Breve historia de la interconsulta médica / A brief history of medical cross-consultations

Desde la Antigüedad los médicos han necesitado, y solicitado, el apoyo y consejo de colegas experimentados. Esta práctica fue refrendada por Hipócrates y Galeno, permaneciendo sin cambios hasta la Ilustración. En ese período, la interconsulta alcanzó un gran auge. Se escribieron libros monográficos, se estudiaron las características y cualidades que debía poseer el médico consultor y los problemas que podía originar, y se establecieron reglas y pautas a seguir durante su desarrollo. Esta situación se mantuvo estable hasta finales del siglo xix, cuando la aparición de diversas especialidades médicas ofreció la posibilidad de buscar ayuda especializada. Esta especialización originó una fragmentación de la asistencia médica, lo que favoreció la aparición del internista como «consultor universal». En el último cuarto del siglo xx, ante la importancia y problemas de la interconsulta, se comienza a desarrollar su estudio, se crean servicios especializados en su resolución y, finalmente, aparece la asistencia compartida (AU)

Physicians have long needed and sought out the support and advice of experienced colleagues. This practice, endorse by Hippocrates and Galen, remaining unchanged until the Enlightenment. During that age, cross-consultations boomed. Monographic works were written, the characteristics and qualities that consulting physician had to possess were studied the problems that it could cause were examined, and rules and guidelines to follow during a cross-consultation were established. It remained unchanged until the end of the 19th century, when the emergence of various medical specialties offered the possibility of seeking specialized assistance. This specialization gave rise to a fragmentation of medical care which favored the emergence of the internist as a “universal consultant.” In the last quarter of the 20th century, in light of the importance of and problems arising from cross-consultation, it began to be studied on its own, specialized services were created to attend to them, and, finally, comanagement appeared (AU)

Encuesta nacional sobre la actividad de los internistas en asistencia compartida-interconsultas en los hospitales españoles / National survey on the activity of internists in shared care-interconsultations in spanish hospitals

Objetivos. Analizar la actividad de interconsulta (IC), realizada por los Servicios de Medicina Interna (SMI), transmitir su importancia a los gestores y ofrecer información a los SMI para mejorar la organización de la misma. Métodos. Estudio transversal mediante una encuesta de actividad en IC (actividad de consultoría a demanda para otros servicios) y asistencia compartida (actividad de consultoría que se presta de modo reglado en otros servicios). Resultados. Se recibieron 120 encuestas que correspondían a 108 hospitales públicos y 12 privados. El 45% de los hospitales encuestados disponen de unidad de IC monográfica y en el 31% existe asistencia compartida. El servicio más frecuentemente asistido por una consultoría estable (65% de los casos) fue cirugía ortopédica y traumatología. El 55% de los SMI encuestados lleva un registro de la actividad de IC desde el inicio de su actividad. El 92% de los servicios carece de un protocolo que regule la IC y en el 74% de los casos la IC se responde a demanda. Conclusiones. La actividad de IC está generalizada en los SMI, pero solo el 45% de ellos disponen de unidades de IC y el 33% prestan la modalidad de asistencia compartida. La encuesta refleja carencias de formación y cierta confusión en el concepto de IC. La gran mayoría de los servicios carecen de protocolos organizativos de IC (AU)

Objectives. To analyse the activity of interconsultations conducted by the departments of internal medicine, communicating their importance to managers and offering information to these departments to improve their organisation. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an interconsultation activity survey (on-demand consulting activity for other departments) and shared care (consulting activity provided in a regulated manner to other departments). Results. We received 120 surveys that corresponded to 108 public and 12 private hospitals. Forty-five percent of the surveyed hospitals had a specialised interconsultation unit, and 31% had shared care. The department most frequently helped by the presence of a stable consultation unit (65% of the cases) was orthopaedic and trauma surgery. Fifty-five percent of the departments of internal medicine surveyed had an interconsultation activity record since the start of their activity. Ninety-two percent of the departments lacked a protocol that regulated interconsultations, and in 74% of the cases, the interconsultation was on demand. Conclusions. The interconsultation activity is generalised in the departments of internal medicine, but only 45% of these departments have interconsultation units, and only 33% provide the shared care modality. The survey reflects the shortcomings of training and some confusion in the concept of interconsultations. The considerable majority of departments lack organisational interconsultation protocols (AU)

History of neuropsychological study of sport-related concussion.

