scholarly journals Tom Tiddler’s Ground: Irregular Medical Practitioners and Male Sexual Problems in New Zealand, 1858–1908

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay R. Watson

AbstractIrregular practitioners (‘quacks’) specialising in male sexual problems succeeded in nineteenth-century New Zealand by taking advantage of the growing population of unattached men who were ignorant of their own sexual physiology. The irregulars also profited from the regular practitioners’ acceptance of ill-defined or imaginary male sexual disorders and the side effects of conventional venereal disease treatments, the lack of a clear demarcation between quacks and the regular medical profession, and an increased availability of newspaper advertising. Improvements in the postal system enabled quacks to reach more potential customers by mail, their preferred sales method. The decline in quackery resulted from scientific advances in the understanding of disease and government legislation to privilege regular practitioners and limit quacks’ access to postal services and advertising.

2021 ◽  
pp. 103985622110250
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C L Looi ◽  
Stephen Allison ◽  
Stephen R Kisely ◽  
Tarun Bastiampillai

Objective: To discuss and reflect upon the role of medical practitioners, including psychiatrists, as health advocates on behalf of patients, carers and staff. Conclusions: Health advocacy is a key professional competency of medical practitioners, and is part of the RANZCP framework for training and continuing professional development. Since advocacy is often a team activity, there is much that is gained experientially from volunteering and working with other more experienced health advocates within structurally and financially independent (of health systems and governments) representative groups (RANZCP, AMA, unions). Doctors may begin with clinically proximate advocacy for improved healthcare in health systems, across the public and private sectors. Health advocacy requires skill and courage, but can ultimately influence systemic outcomes, sway policy decisions, and improve resource allocation.


1969 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
W M Platts
Keyword(s):  

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Friberg ◽  
T. Chen ◽  
G. Tarr ◽  
A. van Rij

We recruited a population of people who clinically suffer from the symptoms of erythromelalgia, red, hot, painful feet made worse by heat and improved by cooling, to better characterise this population and measure their quality of life (QOL). Ninety-two individuals completed the QOL surveys, and 56 individuals were clinically assessed. There was a 3 : 1 ratio of females to males with an average age of 61 years. The estimated prevalence of people who had clinical symptoms of erythromelalgia in the Dunedin community was 15/100,000. Only 27% of people had received a diagnosis for their symptoms despite seeking medical attention. People in the study population had worse quality of life than the general New Zealand population(P<0.001). In the majority of participants symptoms had a mild-moderate effect on their quality of life. The results of this study indicate that the number of people who have clinical symptoms of erythromelalgia is much greater than is commonly accepted and that the majority of these individuals go unrecognised by the medical profession despite seeking help. They have significantly diminished QOL with the majority of people having mild-to-moderate symptoms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernieda Hatah ◽  
Rhiannon Braund ◽  
Stephen Duffull ◽  
June Tordoff

INTRODUCTION: Internationally, non-medical practitioners are increasingly involved in tasks traditionally undertaken by general practitioners (GPs), such as medication review and prescribing. This study aims to evaluate GPs’ perceptions of pharmacists’ contributions to those services. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were carried out in two localities with GPs whose patients had and had not undergone a pharmacist-led adherence support Medication Use Review (MUR). GPs were asked their opinions of pharmacists’ provision of MUR, clinical medication review and prescribing. Data were analysed thematically using NVivo 8 and grouped by strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) category. FINDINGS: Eighteen GPs were interviewed. GPs mentioned their own skills, training and knowledge of clinical conditions. These were considered GPs’ major strengths. GPs’ perceived weaknesses were their time constraints and heavy workloads. GPs thought pharmacists’ strengths were their knowledge of pharmacology and having more time for in-depth medication review than GPs. Nevertheless, GPs felt pharmacist-led medication reviews might confuse patients, and increase GP workloads. GPs were concerned that pharmacist prescribing might include pharmacists making a diagnosis. This is not the proposed model for New Zealand. In general, GPs were more accepting of pharmacists providing medication reviews than of pharmacist prescribing, unless appropriate controls, close collaboration and co-location of services took place. CONCLUSION: GPs perceived their own skills were well suited to reviewing medication and prescribing, but thought pharmacists might also have strengths and skills in these areas. In future, GPs thought that working together with pharmacists in these services might be possible in a collaborative setting. KEYWORDS: Community pharmacy services; general practitioners; New Zealand; primary health care; professional role


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-541
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Wolf

Abstract When medical practitioners fled from the Nazi regime in the 1930s, the British Medical Association (hereafter BMA), the representative body of the medical profession in the British Empire, agitated strenuously to prevent ‘refugee doctors’, as they were described, from practising medicine throughout the Empire. Prominent BMA representatives pursued this agenda in Australia through their appointment to statutory state-based authorities that registered and regulated doctors'. This article investigates how, between 1937 and 1942, they sought to use those bodies’ registration and disciplinary powers in Queensland to exclude refugee doctors. They were particularly persistent in this state given its government's resistance to BMA pressure to pass legislation restricting refugee doctors’ eligibility for registration. In so doing, the article contributes new perspectives to scholarship that analyses the BMA’s effectiveness as a pressure group. This article’s exploration of motives for the BMA’s animosity towards refugee doctors also builds on histories of the medical profession and of ethnicity within it.


2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline McGraw ◽  
Vari Drennan

The issue of not taking medicines as prescribed by medical practitioners has a history as long as the medical profession itself. The World Health Organization recently described the problem of patients diagnosed with chronic illnesses not taking their medication as prescribed as ‘a worldwide problem of striking magnitude’. Not taking medicines as prescribed has consequences not only for the individual in terms of therapeutic failure, but also for the wider society. For the individual, failure to take medication as prescribed may result in ill health, poorer quality of life, and reduced life expectancy. For the wider society, consequences include avoidable health care expenditure and the development of drug resistance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. s285-s285
Author(s):  
H. Ryland ◽  
F. Baessler ◽  
M. Casanova Dias ◽  
L. De Picker ◽  
M. Pinto Da Costa ◽  
...  

IntroductionRecruitment of medical students and junior doctors in to psychiatry is a long-standing concern in many countries, with low proportions of medical graduates choosing it as a specialty and ongoing stigma from within the medical profession. In some countries the reverse problem is the case, with too many doctors wishing to enter psychiatry, and insufficient training places available.ObjectivesTo understand the current situation within Europe with regards to recruitment in to psychiatry and to identify existing recruitment initiatives.MethodsThe European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees conducts an annual survey of all member organisations. A delegate of each national association of psychiatric trainees is asked to identify if their country has a problem with recruitment and if so, whether there were too many or too few applicants for training places. Delegates from countries with recruitment initiatives were contacted to provide further details.ResultsIn 2014, a total of 31 countries completed the survey, with 17 stating that too few medical practitioners choose psychiatry. In total 8 countries with recruitment problems reported that initiatives exist to encourage doctors to enter psychiatric training. Of these, 7 responded to describe the initiatives, which included national recruitment strategies, financial incentives, careers fairs, mentoring schemes and a whole host of other projects.ConclusionsRecruitment in to psychiatry remains a serious problem in a significant proportion of European countries, but a wide range of initiatives exist which aim to combat this shortfall. It will be important over the coming years to establish which initiatives are most effective at increasing recruitment.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


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