Female physician and pregnancy- effect of the amended German maternity protection act on female doctors' careers.

Objectives: In Germany, the 2018 amended Maternity Protection Act frequently leads to fundamental restrictions for female physicians, especially surgeons, and now even also for students impeding the progress of their careers. Our goal was to assess the current situation for pregnant female physicians and students, respectively, and their perspective on this amendment regarding their career path. Methods: A nationwide survey was conducted in Germany from December 2020 to February 2021. The questionnaire included 790 female physicians and students who were pregnant after the inception of the amended Act. Those women pregnant after the beginning of the corona pandemic were excluded. Results: The survey revealed that two thirds of female physicians worked a maximum of 50% in their previous professional activity as soon as they reported pregnancy. Amongst medical students this amounted up to 72%. 18% of the female physicians and 17% of the female medical students respectively could not follow the sense of these restrictions. 44% of female medical physicians and 33% of female students felt their career impeded. This led up to 43% amongst female medical doctors and 53% amongst female medical students, respectively, who were concerned to announce their pregnancy. As a consequence, pregnancies were reported at 12 weeks in female physicians compared to 19 weeks in medical students. Conclusions: Analyses of the current survey revealed that a relevant number of female physicians and medical students felt impeded in their career path through the application of the amended Maternity Act.

Feasibility of the Factorial Survey Method in Aging Research: Consistency Effects Among Older Respondents.

BACKGROUND: The factorial survey (FS) method is increasingly used in the social sciences. It is particularly suitable for studying decision situations that are difficult to assess empirically. This article evaluates whether the FS method is suitable for studying decisions in gerontological research. METHODS: The present article draws on data from the Housing Opportunities & Mobility in the Elderly study. A total of 103 respondents (between 55 and 90 years) were asked to make hypothetical relocation decisions. The consistency of these responses was assessed as a function of respondents' age, gender, immigration background, education, household income, employment status, and intention to move. RESULTS: No significant differences in response consistency were attributable to age, gender, education, or immigration background. The personal relevance of the survey topic was positively related to response consistency in multiperson households. CONCLUSION: FS method can, under certain methodological conditions, be used among older adults especially when the topic of the survey is relevant to their daily lives.

Picking up the pieces--applying the DISEASE FILTER to health data.

This contribution presents systematic biases in the process of generating health data by using a step-by-step explanation of the DISEASE FILTER, a heuristic instrument that we designed in order to better understand and evaluate health data. The systematic bias in health data generally varies by data type (register versus survey data) and the operationalization of health outcomes. Self-reported subjective health and disease assessments, for instance, underlie a different selectivity than do data based on medical examinations or health care statistics. Although this is obvious, systematic approaches used to better understand the process of generating health data have been missing until now. We begin with the definitions and classifications of diseases that change (e.g. over time), describe the selective nature of access to and use of medical health care (e.g. depending on health insurance and gender), present biases in diagnoses (e.g. by gender and professional status), report these biases in relation to the decision for or against various treatment (e.g. by age and income), and finally outline the determinants of the treatments (ambulant versus stationary, e.g. via mobility and age). We then show how to apply the DISEASE FILTER to health data and discuss the benefits and shortcomings of our heuristic model. Finally, we give some suggestions on how to deal with biases in health data and how to avoid them.

[A rare cause of constipation: neurinoma of the fourth lumbar nerve. Case report and review of the literature ]. / Une cause rare de constipation: le neurinome du quatrième nerf lombaire. A propos d'un cas et revue de la littérature.

Constipation is a symptom not to be neglected, especially if the complaint is recent. We report a case where this symptom was the only clinical manifestation of a voluminous retroperitoneal tumor. The tumor was found to be a neurilemmoma of the fourth right lumbar roots, confirmed at pathological examination. Manifestations of extradural neurinomas generally result from compression of neighboring structures. The best preoperative diagnosis approach is magnetic resonance imaging but histology is required for confirmation. The close relations the tumor mass maintains with the unaffected nerve fibers makes resection difficult without postoperative functional consequences. Surgeons discuss the relevance of partial excision in order to preserve the nerve root in case of a benign slow-growing tumor. There does however appear to be a significant recovery of muscle strength even in case of total resection.