Awareness of family physician residents of their roles in disaster health management: a cross-sectional study in Turkey.

AIM: Family physicians are role models for their societies in disaster management and have an important place in it. This study was carried out during the specialty training of the residents, who are currently family physicians fighting against COVID-19 in the field, and was aimed to identify the awareness levels of residents regarding the roles and duties of family physicians before, during, and after disasters and to increase their awareness of disaster medicine and management. BACKGROUND: The duties and responsibilities of a family physician in disasters should be a part of their specialty training. This study has contributed to the limited literature, increased awareness, and opened a new avenue of research for studies to be conducted with family physicians by demonstrating the current situation of family physicians in disaster management. METHODS: This is an observational and descriptive study. The knowledge, experience, opinions, willingness, attitudes of the residents, and the awareness levels of the residents regarding their roles and duties in a disaster were evaluated along with their sociodemographic information. The surveys were applied in the family medicine clinics of the all residents by the interview method (n = 233). FINDINGS: Only 9.2% of the residents stated that they had received training on disaster medicine where they currently work. The knowledge level of the residents on this subject was found as 'Unsure'. In total, 80% of the residents stated that family physicians should have a role in disasters. It was found that 83.3% of the residents had never joined a disaster drill, 94.3% had never participated in making or applying a disaster plan, and 97.7% had never worked in any disaster. CONCLUSION: The residents participating in the study lacked not only information on disaster management but also experience. The residents' willingness to receive training, work voluntarily, significantly question the curriculum, and specialize in disaster medicine were a positive outcome.

Treatment of tuberculosis in Turkey in terms of medical ethics.

Having a history as old as the history of humanity, Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious disease and it is regarded as an important a public health problem not only for its medical aspect but also for its social and ethical aspects. As a result of the discovery of the cure for TB and the improvement of humans' living conditions, the TB problem was believed to be solved and a relaxation in the battle against TB was observed around the world by 1980s. World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of emergency for the battle against TB in 1993. According to the "Global Tuberculosis Control 2014" which was published by WHO, TB remains one of the world's deadliest communicable diseases. This article argues that tuberculosis is one of the most important neglected topics in medical ethics as regards individual obligations to avoid infecting others, coercive social distancing measures, third-party notification, health workers' duty to treat contagious patients, and justice.The purpose of this article is provide a picture of the current situation of TB treatment in Turkey in terms of medical ethics.

Obstetric and gynecologic malpractice in Turkey: incidence, impact, causes and prevention.

The Forensic Medicine Association was established in Turkey by law number 2659 for the purpose of providing expertise in legal cases. In this study the opinions given by the lawcourts and public defenders in the Forensic Medicine Association's First, Second, Third, and Fifth Specialization Divisions between the years 1990 and 2000 (approximately 680,000 files) were examined retrospectively. It was determined from these that there were 636 cases of medical malpractice. In examining the distribution of cases based on specialty branch, it was established that 16.82% (n=107) were in the area of obstetrics and gynecology, 10.69% (n=68) in general surgery, 10.53% in neurology and neurosurgery, and the remaining areas were found to be at lower percentages. It also showed that in recent years there has been an increase in the number of cases claiming medical malpractice in the area of obstetrics and gynecology, and that 58% of the cases (n=62) from 1998 to 2000 were in this area. 96% of the 107 cases that claimed malpractice in the area of obstetrics and gynecology were found to be related to obstetrics and 3.8% (n=4) to gynecology and surgical procedures. In 31% (n=33) of the 107 cases fault was found; all of the cases where medical malpractice was found were in the area of obstetrics and none of the cases related to gynecology were found to have an element of error. Cases that had an element of error were evaluated from the aspect of profession of the health care personnel at fault, areas of fault, places where fault occurred, situations that resulted in death, cause of death, whether or not an autopsy was done, injury that resulted from fault, intervention that was done, and obstetric and gynecologic risk factors that set the stage for claims. Care standards and breach of standards were examined.

[Clinical drug research from medical ethics and legal perspectives]. / Tip etigi ve tip hukuku açisindan klinik ilaç arastirmalari.

Medical ethics and law in clinical drug research are the two main points that have been discussed in public and medical circles. Conducting drug research on "easily affected and vulnerable groups", such as psychiatric patients, has always been a controversial issue in medicine. How should human subjects be protected, especially psychiatric patients, who are defined as "vulnerable subjects and groups"; what are the ethically and legally justifiable reasons for basing drug research on psychiatric patients; and what can be said about responsibilities in the context of medical ethics and law? Patients who are in the mentioned groups can not be informed clearly about the characteristics of research which they would be involved in. In recent years psychiatric, geriatric, anesthesiology and pediatric patients are defined as "patients who do not have the ability for consent". In this article answers will be given to questions such as why medical ethics is interested in clinical drug research, and what kind of roles should ethics play in drug research. The situation worldwide will be analyzed from a historical approach with regard to laws and regulations concerning drug research. The legal rights of human subjects who have the ability to give informed consent and of those who do not will be discussed and the place of psychiatric patients as human subjects in drug research will be addressed. Some unethical examples and their consequences will be considered and discussed. In this context, a critical evaluation will be made of the situation in Turkey.