Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Medical care Medical ethics Medical policy Leadership'

Thesis (Ed.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005.
Theses (Faculty of Education) / Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references leaves 322-244. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2008.
Includes vitae. Department of Philosophy, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Advisor(s): Peter H. Schwartz. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66)

Organizational leaders face challenges related to implementing ethical standards, which influence performance, organization sustainability, and culture. The purpose of this single case study was to explore ethics strategies that health care business leaders used to improve employees' ethical conduct. Data were collected through face-to-face, semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of 7 business leaders of a health care organization located in central Georgia and a review of organization documents. The conceptual framework was Brady's Janus-headed model of ethical theory. Using a priori coding during the data analysis process provided 3 thematic categories: policy strategies for the improvement of employee ethical conduct, ethics strategies used to address employee unethical conduct, and strategies to overcome barriers of strategy implementation. Themes that emerged from the data were accountability and responsibility, leadership development, escalating behaviors, and adapting to change. The findings from this study might contribute to social change by providing information about ethical strategies leaders used to improve employee ethical conduct, which can be used to influence individuals' livelihood, stakeholders' comfort level, and the well-being of the community.

This thesis is an ethnographic study of a little documented indigenous group, the Warekena people, who live on the Xié River in north-western Amazonia. Examining the mythic histories of the animate riverscape, my work offers an overview of the emergence of riverside dwelling: starting with a macro view of Xié river lifestyles, I explain how seasonal and distinguishing historic-mythic narratives tie in to wider idioms, and to experiences of social reproduction. I focus on reproductive processes and the perinatal period, highlighting methods used by Xié dwellers to nurture healthy, quality-conscious lifestyles, and I examine Xié aetiologies and pathologies. Mindfulness, or awareness, is viewed as a key component of good health. In this context, healthy childbirth is for the birthing mother an art form, a practice for which her total life experience has prepared her. Childbirth is ranked with such other painful experiences as snakebite, and both childbirth and snakebite are opportunities for personal growth. Infant care is seen through the lens of specific, hands-on techniques that promote mindful states in both the carer and the cared for. Mindfulness emerges as a heuristic device that allows us to scrutinize the Amerindian soul and body, also elucidating soul-loss in the ‘animist’ lived world. I argue that mindfulness is a core characteristic of the ‘cool’ hydrocentric and status-conscious lifestyles of Xié river dwellers, and that it defines what it means to be a person, the Xié way.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the ethical issues that permeated the carbohydrate experiment that was going on at Vipeholm's hospital for "uneducable insane" in Sweden. The material about the experiment is taken from Elin Bommenel's dissertation The Sugar Experiment: The Caries Experiments 1943–1960 at Vipeholm Hospital for the Insane. To create understanding, Beauchamp and Childress´s four ethical principles, which are used as ethical guidelines in health care, were used in the analysis of the experiment. The four principles are the principle of nonmaleficence, the principle of respect for autonomy, the principle of beneficence and the principle of justice. The analysis based on the four principles showed that the Vipeholme experiment is complex to understand as Beauchamp and Childress's principles provided a picture of the research which from many aspects cannot be seen as ethically correct. From other aspects, however, some elements can be supported by Beauchamp and Childress. The researchers had the task of investigating caries that would successfully help many people. Based on the principle of beneficence, one could imagine that the researchers acted correctly, but had no respect for the patients' autonomous decisions. The two principles are then in conflict with each other, something that critics of Beauchamp and Childress point out as a shortcoming.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease whose incidence has increased with more than 200% during the past 20 years. The increasing number of type 2 diabetes patients could result in more patients suffering from lower quality of life and life threatening complications. Furthermore, the growing need of care will increase the load on healthcare. To counteract this effect, digital tools could be used to put more care responsibility on the patient.  