How Bioethics Can Enrich Medical-Legal Collaborations

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy T. Campbell ◽  
Jay Sicklick ◽  
Paula Galowitz ◽  
Randye Retkin ◽  
Stewart B. Fleishman

Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) — collaborative endeavors between health care clinicians and lawyers to more effectively address issues impacting health care — have proliferated over the past decade. The goal of this interdisciplinary approach is to improve the health outcomes and quality of life of patients and families, recognizing the many non-medical influences on health care and thus the value of an interdisciplinary team to enhance health. There are currently over 180 MLPs at over 200 hospitals and health centers in the United States, with increasing federal interest and potential legislative support of this model.This article examines the unique, interrelated, and often similar (although at times conflicting) ethical issues that confront the clinical and legal partners involved in MLPs. We contend that the ethical precepts of the clinical and legal professions should be seen as opportunities, not barriers, to further the interdisciplinary nature of MLPs.

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Cox ◽  
Irma Mahone ◽  
Elizabeth Merwin

The purpose of this chapter is to review the literature on quality of care in rural areas. Keywords related to rural quality of care were used to search CINAHL and MEDLINE databases for articles published between 2005 and 2007 (limited to studies occurring in the United States). The review consisted of a total of 46 articles. Limitations include inconsistent definitions of rural, the use of only articles available to the reviewers, an unclear understanding of the context of many of the studies, and lack of a clear operational definition of quality. The studies were grouped and discussed according to quality of workforce, practice, treatment, interventions, and technology in rural areas. Each study’s contribution to the understanding of quality health care in rural areas and to determining what was effective in improving staff, patient, or organizational outcomes in rural areas was considered. This chapter also offers a discussion of ethical issues and data quality in rural research. Issues for future research include a focus on patient safety, mental health issues, and the use of technology to improve quality of care in rural areas. Future research should also focus on demonstration studies of model applications. The nursing profession has a unique opportunity to conduct research that will contribute to the development of knowledge that will ultimately improve the quality of health and health care for individuals in rural communities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 989-993
Author(s):  
Andrew Thomas ◽  
Annie Thomas

Acute and chronic digestive diseases are causing increased burden to patients and are increasing the United States health care spending. The purpose of this case report was to present how nonconfirmatory and conflicting diagnoses led to increased burden and suffering for a patient thus affecting quality of life. There were many physician visits and multiple tests performed on the patient. However, the primary care physician and specialists could not reach a confirmatory diagnosis. The treatment plans did not offer relief of symptoms, and the patient continues to experience digestive symptoms, enduring this burden for over 2 years. The central theme of this paper is to inform health care providers the importance of utilizing evidence-based primary care specialist collaboration models for better digestive disease outcomes. Consistent with patient’s experience, the authors propose to pilot/adopt the integrative health care approaches that are proven effective for treating digestive diseases.


1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 319-337
Author(s):  
Loretta M. Kopelman ◽  
Michael G. Palumbo

What proportion of health care resources should go to programs likely to benefit older citizens, such as treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and hip replacements, and what share should be given to programs likely to benefit the young, such as prenatal and neonatal care? What portion should go to rare but severe diseases that plague the few, or to common, easily correctable illnesses that afflict the many? What percentage of funds should go to research, rehabilitation or to intensive care? Many nations have made such hard choices about how to use their limited funds for health care by explicitly setting priorities based on their social commitments. In the United States, however, allocation of health care resources has largely been left to personal choice and market forces. Although the United States spends around 14% of its gross national product (GNP) on health care, the United States and South Africa are the only two industrialized countries that fail to provide citizens with universal access.


Author(s):  
Jane S. Gerber

Sephardi identity has meant different things at different times, but has always entailed a connection with Spain, from which the Jews were expelled in 1492. While Sephardi Jews have lived in numerous cities and towns throughout history, certain cities had a greater impact on the shaping of their culture. This book focuses on those that may be considered most important, from Cordoba in the tenth century to Toledo, Venice, Safed, Istanbul, Salonica, and Amsterdam at the dawn of the seventeenth century. Each served as a venue in which a particular dimension of Sephardi Jewry either took shape or was expressed in especially intense form. Significantly, these cities were mostly heterogeneous in their population and culture — half of them under Christian rule and half under Muslim rule — and this too shaped the Sephardi worldview and attitude. While Sephardim cultivated a distinctive identity, they felt at home in the cultures of their adopted lands. The book demonstrates that Sephardi history and culture have always been multifaceted. The book's interdisciplinary approach captures the many contexts in which the life of the Jews from Iberia unfolded, without either romanticizing the past or diluting its reality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 208
Author(s):  
Fariba Moradi ◽  
Zohreh Balaghi ◽  
Mohsen Moghadami ◽  
Hassan Joulaei ◽  
Najaf Zare

