The Women in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Special Interest Group: What Can the Lessons of One Anesthesiology Affinity Group Tell Us About How to Build Impactful Professional Communities?

The Women In Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology (WICTA), a special interest group of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, has been highly successful in mobilizing WICTA, a historically underrepresented and marginalized group in the subspecialty, and in supporting real and meaningful change in the professional community. The experience of WICTA as a professional affinity group in impacting a professional organization to diversify, evolve, and become more responsive to a wider professional audience has important lessons for other professional organizations. This article discusses the recent history of affinity organizations in anesthesiology, the benefits they offer professional organizations, and the strategies that have been used to effectively motivate change in professional communities. These strategies include engaging a strong advisory board, identifying the need of constituents, creating additional opportunities for networking and membership, addressing gaps in professional development, and aligning goals with those of the larger national organization. WICTA is just one example of the potential opportunities that affinity groups offer to professional societies and organizations for expanding their reach, enhancing their impact on physicians in their target audience, and achieving organizational missions.

Shaping Public Perception: Polish Illustrated Press and the Image of Polish Naturalists Working in Latin America, 1844-1885.

This article will investigate the ways in which Polish illustrated press contributed to communicating and reporting the work of Polish émigré naturalists working in Latin America to the Polish general public living in the Prussian, Russian and Austrian partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1844-1885. It examines the ways in which illustrations were used to shape the public's opinion about the significance of these migrants' scientific achievements. The Polish illustrated press, its authors and editors were instrumental in shaping the public's perceptions of the reach of Polish scientists, and exploring their impact on broader scientific debates, thereby situating Polish people and their work in a global context. The didactic and opinion-making role of the illustrated press was highly influential among Polish audiences during this period, at a time when the survival of Polish identity, culture, language, and education was uncertain. Illustrated weeklies were one of the vectors through which high science was made accessible to the Polish public. A study of pictures in Polish illustrated press will help to explain how they contributed towards shaping the images in the public eye of naturalists' scientific work, and discourses about science and its actors more broadly.

"The Noblest Roman of them all?" Professional versus Popular Views of America's Country Doctors.

This essay studies the images, perceptions, and values of the professional medical journals, as well as popular sources such as magazine and films, to show that the country doctor was a contested figure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The country doctor's image embodied competing ideals of a racialized professional and masculine identity that included both place as well as visions of science. Medical professionals pressed an image in their journals and professional advice books that mapped a celebration of science and its predictive value onto urban places that were enshrined in hospitals and laboratory facilities. The public, while embracing this image, also embraced a second one shown in popular media that glorified the self-sacrificing rural solo practitioner. This practitioner's wisdom came from long contact with patients, he was dedicated to seeing patients in their homes, and his identity was based in the larger needs of the entire community.

[The Image of Doctors in Europe: A Comparison of Countries]. / Das Ansehen der Ärzteschaft in Europa ­ Ein Ländervergleich.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Patients expect a lot from doctors. They expect doctors to be trustworthy and competent, to discuss all treatment options with them, to inform them about mistakes made during the treatment and to put their interests before their own interests. This paper examines how the population of Europe assesses doctors in this respect and whether there are countries where the assessments are similar. METHODS: In the "International Social Survey Programme - ISSP" the population in 32 countries was asked to assess the doctors in their respective countries. For this paper, data of 27,772 respondents from 18 European countries were analysed. The respondents were asked to rate 5 statements about doctors on a 5-point scale, with 1 indicating a positive assessment and 5 indicating a negative assessment. For each country, the mean values for the statements were calculated and grouped using cluster analysis to identify countries with similar assessments. RESULTS: "Doctors can be trusted" is the statement with the highest approval across all countries, with means ranging from 2.0 in Denmark to 2.7 in Russia. In most countries, the means of the following statements were close to each other: "Doctors discuss all treatment options with their patients", "The medical skills of doctors are as good as they should be", and "Doctors do not care more about their earnings than about their patients." In almost all countries, respondents were particularly skeptical about the statement "Doctors would tell their patients if they had made a mistake during treatment". Four clusters were identified, but there was no cluster that rated among the best for all five statements. With regard to trust, the discussion of treatment options and the pursuit of self-serving interests, doctors in Germany were not rated particularly well or particularly badly. In Germany, the population was more likely to think that doctors would not inform their patients about mistakes during the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Trust in doctors seems to reflect the general level of trust in a country. The question arises why trust in doctors is high across countries if the respondents are much more skeptical regarding the other statements.

THE PUBLIC'S PERCEPTION OF THE STATUS AND IMAGE OF THE NURSING PROFESSION.

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) defined nursing as a sphere integrating autonomous and collaborative care provided to the individual, family, and community within and outside of the care setting. Furthermore, the ICN noted that the profession comprises four major spheres of action: promoting health, preventing illness and treating patients, treating people with disabilities, and providing end-of-life care. The ICN's directives and recommendations for assimilating its Code of Ethics emphasized that the nursing staff and nursing students must understand its clauses, act according to them, discuss them with colleagues and others, and integrate its details in all spheres of action, teaching, administration, and research. Over the past half century since publishing the Code of Ethics, nursing as a care profession has developed broadly in terms of its essentials, expertise, and primarily academically. Despite the impressive growth of the profession, there is still extreme diversity in the public's perceptions and opinions of the profession and its professionals and in the knowledge of the fundamentals of its true function and spheres of engagement. The current study examines the existing knowledge among the general population regarding the nursing profession.

Understanding the public voices and researchers speaking into the 5G narrative.

