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Journal of the American Board of Family... 2022Female physicians earn less than their male counterparts, and many explanatory factors have been offered to account for these differences. An analysis of the 2019...
Female physicians earn less than their male counterparts, and many explanatory factors have been offered to account for these differences. An analysis of the 2019 American Board of Family Medicine New Graduate Survey Data demonstrates that women make 16% less than men, regardless of experience or hours worked.
Topics: Family Practice; Female; Humans; Income; Male; Salaries and Fringe Benefits; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States
PubMed: 35039406
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2022.01.210086 -
African Journal of Primary Health Care... Mar 2020In the context of addressing the pressing health needs for the global population, the World Health Organization has repeatedly called for universal health coverage (UHC)... (Review)
Review
In the context of addressing the pressing health needs for the global population, the World Health Organization has repeatedly called for universal health coverage (UHC) to be prioritised by its member countries. This is to be achieved through a high-quality primary health care (PHC) approach that provides comprehensive and integrated generalist care as close to where people live as well as links the clinical care to health promotion and disease prevention. In this paper, we argue for the introduction of family medicines as a critical player in the healthcare system of Tanzania to strengthen the strategies towards UHC. The paper reviews how PHC is understood, the context of family medicine in sub-Saharan Africa and makes a case for how family medicine can assist in addressing the current burden of disease in Tanzania.
Topics: Family Practice; Health Care Reform; Humans; Tanzania; Universal Health Insurance
PubMed: 32242426
DOI: 10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2129 -
Journal of Postgraduate Medicine 2020Patients often approach a pharmacist instead of visiting a doctor for minor ailments such as cough, cold, allergies, pain, fever, acidity, diarrhea, and skin-related... (Review)
Review
Patients often approach a pharmacist instead of visiting a doctor for minor ailments such as cough, cold, allergies, pain, fever, acidity, diarrhea, and skin-related conditions. Purchase of specific medicines over the counter is legally recognized in most countries. 'Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicines' means drugs which are legally allowed to be sold by pharmacists without need for a prescription. The term does not have a legal definition in India. Technically, drugs are OTC unless they are specifically stated as prescription only drugs. OTC drugs allow faster and cheaper access to healthcare; however, their misuse and adverse health effects cause concerns. This article describes concept of OTC medicines and practices in India against the background of globally prevalent regulations and practices. A recognized category of OTC medicines by law, patient awareness programs, and support of pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies are required to optimize the use of OTC medicines in India.
Topics: Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; India; Nonprescription Drugs; Pharmacists; Professional Role; Public Health; Self Medication
PubMed: 31898596
DOI: 10.4103/jpgm.JPGM_381_19 -
British Journal of Hospital Medicine... Nov 2022Medicine research and development has been instrumental in improving outcomes for countless individuals, but women, especially pregnant women, have been left behind....
Medicine research and development has been instrumental in improving outcomes for countless individuals, but women, especially pregnant women, have been left behind. Disadvantaged during pregnancy as a result of apprehension over drug use for new or existing conditions, women face worse outcomes for under- or untreated disease. Solving this problem will require input from regulators, the pharmaceutical industry and clinicians.
Topics: Pregnancy; Child; Female; Humans; Fear; Drug Industry; Medicine
PubMed: 36454072
DOI: 10.12968/hmed.2022.0312 -
Lakartidningen Apr 2023Overdiagnosis and overtreatment receive increasing attention. More than 20 percent of health expenditure is without patient benefit, so-called low-value care. Several...
Overdiagnosis and overtreatment receive increasing attention. More than 20 percent of health expenditure is without patient benefit, so-called low-value care. Several national and international initiatives have been launched to minimize low-value care. Arguably, the most widely spread initiative is Choosing Wisely. First launched by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2012, this campaign has spread to more than 20 countries. The Swedish Society of Medicine has identified low-value care as a significant problem in Swedish health care and has established a working group to investigate if and how a campaign based on Choosing Wisely would be feasible in Sweden. Here, the working group reports on the history of Choosing Wisely, identifies potential challenges for deimplementation generally and in the Swedish context specifically.
Topics: Humans; United States; Sweden; Internal Medicine; Delivery of Health Care
PubMed: 37057979
DOI: No ID Found -
AMA Journal of Ethics Mar 2022Medical education is limited to the biomedical model, omitting critical discourse about racism, the harm it causes minoritized patients, and medicine's foundation and...
Medical education is limited to the biomedical model, omitting critical discourse about racism, the harm it causes minoritized patients, and medicine's foundation and complicity in perpetuating racism. Against a backdrop of historical resistance from medical education leadership, medical students' advocacy for antiracism in medicine continues. This article highlights a medical student-led antiracist curricular effort that moves beyond a biomedical model and uses abolition as the guiding framework in the creation process, the content itself, and iterative reflection through further study and dissemination.
Topics: Education, Medical; Humans; Leadership; Medicine; Racism; Students, Medical
PubMed: 35325520
DOI: 10.1001/amajethics.2022.194 -
Bulletin of the World Health... Oct 2021To ensure equitable access to medicines and vaccines, organizational efforts and purchase volumes have been pooled in joint procurements and negotiations for decades in...
