ABSTRACT
While the value of continuity of medical care can be debated, colleges of family medicine and residency training programs continue to support the concept. Although teaching hospitals are a poor environment for continuity of care, faculty have a responsibility to ensure that it is taught and, just as importantly, practised in the training centres.
ABSTRACT
An elderly woman diagnosed as having inoperable adenocarcinoma of the lung with liver metastases complained of extreme agitation within one week of diagnosis and symptomatic treatment. It was difficult to distinguish at first between a possible side-effect of the medication prescribed and the anxiety likely to be associated with the diagnosis of cancer and with an unfavourable prognosis.
ABSTRACT
A 78-year-old man suffered a non-terminal cerebrovascular accident and was admitted to the in-hospital service of a family practice teaching unit. His family requested that he be allowed to die, in order to honor his previously expressed wishes and to spare him the "indignities of intervention". They were informed that treatment was relatively simple and non-invasive, but remained adamant. The case is discussed from the perspectives of the attending physician and a physician observer, who witnessed the 'ripple effect' that the case had on staff and students of the teaching unit.
ABSTRACT
Within 20 years of Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, it became apparent that large doses of radiation damaged human tissue.(1) Yet the medical profession continues to contribute to the overutilization of X-rays, occasionally spending health care dollars to subject our patients to a health risk. This paper discusses the evidence to support the claim that X-rays are overutilized, and offers recommendations to rectify the situation.