The aim of this project was to find and implement the relevant features for a digital type 2 diabetes tool for newly diagnosed patients. The final goal was to encourage self-care, reduce anxiety and thus improve quality of life, while decreasing the risk of complications. The research process of this project consisted of five phases: literature study (to find relevant features and their clinical evidence), interviews (to find the desires of patients and practitioners), data analysis (to prioritise features), development of the features and evaluation of the tool.  The results showed that important features were documentation of blood glucose measurements, patient education, data transfer, communication and care plan overview, but even more importantwas the possibility to individualise the tool for different patients. The evaluation indicated that a clear care plan overview that was easy to understand could help the patient prioritise care activities. Furthermore, patients could be encouraged by reminders, seeing improvements and having continuous communication with healthcare. It was found that for positive clinical outcomes, high usability is essential. To reach patient acceptance the tool must be relevant and easy to use. It must also give valuable output, such as decision support for self-care or new knowledge. To reach practitioner acceptance the tool should be based on evidence based methods and integrate well with existing systems.  Finally it was concluded that the knowledge and technology needed to build a successful tool is already present, they only need to be put together and formulated in a way which is understandable and useful for both patients, caregivers and developers.
Diabetes typ 2 är en kronisk sjukdom vars incidens har ökat med mer än 200% de senaste 20 åren. Det stigande antalet patienter med diabetes typ 2 kan leda till att fler patienter blir lidande av lägre livskvalitet och livshotande komplikationer. Dessutom ökar det stigande vårdbehovet belastningen på vården. För att motverka denna effekt kan digitala verktyg utvecklas så att mer ansvar kan läggas på patienten. Syftet med detta projekt var att hitta och implementera relevanta funktioner för ett digitalt verktyg för nydiagnostiserade patienter med diabetes typ 2. Målet var att uppmuntra egenvård, minska oro och därmed öka livskvaliteten samt minska risken för komplikationer. Projektets forskningsprocess bestod av fem faser: litteraturstudie (finna relevanta funktioner och deras evidens), intervjuer (kartlägga krav från patienter och vårdgivare), dataanalys (prioritera funktioner), utveckling av funktioner i HOPE platform och slutligen utvärdering av verktyget i HOPE platform. Resultaten visade att dokumentation av blodglukosmätningar, patientutbildning, dataöverföring, kommunikation och vårdplansöversikt var viktiga funktioner, men ännu viktigare var möjligheten att individanpassa verktyget för varje patient. Utvärderingen indikerade att en tydlig vårdplansöversikt som är enkel att förstå hjälper patienten att prioritera de viktigaste vårdaktiviteterna. Vidare kan patienter motiveras av påminnelser, att se förbättring och att ha kontinuerlig kontakt med vården. Det konstaterades att hög användbarhet är nödvändig för att uppnå positiva kliniska effekter. För att nå acceptans hos patienterna måste verktyget vara relevant, enkelt att använda och ge något värdefull tillbaka, så som beslutsstöd för egenvård eller ny kunskap. För att nå acceptans hos vårdgivarna bör verktyget baseras på evidensbaserade metoder och vara kompatibelt med nuvarande system. Slutligen drogs slutsatsen att kunskapen och tekniken för att skapa ett lyckat verktyg redan finns, men att kraven måste sammanställas och formuleras på ett sätt som är förståeligt och användbart för både patienter, vårdgivare och utvecklare.

The purpose of this study was to examine the practicing characteristics of graduates of a college of medicine with a rural primary care mission, including influences on graduates' specialty choices and practice locations. Secondary data analyses were conducted on student records and AMA Physician Masterfile data. Fewer graduates were practicing primary care than had entered primary care training. Graduates who attended internal medicine residency training were less likely to be practicing primary care medicine than those who attended other primary care programs. Women and rural track graduates were significantly more likely to practice primary care than were men and generalist track graduates, respectively. Primary care physicians (PCPs) were practicing in more rural locales than non-PCPs. Family physicians tended to practice in the most rural locales. FMDRL_ID: 4822

Abstract Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, took advantage of the mass internal displacement of New Orleans’ populace in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to abandon Charity Hospital’s iconic but neglected facility and to supplant its original safety net mission serving the poor and uninsured for its neoliberal transformation to favor LSU’s academic medical enterprise.

