Kindness

Allergic disease has no one common denominator but may be due to various causes. Tests with allergenic substances are important but not infallible, and should not be the sole criteria of clinical sensitivity. They should not be employed indiscriminately. Much progress in utilizing all forms of modern medical treatment has been made. Finally, in treating patients with allergic disease, kindness and consideration remain the attributes that distinguish good allergists.

This article describes our current oral health program. This program will continue to change as we learn more effective ways to communicate and offer instruction. The orthodontist and his staff are in a unique position to help patients become concerned about oral health. The cumulative effect of such patient educations is tremendous since hundreds of patients can be affected. Improving the effectiveness of an oral health program is an excellent opportunity to expand our service as health-care practitioners.

Comparisons between the United Kingdom and the United States reveal definite differences in the style and content of primary medical practice. In the United States emphasis is on diagnosis. In the United Kingdom emphasis is on continuity and homebased care supported by a nationwide network of paramedical and social services. In both countries more is known about what discontents physicians than what satisfies patients.

Postoperative pain is an important factor in the management of children undergoing thoracotomy. Intercostal nerve block has been used in adult patients, but its applicability in the pediatric age group has not been previously evaluated. Eighty-nine children (85 girls and 31 boys) aged 6 months to 16 years (mean age 4.7 years) underwent ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) through a left thoracotomy. Twenty-nine children received intercostal blocks with bupivacaine from the level of the second to sixth thoracic vertebrae. Sixty cases constituted the control group.

Surgery for the aged presents a special challenge for all members of the hospital team. The tone of a geriatric hospital is unique. It has usually been adapted specifically for the needs of the elderly. Quiet kindness replaces excessive urgency; a slower time scale allows unrushed opportunities for patient care and contact; and a friendly family spirit helps replace what is missing in the lives of many elderly patients.

The woman past 65 years of age is as much in need of periodic gynecologic examinations and the ancillary tests used to diagnose early genital cancer as her premenopausal counterpart. Many gynecologic ills peculiar to the geriatric patient result from the tissue shrinkage that follows menopausal loss of estrogen secretion. Some of the resulting distress can be relieved by local estrogen or androgen therapy. A number of minor vulvar and vaginal disorders may appear with advancing age, often causing the patient discomfort and worry until she is reassured that they are benign.

This study investigated the effects of marathon group counseling on the attitudes of imprisoned male illicit drug users. Residents selected randomly into a control and an experimental group responded to a semantic differential which included the following concepts: Kindness, Anger, Guilt, Reality, My Real Self, The Future, Drug Treatment Programs, Counselors, Counseling, and Group Counseling. The scores of the control and marathon group participants were compared on posttests by t-tests.

It is predicted that more Australians will retain their natural dentitions into old age and their dental needs will have to be met with a wide range of dental services by dentists acting with understanding, kindness, and sympathy. The empathy to do so requires experience of appropriate delivery systems in the environment in which the elderly live. For them the ability to eat a balanced and varied diet and to manage personal oral hygiene is very important for their well being. Undergraduate education must be adapted to strengthen the social orientation demanded.

The author shares his memories of a 48-year friendship with Frank B. Walsh, known as the Father of American neuro-ophthalmology. Personal anecdotes reveal Walsh as a man of kindness, sensitivity and unusual humor, and they document the origins of such lesser known neuro-ophthalmic terms as "Walsh's sign of mad" and "the belly button nystagmus of Walsh."

Arguments are advanced, on a pragmatic basis, for preferring a 'situational' approach to medical ethical problems, rather than an approach based on any one of the dogmatic formulations on offer. The consequences of such a preference are exemplified in relation to confidentiality; and in relation to the ethical dilemmas which surround the beginning and the end of terrestrial human life.