences40%

Selected Abstracts

Diffusion of Medical Progress: Early Spinal Immobilization in the Emergency Department

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2007
Mark Hauswald MD
Objectives: To examine the spread of new techniques of spinal care through one state's emergency departments (EDs). Methods This was a telephone survey of all 36 EDs in a single state. One physician from each ED was contacted and given a short structured survey instrument to determine when patients who arrived at the ED on backboards were removed from the backboards. Removal was classified as "immediate" if it was done before clinical or radiographic exclusion of cervical spine injury and "delayed" if it was done only after interpretation of any indicated diagnostic radiologic procedures. Further questions were asked to determine if all physicians in the group used the same technique and how this technique had been adopted. Results In all but four hospitals, patients were removed from backboards in the same manner by all physicians, using a protocol or standard procedure. Fifteen of these did immediate and seventeen did delayed removal. In all but one case, the approach of immediate removal was initiated at the hospital by a physician trained or recently working at a university facility. Eight respondents stated that transport service requirements influenced their decision. Conclusions Although logic and the medical literature support removing all patients from a backboard immediately, physicians were unlikely to change their practice after their formal training had been completed until a new member of their group had done so. [source]

Research into ageing and older people

JOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008
FIBiol, ROGER WATSON PhD
Aim, The aim of this paper is to consider the process of ageing, the effects of ageing and research related to ageing. Background, In most countries of the world, the UK being no exception, the population is ageing in terms of the absolute numbers of and relative proportion of older people. This has resulted from economic, scientific and medical progress. However, it poses challenges for health and social services. Method, Selective review of the literature. Conclusion, Ageing is an inevitable part of life and, while not in itself debilitating, can be accompanied by a range of debilitating physical and mental conditions which lead to frailty and dependency. There is limited evidence that the ageing process can be alleviated, as such, but there is some evidence that choices and circumstances in early life can influence the extent to which we age successfully. Implications for nursing management, Nurse managers have two responsibilities with regard to age: they are increasingly engaged in organizing care for older people in acute and long-term settings and in nursing homes and the more they need to understand the process of ageing. They also have responsibilities towards their workforce and can facilitate lifestyle choices which may help their workforce to age successfully. [source]

Lebenserwartung, medizinischer Fortschritt und Gesundheitsausgaben: Theorie und Empirie

PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 2006
Stefan Felder
The rising health share can be explained by a standard economic model: As people get richer they purchase additional years of life and less additional consumption, provided that satiation occurs more rapidly in non-health consumption. The gains in life years increasingly occur late in the lifespan. As a result the incremental cost-benefit ratio of health care deteriorates: marginal costs increase as the marginal productivity of medical inputs decreases in old age while marginal benefits decrease due to a rising hazard rate. On average, medical progress is worth it. Future income growth will further increase the health share, while population ageing will only marginally affect health care expenditures. [source]

Old and New Ethics in the Stem Cell Debate

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2 2010
Richard M. Doerflinger
The debate about embryonic stem cell research is a conflict not between "religion" and "science," but between two ethical approaches to the dignity of human beings. The newer, more pragmatic ethic is not necessarily more conducive to rapid medical progress as is often assumed. [source]

The Animal Research Debate

THE POLITICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2005
SIMON FESTING
Animal rights extremism has encouraged the media to examine the benefits and justification of animal research. There is broad support from the scientific community and government for carefully conducted animal research; however, Parliament is hindered, as many MPs are ill-informed. The recent Nuffield Council on Bioethics investigated the issue and determined that in carefully considered cases animal research is justified, scientifically valid, and has contributed to human health. The great majority of the public accept the need for animal research for medical progress when there is no alternative method available. Arguments used by anti-vivisectionists are discussed, many of which are unfounded and based on misconceptions. [source]