Bakgrund: Operationssalens kommunikation är komplex och kommunikationsproblem är den mest rapporterade orsaken för operativa misstag. Ljudnivå och munskydd är faktorer som försvårar kommunikationen. Teamarbete i operationssalen är nödvändigt för att vården ska vara patientsäker. Operationsteamet utgörs av olika professioner som har ansvaret för patientens säkerhet intraoperativt. Kravet från samhället är att operationssjuksköterskan ska besitta kompetensen att skydda patienter från vårdskador. World Health Organization har utformat en checklista för att förbättra patientsäkerheten på operation. Syfte: Att undersöka operationssjuksköterskans upplevelse av intraoperativ kommunikation. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie med semistrukturerade frågor utfördes på två sjukhus i södra Sverige. Sju intervjuer hölls med operationssjuksköterskor som spelades in och transkriberades. Datan analyserades enligt Graneheim och Lundmans (2004) latenta innehållsanalys. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras under fyra teman. Temat Vikten av att kommunicera belyser att kommunikationen måste fortlöpa under operationen för att inte riskera patientsäkerheten. Temat Intraoperativa Teamgrupperingar beskriver att operationsteamet arbetar i separata team tills den peroperativa fasen där de är ett gemensamt operationsteam. Professionerna är kopplade till varandra vilket ger stort ansvar i kommunikationen. I temat Ledarens Inverkan på Teamkommunikation framkommer att auktoritära ledare kan medföra en nervös stämning och upplevd minskad patientsäkerhet. Operatören har betydelse för användningen av WHO:s checklista och följsamheten till den. I temat olika uttryck för Intraoperativ Kommunikation framträder olika typer av kommunikation ha påverkan intraoperativt. Slutsats: Operationsteamet sammanhålls av respekt och gemensamt ansvar. Kvaliteten av den intraoperativa kommunikationen är beroende av ett ansvarstagande från varje teammedlem och kräver en långsiktig plan för utveckling från verksamhetens ledning.
Background: Communication in the operating room (OR) is complex. Communication failures is the most reported cause of operative misstakes. Sound levels and operating masks are some factors that complicates the communication. Teamwork in the OR is necessary for patient safe care. The operating team consists of various professionals who are responsible for patient safety intraoperatively. The society’s requirement is that the operating room nurse must possess competence to protect patients from medical harm. The World Health Organization designed a checklist to improve patient safety in the OR. Aim: To investigate the operating room nurse's experience of intraoperative communication. Method: A qualitative interview study with semi-structured questions was conducted at two hospitals in southern Sweden. Seven interviews were held with surgical nurses which were recorded and transcribed. The data were analyzed according to Graneheim and Lundman's (2004) latent content analysis. Results: The result is presented under four themes. The theme The Importance of Communicating highlights that communication must continue throughout the surgery in order not to risk patient safety. The theme of Intraoperative Team Groupings describes that the operating team works in separate teams until the peroperative phase where they are a joint operation team. The professions are linked to each other, which gives great responsibility in communication. The theme The Leader’s Impact on Team Communication reveals that hierarchical leaders can cause a nervous mood and cause reduced patient safety. The surgeon is important for the use of WHO's checklist and its compliance. In the theme Different Expressions for Intraoperative Communication, different types of communication have an impact intraoperatively. Conclusion: The operating team is united by respect and shared responsibility. The quality of intraoperative communication depends on the responsibility of each team member and requires a long term plan for development from the management.

