ABSTRACT
Ethics and economics are not mutually exclusive, but rather related concepts that help the human race in dealing with scarce resources. Safeguarding the resources employed and making a profit are general industrial objectives. Product-specific objectives, such as optimising medicinal safety and creating benefits for the individual and society, are discussed. Healing disease, improving quality of life and prolonging length of life are very important considerations. The contributions of the pharmaceutical industry in fulfilling ethically based demands will be primarily treated as the careful use of resources (e.g. by renunciation of state support). Other ethical contributions are the early communication of research results for intersectoral use and a voluntary code of conduct to regulate the actions of pharmaceutical companies with regard to information and advertising. In the Third World pharmaceutical industry is mainly faced to potential waste of valuable medicines, due to insufficient infrastructure of logistics and distribution capacities in one region, given a shortage of these very medicines in other and better structured regions. The value of medicines is defined by a comparison of competing therapies (difference in consumption of resources). Possible ethical deficiencies arising from a lack of direct contact of the patient with industry and the quasi-penalisation of patients because of faulty lifestyle are briefly discussed.
Subject(s)
Ethics, Medical , Health Resources/economics , Organizational Objectives/economics , Cost-Benefit Analysis/trends , Developing Countries , Drug Costs/trends , Drug Industry/economics , Ethics, Pharmacy , Forecasting , Health Services Accessibility/economics , Humans , Quality of LifeABSTRACT
Between January and July 1995, 227 patients at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center had positive fungal cultures. Candida spp were the most common fungi isolated. Forty-three patients with invasive disease, as indicated by fungus-positive blood cultures, became the focus of our study. C albicans caused fungaemia in 21 patients (49%). Twenty-eight patients (65%) were less than 50 years of age; three were neonates. The most common presenting symptoms were fever, chills, and weakness (20 patients, 47%). Thirty patients died, giving a mortality rate of 70%. The patients who died stayed in the hospital an average of 49 days. The highest mortality occurred among patients who became bacteraemic before or at the same time they became candidaemic (24 of 26 patients) or who were receiving broad-spectrum antibiotics (20 of 26 patients). We also found high mortality rates from invasive fungal infection among patients with HIV infection, a central venous catheter, and liver, renal, or respiratory failure. We did not find any increase in the incidence of invasive fungal infection or mortality among leukopenic or diabetic patients.
Subject(s)
Candidiasis/mortality , Cross Infection/mortality , Hospital Mortality , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Cross Infection/microbiology , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , New York/epidemiology , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
A model of medical technology is proposed, containing six different perspectives of its definition: physical, information, knowledge, process, change, and as an enabling and strategic resource. These perspectives are integrated to form an organizational dimension. The contributions of this model to better management of medical technology are described and its relation to other models in the literature is discussed.
Subject(s)
Medical Laboratory Science/organization & administration , Models, Organizational , Diffusion of Innovation , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Information Services , Knowledge , Medical Laboratory Science/education , Organizational Innovation , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care/organization & administration , Professional Competence , Technology Assessment, BiomedicalABSTRACT
The authors describe the development of an educational database project designed to promote the accessibility of nursing administration theses data for graduate students and faculty in a university nursing administration program. The roles of a nursing faculty member, a computer laboratory administrator, and a programmer are detailed as they work together from the concept phase of the project through its evaluation. The results of their combined efforts provided a reliable and efficient database, resulted in a closer interdisciplinary relationship, and allowed valuable nursing research information to be shared more widely within the university.
Subject(s)
Academic Dissertations as Topic , Computer Systems , Databases, Bibliographic , Faculty, Nursing , Humans , Medical Informatics , Michigan , Nursing Administration Research , Software DesignABSTRACT
We report on a case of polyorchidism that presented as testicular torsion. A brief history and review of the literature is also presented. Of the 47 cases reported, this patient is the youngest.