To ensure equitable access to medicines and vaccines, organizational efforts and purchase volumes have been pooled in joint procurements and negotiations for decades in some regions of the world, as well as globally through supranational procurement mechanisms. In Europe, countries started to collaborate on procurement and negotiations recently when it became increasingly difficult to ensure access to high-priced medicines, even in high-income countries. Two European country collaborations (the Nordic Pharmaceutical Forum and the Baltic Procurement Initiative) have successfully concluded at least one joint tender process for medicines and vaccines and the Beneluxa Initiative has concluded its first successful joint price negotiation. This article describes the experiences of these country collaborations. Challenges observed included: legal barriers; institutional and organizational differences between health-care systems in member countries; and the risk that suppliers will be reluctant to cooperate with country collaborations. Although these collaborations helped improve access to medicines and vaccines for the countries involved, in situations such as a global health crisis, larger-scale, more-inclusive initiatives are needed. In the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative established a global procurement mechanism to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally. Despite differences in organization and scale, the European country collaborations and COVAX have some similarities: (i) their success depends on the increased purchasing power associated with pooled order volumes; (ii) expert knowledge and previous procurement experience is pooled; (iii) they perform other collaborative activities that go beyond procurement alone; and (iv) they actively involve external partners and stakeholders.
Topics: COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Global Health; Humans; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccines
PubMed: 34621089
DOI: 10.2471/BLT.21.285761 -
Archives of Iranian Medicine May 2021Depression is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects 300 million people worldwide. Pharmacotherapy is one of the treatments. Due to delay in... (Review)
Review
Depression is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects 300 million people worldwide. Pharmacotherapy is one of the treatments. Due to delay in initiating treatment efficacy and the incomplete response to mono-drug therapy in one-third of patients, new approaches need to be considered. One of the ways to overcome this resistance to treatment and to enhance standard medical practice is to add complementary medicines. We aimed to document research progress from studies on integrative medicine for the treatment of depression. Review of PubMed and Scopus databases on the topic and a personal collection of the relevant publications are the sources for this study. Some of the nutraceuticals and complementary medicines in the treatment of depression will be reviewed. Supplements discussed in this review include S-adenosyl-methionine (SAMe), (Saffron), carnosine, theanine, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), tryptophan and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), gemfibrozil, curcumin (the main active ingredient in turmeric), (St John's wort), (Lavender), and . Despite evidence in favor of the antidepressant effect of several supplements, their efficacy and tolerability should be evaluated and validated by further high-quality studies.
Topics: Antidepressive Agents; Complementary Therapies; Depression; Humans; Hypericum; Integrative Medicine; Phytotherapy
PubMed: 34196207
DOI: 10.34172/aim.2021.59 -
Systematic Reviews Aug 2023More than 1.7 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide. Forty percent of the NTD-affected people live in Africa with the poorest, most... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
More than 1.7 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide. Forty percent of the NTD-affected people live in Africa with the poorest, most vulnerable, and hard to reach geographical areas. The NTDs cause significant social and economic burden and deepen marginalization and stigmatization. The World Health Organization's current roadmap for NTD aims to prevent, control, eliminate, or eradicate 20 tropical diseases. Ethiopia experiences a high burden of these diseases, but current access to diagnostics, medicine, and/or care has been little explored to inform the country's NTD strategic plan. The overall purpose of the scoping review was to map and characterize the burden of NTDs and challenges in access to diagnostics, medicine, and/or care in Ethiopia.
METHODS
A systematic search of evidence was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar from January 2000 until May 2022, without restrictions of language or study design. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review was followed for screening of studies. Key findings were extracted and narrated qualitatively.
RESULTS
The search resulted in 4532 articles, of which 105 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the scoping review under three themes: burden of NTDs, access to diagnostics, medicine and/or care, and key barriers. Although gains have been made in the prevention and control of NTDs in Ethiopia, the burden remains high, and progress in access to diagnostics, medicine/drugs, and/or care is very slow. Poverty, poor quality of life, and underfunding of NTD programs decelerate the process of NTD elimination program in the country.
CONCLUSIONS
The scoping review identified a considerable number of studies on the burden of NTDs in Ethiopia and strategies for diagnosis, treatment, and/or care; however, there is a paucity of evidence on the suitability and potential benefits of novel diagnostic technologies and medicines in the country. A regular review and analysis of such country-level evidence is important to inform the country NTDs roadmap and local implementation strategies.
Topics: Humans; Ethiopia; Quality of Life; Tropical Medicine; Global Health; Neglected Diseases; Health Services Accessibility
PubMed: 37580784
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-023-02302-5 -
Annals of Palliative Medicine May 2023
Topics: Humans; Palliative Medicine; Medical Oncology; Neoplasms; Hematology; Palliative Care; Quality of Life
PubMed: 37038068
DOI: 10.21037/apm-23-17