The many different voices speaking into the current narrative surrounding the health effects of 5G technologies necessitate an exploration of the background of the various published author-spokespersons and their potential motives. This has been attempted recently by de Vocht and Albers. However, that opinion piece used a narrow investigative lens, resulting in an undermining of both the rationality of the concerned general public and the motives of specific researchers. At the same time, biases, conflicts of interest, and flaws found in "independent" reviews were not considered. To address these oversights, an evidence-based appraisal of public opinion and the scientific caliber of authors involved in the 5G health discussion is warranted. Subsequently, this review article presents an analysis of the available Australian data representing public voices, while also conducting a broader investigation of the level of expertise of recent author-spokespersons based on their experience as scientists, particularly in the area of health effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. This review thus attempts to more clearly illustrate for the reader the caliber and motives of the voices speaking into the 5G narrative. The article concludes with a set of questions that need to be answered to enable scientists to advise policy makers more effectively on matters of 5G and public health.

The sideshow or the circus? The role for public interest organisations at inquests.

Recent changes in coronial law in Australian jurisdictions have enabled inquests to adopt an expanded scope and have facilitated the participation of family members and other interested parties. Public interest bodies have increasingly sought to have input to coronial policy and practice. This article examines the involvement by public interest organisations in Australian inquests over recent years. These organisations adopt various roles in inquests, including the representation and support of family members of the deceased, and the pursuit of policy and legislative changes. A further role is that of participation in specific inquests as an "interested party", in order to provide relevant expertise, shape the scope of the inquiry, and illuminate systemic issues which may have contributed to a death. This article considers the legal framework for the involvement of public interest organisations, and critically reflects upon the main purposes and effects of such intervention.

Student Ultrasound Interest Group: A Novel Method of Introducing Ultrasound to Physician Assistant Students.

PURPOSE: This study describes a student ultrasound interest group (SUIG) in a resource-limited physician assistant (PA) program. The benefits of PA student attitudes and knowledge of ultrasound (US) are described. METHODS: Participation in the SUIG was voluntary. Didactics included free online access medical education (FOAMed) materials. Initial scanning sessions focused on the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) exam and were led by a faculty champion with limited US experience. A survey on attitudes and a basic US knowledge test were administered before and after the first session and again 2 months later. RESULTS: Thirty-seven students (76% female, mean age 26.4) participated in the initial FAST scanning sessions. All participants agreed that the SUIG session was useful. There was a slight increase in confidence after SUIG sessions (1.27 vs 2.92 on a 5-point scale), and 94% reported increased motivation to seek out ultrasound opportunities on clinical rotations. The average score on the knowledge test increased from 37% to 90% after the scanning sessions; the average score waned over time to 80% after 2 months. CONCLUSION: SUIGs are a valuable way to introduce US to PA students using limited resources. Even minimal exposure can increase PA student confidence and knowledge.

Employers, workers, and the future of employment-based health benefits.

EBRI'S BIANNUAL POLICY FORUM: This Issue Brief summarizes presentations at EBRI's 65th biannual policy forum, held in Washington, DC, on Dec. 10, 2009, on the topic, "Employers, Workers, and the Future of Employment-Based Health Benefits." The forum brought together a wide range of economic, benefits, management, and labor experts to share their expertise at a time when major health reform legislation was being debated in Congress. The focus: How might this affect the way that the vast majority of Americans currently get their health insurance coverage? THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED HEALTH INSURANCE SYSTEM: Most people who have health insurance coverage in the United States get it through their job: In 2008, about 61 percent of the nonelderly population had employment-based health benefits, 19 percent were covered by public programs, 6 percent had individual coverage, and 17 percent were uninsured. DIFFERENCES, AGREEMENTS: Not surprisingly, given the deep conflicts that exist over President Obama's health reform plan and the different bills that have passed the House and Senate, benefits experts also do not agree on what "health reform" will mean for either workers or employers. Views ranged from "Will anyone notice?" to predictions of great upheaval for workers and their employers, patients and health care providers, and the entire U.S. health care system. One point of consensus among both labor and management representatives: Imposing a tax on health benefits is likely to cause major cuts in health benefits and might result in structural changes in the employment-based benefits system. A common disappointment voiced at the forum was that the initial effort to reform the delivery and cost of health care in America gradually became focused on just financing and coverage of health insurance. RECENT TRENDS: The ever-rising cost of health insurance affects different employers and workers in different ways--with small employers and low-wage workers being the most disadvantaged. With health premiums having risen almost five times as much as the overall rate of inflation since 2000, employers face unsustainable cost increases in health benefits. For a minimum-wage worker, the cost of family coverage (averaging about $13,700 a year in a small firm) exceeds their total annual income (about $11,500 a year). Small employers, if they offer health benefits at all, pay proportionately more than large employers for the same health coverage. PUBLIC OPINION: As reflected by the debate in Congress, the American public has conflicted opinions on both the U.S. health care system and on reform: Surveys find that people tend to be satisfied with the quality of their own care but not with costs and access, and a majority rates the system as fair or poor. Opinions divide sharply along partisan lines. PERSPECTIVES: While large employers tend to express continued commitment to health benefits, small employers see themselves strongly disadvantaged by the current system. Consultants report many employers privately want to drop benefits to control costs, but realize there are risks to doing so and none wants to be first. Employers express strong interest in wellness and disease management programs as a way to control costs, even though some experts say there is no evidence these work. Consumer-driven health plans are expected to continue their slow rate of growth.