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION:</strong> Understanding clients’ perspectives on quality improvement programs is essential to achieve the goals of health services. Determining client satisfaction could help decision makers to implement programs fit to their needs as perceived by service providers and clients. This study aimed to assess the level of satisfaction among women attending health centers regarding the services received in governmental health facilities in Shiraz, southern Iran.</p><p><strong>METHOD:</strong> This cross-sectional study was performed in 24 urban health centers. Using systematic random sampling method, 8 clinics were assigned to each group. Then questionnaires were distributed among 240 married women in 15-49 year-old age group who had referred to selected clinics for receiving some services. For data analysis, SPSS version 15 software and Chi-square statistical procedure were used to evaluate clients’ satisfaction.</p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> Data showed that 101 out of 240 respondents were completely satisfied with the personnel as well as the health center. Furthermore, satisfaction was found to be the highest among clients of those centers ranked as middle class socioeconomic status, while no significant difference was found between centers based on their socioeconomic status.</p><p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>The results of the present study would enable policy-makers to effectively improve the quality of health care, keeping a balance between providers’ and patients’ perspectives on the quality of health care.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle D. Kittelberger ◽  
Solomon V. Hendrix ◽  
Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu

Due to the increasing popularity of websites specializing in nature documentation, there has been a surge in the number of people enthusiastic about observing and documenting nature over the past 2 decades. These citizen scientists are recording biodiversity on unprecedented temporal and spatial scales, rendering data of tremendous value to the scientific community. In this study, we investigate the role of citizen science in increasing knowledge of global biodiversity through the examination of notable contributions to the understanding of the insect suborder Auchenorrhyncha, also known as true hoppers, in North America. We have compiled a comprehensive summary of citizen science contributions—published and unpublished—to the understanding of hopper diversity, finding over fifty previously unpublished country and state records as well as dozens of undescribed and potentially undescribed species. We compare citizen science contributions to those published in the literature as well as specimen records in collections in the United States and Canada, illuminating the fact that the copious data afforded by citizen science contributions are underutilized. We also introduce the website Hoppers of North Carolina, a revolutionary new benchmark for tracking hopper diversity, disseminating knowledge from the literature, and incorporating citizen science. Finally, we provide a series of recommendations for both the entomological community and citizen science platforms on how best to approach, utilize, and increase the quality of sightings from the general public.


Author(s):  
Jingli Chen ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Yifan Jia ◽  
Zhongyuan Xia ◽  
Jishi Ye

In the past 16 years, research on mitophagy has increasingly expanded to a wider range of subjects. Therefore, comprehensively analyzing the relevant progress and development trends on mitophagy research requires specific methods. To assess the hotspots, directions, and quality of results in this field worldwide, we used multiple tools to examine research progress and growing trends in research on the matter during the last 16 years (from 2005 to 2020). We also compared the quantity and quality of the literature records on mitophagy published by research institutions in China and other developed countries, reviewed China’s contribution, and examined the gap between China and these developed countries. According to the results of our bibliometric analysis, the United States and its research institutes published the most papers. We identified cell biology as the most commonly researched subject on mitophagy and AUTOPHAGY as the most popular journal for research on mitophagy. We also listed the most cited documents from around the world and China. With gradually increased funding, China is progressively becoming prominent in the field of mitophagy; nevertheless, the gap between her and major countries in the world must be closed.


Author(s):  
N.P. Pavliuk

One of the major problems in modern health care are cerebrovascular disease, which occupy a leading place in the structure of mortality and disability in the population. Among the many clinical features of chronic ischemia of the brain is a key manifestation of cognitive impairment that often determine the severity of condition and quality of life of the patient and his relatives. Diagnosis of cognitive impairment is very important, as the timely appointment of therapy may prevent or at least delay the development of dementia.


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