The rarity of a disease can give rise to challenges that differ from conventional diseases. For example, rarity hampers research and development of new drugs, and patients with severe, rare diseases have limited access to qualified treatments. When drugs are available, clinical evidence has higher uncertainty and the drugs can be very expensive. When setting priorities in the healthcare sector, treatments aimed at patients with rare diseases, so called orphan drugs, have become a source of concern. Orphan drugs seldom show solid evidence of effectiveness or cost-effectiveness. Still, treatments for rare disease patients, available on the European market, has increased rapidly since the adoption of a regulation offering incentives for research and development of orphan drugs. The question arises as to whether the publicly funded health care system should provide such expensive treatments, and if so, to what extent. This doctoral thesis aims to investigate healthcare priority setting and rare diseases in the context of orphan drug reimbursement. Priority setting for orphan drugs is located at the intersection of economic, ethical and psychological perspectives. This intersection is explored by studying the public’s view on the relevance of rarity when setting priorities for orphan drugs, and by examining how orphan drugs are managed when making reimbursement decisions in practice. Papers I and II in this thesis employ quantitative, experimental methods in order to investigate preferences for prioritising rare diseases, and the extent to which psychological factors influence such preferences. Papers III and IV employ qualitative methods to further explore what factors (apart from rarity) influence priority-setting decisions for orphan drugs, as well as how decisions regarding orphan drugs are made in practice in England, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods has provided a more comprehensive understanding of the topic explored in the thesis, and the methods have complemented each other. Paper I shows that there is no general preference for giving higher priority to rare disease patients when allocating resources between rare and common disease patients. However, results show that preferences for treating the rare patients are malleable to a set of psychological factors, in particular “proportion dominance”. Paper II shows that the identifiability of an individual has no, or a negative, influence on the share of respondents choosing to allocate resources to him/her (compared to a nonidentified individual). Paper III confirms that rarity per se is not seen as a factor that should influence priority-setting decisions (i.e. accept a greater willingness to pay for orphan drugs), however, other factors such as disease severity, treatment effect and whether there are treatment alternatives were seen as relevant for consideration. Paper IV explores the challenges with and solutions for orphan drug reimbursement, as perceived by different actors in five European countries. Perceived challenges are related to the components involved when making reimbursement decisions, to the reimbursement system, and to the acceptance of the final decision. Solutions are either specific for orphan drugs, or general measures that can be used for orphan drugs as well as for other drugs. In conclusion, priority setting for orphan drugs is complex and requires particular attention from decision makers. There are many factors to consider when making reimbursement decisions for orphan drugs. The consequences of a decision are potentially severe (both for rare disease patients and for common disease patients, depending on the decision) and psychological factors can potentially influence decisions.

