Dimensions of happiness: a qualitative study of family practice residents.

BACKGROUND: Happiness is related to both positive and negative forces. Positive factors, or happiers, that compensate for stressors in residency have only recently been recognized in a pilot study of 14 family practice residents. These happiers are positivism, the pursuit of goals, relationships, a religious belief system, and feedback. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe happiers of residency in family practice in each postgraduate year and relate the findings to established theories on well-being. METHODS: A qualitative interview with participant observation was used to study 59 residents at four family practice residency sites. Interviews were semistructured and audiotaped. Tapes and field notes were analyzed for trends. The Faces Scale was administered as a happiness visual analog scale. RESULTS: The importance of a well-balanced lifestyle, as well as the pursuit of goals, relationships, and accentuation of the positive, were found to be happiers for all residents interviewed. Religious commitment, feedback, and a sense of control or autonomy were important to the level of happiness of more than 60 percent of residents interviewed. Feedback was more important to 1st-year residents, and a sense of control was more important to 2nd-year and 3rd-year residents. CONCLUSION: The seven happiers described in this study were similar to happiness factors reported in the social science literature. Our findings could contribute to theories of resident well-being and further the research on well-being in residency training.

The prevention of softball injuries: the experience at Yokota.

Softball injuries occur in a predictable pattern. Review of Emergency Room records at Yokota AB Hospital for three summers showed a high incidence of ankle injuries. Sliding is the cause of many of these injuries. Common sense interventions should reduce the incidence of softball injury. Use of low profile bases or the outlawing of sliding are reasonable interventions that should be considered by policy makers.

Hyperhidrosis: a management dilemma.

Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating in response to psychological stress and emotional stimuli. The sweat is usually limited to the palms, soles, and axillae, and is greatly accentuated by mental stimuli rather than temperature and exercise. The severity is such that for many, sweating has become socially and emotionally devastating and may predispose to other cutaneous diseases. More than 60 research papers on eccrine glands and sweating have been published since 1978. Little progress, however, has been made on the control of hyperhidrosis, and the process remains a treatment dilemma among both family physicians and dermatologists. The many treatment modalities documented in the literature have been for the most part unsuccessful or unacceptable. This report describes the use of phenoxybenzamine, an alpha-adrenergic antagonist, for control of excessive sweating in two patients. After a trial of topical medication, phenoxybenzamine is useful for the reduction of sweating to an acceptable level.