Subject(s)
Acupuncture Points , Acupuncture Therapy , Pain Management , Chronic Disease , Clinical Trials as Topic , HumansABSTRACT
A clinical skill recently identified as a necessary curricular component in allied health programs is transculturally competent care. It is imperative to teach allied health students transcultural care skills, first, because the population of the United States is becoming more ethnically, culturally, and racially diverse, and the allied health workforce must be prepared for this change. Second, Western medicine has historically reflected European values and traditions. Because other cultures view health and disease differently, health care workers must understand and be respectful of values and traditions that differ from their own. And finally, organizations that accredit health care facilities and academic programs, and licensing boards, are recognizing cultural competency as an important clinical skill for all health care workers. Based on existing literature on transcultural care education, which primarily comes from nursing, this article suggests a model for its incorporation in allied health curricula.
Subject(s)
Allied Health Personnel/education , Culture , Curriculum , Humans , Models, Educational , United StatesABSTRACT
The therapeutic advantages of scanned electron beams from medical linear accelerators are accompanied by difficulties in electron dosimetry. Owing to short-time dose inhomogeneities in the treatment field, implicit in the system, time-consuming point-by-point measurements of dose distributions are normally required. However, by triggering the measuring time synchronously with the slow scan frequency, the time necessary to record reliable dose distributions can be shortened considerably. The instrumentation for the computer-controlled dosimetry system developed for this task is described. The results of our measurements show that reproducibility in dose within +/- 1% is achievable in less than 6.3 s per point for scanned electron beams.
Subject(s)
Electrons , Particle Accelerators , Radiotherapy, High-Energy/instrumentation , Humans , Methods , Radiotherapy DosageABSTRACT
The fundamental principles of construction, the operational data, handling and safety devices of the first linear electron accelerator type Therac 20-Saturne (CGR MeV) installed in Germany are described. Relevant characteristics of the radiation field for therapy with 12 and 18-MV photons and also the dosimetric data are reported. Observance of the tolerances recommended by the IEC is guaranteed with this accelerator.