Bakgrund. Innan dess att svensk psykiatri genomgick övergripande förändringar genomsyrades mentalhälsovården av olika psykologiska teorier vilka sedermera kom till att utgöra väsentliga beståndsdelar inom den “vårdkulturella revolutionens” fundament. Detta utmynnade därefter i svensk socialpsykiatris tillblivelse varigenom dessa försöksverksamheters väl fungerande praxis och kunskaper till synes har glömts bort genom åren. Metod. När, varför och hur har det gått från att vårdgivare/klient-relationen tidigare har betraktats vara “god” till att i dessa dagar te sig “avhumaniserad”? Hur var denna relation förr, hur är den i dag och hur kan den förslagsvis göras bättre framöver? För att kunna besvara detta tas en närmare blick, genom manifest kvalitativ innehållsanalys med konventionell (induktiv) ansats, på svensk hälso- och sjukvård emellan åren 1960–1980 såväl som en om än konkretiserad djupdykning ned i 1970-talets “nya psykiatri” och socialpsykiatriska försöksverksamheter. Resultat. Vägarna till utformandet av en vårdvärnande relation emellan vårdgivare och klient återfinns inom vårdgivarens bemötande och tillvägagångsätt gentemot klienten. Vad som fordras är en tillitsfull atmosfär och att bådadera parterna upprätthåller kontinuerlig kontakt (Gustafsson, 2010) vari tid bistår med goda förutsättningar i utformningen av funktionella tillika utvecklande allianser (Topor & Denhov, 2012). För att brukarinflytande skall fungera under förebyggande arbete, i led om att i största möjliga mån ta uti klienters problematik, krävs ett krispsykoterapeutiskt förhållningssätt och vetskap om psykisk kris genom vilka genuin närvaro uppnås (Cullberg, 1974). Forskning visar även tydligt att vad som behövs vid vårdbemötande är genuin närvaro, medmänsklig förståelse och rak kommunikation: att inte bara se människan, utan även att förstå vad just denna kris innebär för just denna individ såväl som att klientens beteende sett till sin helhet och vad som inte uttrycks säger så mycket mer än vad ord kan någonsin beskriva. Slutsats. Empirin antyder att aktuell forskning anmärker vad som fungerar bra och mindre bra, om inte alls, i relation till vårdbemötande är för all del bra. Men vad om nordisk socialpsykiatris pionjärer såsom Berggren, Cullberg och Haugsgjerd? Aktuell forskning refererar inte till någondera och deras arv tycks vara bortglömt. Så vad om all den kunskap och insikt som förvärvades och införlivades vid tidigare försöksverksamheter såsom Cullbergs kristeori och krispsykoterapi? Aktuell forskning refererar heller inte till någotdera och alltsammans tycks ha gått i stöpet. Vad som däremot framgår är att deras visioner tillämpades med mycket goda resultat vid bland annat Nackaprojektet tillika att sagda teori och psykoterapi tycks ha runnit ut i sanden efter verksamhetens nedläggning. Psykologin och psykiatrin, till syvende och sist, rör sig i ett gränsland emellan vetenskap och humaniora däri de, i samvaro med etisk kodex om att all behandling skall vila på “vetenskap och beprövad erfarenhet”, samexisterar i led om att med fumliga försök fånga livets komplexiteter. Men vart någonstans bör gränsdragningen gå emellan “vetenskaplig professionalitet” och “personlig inlevelse” när man möter någon med psykisk ohälsa, en medmänniska i psykisk kris?
Background. Prior to the undertaking of radical changes in Swedish psychiatry, various psychological theories permeated mental healthcare that would subsequently become essential components at the very heart of the “care-cultural revolution.” This subsequently resulted in the creation of Swedish social psychiatry through which trial establishments’ well-functioning praxis and knowledge have, so it seems, been forgotten over the years. Method. How, when and why has it gone from the fact that the caregiver/client-relationship has previously been considered as “good” to in these days feel as though it has become “dehumanized”? How was this relationship in the past, how is it as of today, and how can it be made better for the future? In order to answer this, a closer look, through manifest qualitative content analysis with conventional (inductive) approach, is taken on Swedish health care throughout the 1960s–1980s as well as an elaborate deep dive down into the “new psychiatry” of the 1970s and social psychiatric trial establishments. Result. The paths to the formation of a care-ensuring relationship between caregiver and client are found within caregivers’ attitude and approach towards their clients. What is required is a trusting atmosphere and that both parties maintain continuous contact (Gustafsson, 2010) wherein time provides good conditions in the formation of functional and developing alliances (Topor & Denhov, 2012). In order for user influence to function during preventive work, in line with addressing clients’ problems as much as possible, a crisis psychotherapeutic approach and knowledge of mental crisis is required through which genuine presence is achi-eved (Cullberg, 1974). Research also clearly shows that what is needed during care meetings is genuine presence, compassionate understanding, and straightforward communication: not only to see the person, but also to understand what this particular crisis means for this particular individual as well as that his or her behavior in itself and what is not being expressed says so much more than words can ever describe. Conclusion. Empirical data suggests that current research remarks on what works well and less well, if not at all, in relation to care treatment is certainly good. But what about the pioneers of Nordic social psychiatry like Berggren, Cullberg, and Haugsgjerd? Current research refers to neither and their legacies seem to have been forgotten. So, what about all the know-ledge and insight that was acquired and incorporated in previous experimental activities such as Cullberg's crisis theory and crisis psychotherapy? Current research refers, likewise, to neither and everything seems to have gone down the drain. What is clear, however, is that their visions were applied with very good results in, amongst other things, the Nacka Project as well as that said theory and psychotherapy seem to have faded away following the trial establishment’s closure. Psychology and psychiatry, ultimately, move in a borderland between science and the humanities wherein they, in conjunction with the code of ethics that all treatment is to be based on “science and proven experience,” coexist in line with fumble attempts to capture life’s complexities. But where exactly should the line be drawn between “scientific professionalism” and “personal insight” when meeting someone with mental ill-health, a fellow human being in a mental crisis?

Introduction: Licensed medical personnel (henceforth LMP) experience ethical problems related to undertaking care duties in combat zones. When employed in the Armed Forces they are always under the command of tactical officers (henceforth TOs). Aim: The overall aim was to explore everyday ethical problems experienced by military medical personnel, focusing on licensed medical personnel in combat zones from a descriptive and normative perspective. A further aim was to explore leadership challenges in leading licensed medical personnel. Methods: For the research descriptive, explorative (inductive and abductive) and normative designs were used. Data collection was undertaken by using different methods. Altogether 12 physicians, 15 registered nurses, seven combat lifesavers and 15 tactical officers were individually interviewed. The participants were selected by strategic (I), purposive (II) and theoretical sampling (III). The interviews were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. Study III used classic grounded theory and study IV was a normative analysis of an ethical problem based on the idea of a wide reflective equilibrium. Results: We found that LMP experience ethical problems related to dual loyalty when serving in combat zones. They give reasons for undertaking, or not, military duties that can be seen as combat duties. Sometimes they have restricted reasons for undertaking these military duties. Furthermore, LMP are under the command of TOs who found it challenging when leading LMP, since TOs have to unify LMP in the unit. The unifying makes it difficult since LMP experience dual loyalty. Conclusions: LMP experience dual loyalty in combat zones. The reason maybe that humanitarian law and the medical ethical codes are not clear-cut or explicit about how to be interpreted around these everyday ethical problems in internal military operations. In order to fit in todays context humanitarian law needs to be revised. Furthermore, LMP need further training in parallel with reflections on ethical problems in order to adapt to the combat zones of today.

Diploma thesis "Development of Czech medical law in the context of health-related human rights" deals with Czech medical law and its development after the year 1989 in connection with the human rights. Also this thesis deals with the area of human rights with their relation to health, especially in the time of the current health reforms. The aim of the thesis is, based on the analysis of the current findings, to find out the deficits of the protection of human rights regarding the modernization of health law and to identify the reasons of the failure of the implementation of the norms and laws concerning the human rights and their connection to health in the Czech legal system.

The thesis proposes and defends a maxim which can serve as a foundation and guideline for professional ethics in nursing, the maxim that nurses should act so far as possible to promote patient's self-determination. The thesis is informed by philosophical ethics and by knowledge of professional nursing practice.

The limited success of HIV-testing facilities in South Africa means that many people are not accessing necessary antiretroviral treatment services. This study investigates the practical implications of HIV exceptionalism inherent in Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT). A semi-structured interview schedule was used to survey participants for their perspectives on barriers to HIV-testing uptake as well as the effects of exceptionalist practices at VCT clinics. Responses showed marked perceptions of gender differences in people's willingness to test and several important barriers including problems of access to services. Significantly, exceptionalism displayed in certain clinic procedures was thought to contribute to stigma, and attempts to normalise HIV practice in order to combat the effects of stigma were being informally implemented. Participants' views on routine opt-out testing were explored. The researcher recommended further investigation on how HIV testing and treatment policies can be normalised so as to reduce stigma and increase testing uptake.
Social Work
M.A. Sociology (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)