Although the medical literature has a long history of description and comment on concussion, the occurrence of concussion within the context of sports other than boxing was not judged to be problematic until the 1980s. Neuropsychological assessment played a critical and integral role in identifying the cognitive sequelae of concussion and mapping out the short- and long-term vagaries in recovery. This paper captures that history and expands upon current applications of neuropsychological assessment in the diagnosis and management of sport-related concussion.

[Experiences and knowledge exchanged in medical consultations by post (16th-18th centuries)]. / La relation médecin-patient dans les consultations épistolaires (XVI(e)-XVIII(e) siècles).

Consultations by post make up together a significant part of the medical literature, especially between the 16(th) and 18(th) centuries and bring irreplaceable testimonies on how physicians could follow up their patients from far away, in relation with local practitioners who were at their patients' bedside or who could visit them on a regular basis. These testimonies are of a scientific nature since they show how illustrious physicians diagnosed, predicted and prescribed, such as Fernel, Chirac and later on Barthez and Tissot, or less famous practitioners such as Le Thieullier, for instance. They are of a literary nature since every physician has his own writing style, and the lay out of their letters often respects codes. They are of an anthropological nature in the sense that a conception of man, ill, with his character, his own life, is rendered under the form of narratives.

"Because of their praiseworthy modesty, they consult too late": regime of hope and cancer of the womb, 1800-1910.

The birth of the "do not delay" principle in cancer treatment has often been linked with developments in late nineteenth century: the rise of histology and cellular theory of malignancy that favored the definition of cancer as a local pathology, then the development of radical surgical techniques that transformed malignant tumors into a potentially curable condition. This text seeks to nuance this view. It points out important continuities in the understanding of the natural history of uterine cancers. At its center, the wish, already present in early nineteenth century, is to detect "early," that is, small and localized malignant lesions, then to extirpate or destroy these lesions before they become fully blown cancer. The long history of this particular regime of hope helps demonstrate why it is so difficult today to promote more nuanced views of the efficacy of early detection of malignant tumors.

[The organization of maternity and child care in the Buryat-Mongolskaya ASSR during the Great Patriotic War].

In Ulan-Ude, in 1942, the mortality of children at the age from 0 to 15 years consisted 64% of total numbers of died persons. The main causes of children mortality during all the war were tuberculosis, pneumonia, toxic dyspepsia and diarrhea. In October 1942, the government adopted a special decree obligated Narcomzdrav of the USSR to re-establish the system of maternity and child care existed before the war. The focus was made on the district principle of functioning of women and children consultations and polyclinics and to take measures to enhance the children diet and food vitaminization. In Buryat-Mongolskaya ASSR, during the war period, no epidemics of infectious diseases were allowed. In this difficult period of life the first multifield children hospital and municipal infection hospital with children beds were established and functioned with success.

Consultative pediatrics in the new millenium.

The pediatric hospitalist program at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP)-the Diagnostic Referral Service (DRS)-was first described in the pediatric literature in 1988. At that time, the group consisted of 5 members with a variety of inpatient and outpatient responsibilities. Since then, there has been a significant nationwide growth in pediatric hospital medicine. In the same time frame, the DRS has also grown significantly, with new and enhanced responsibilities in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. This work reflects on the recent trends in pediatrics that resulted in the growth of specialists in hospital medicine and in the evolution of the DRS responsibilities. A detailed description of the unique changes in the DRS is provided as a model for effective care of children in the modern era.

'Patient trade' in Germany: an ethical issue at the practitioner--clinician interface in 1909 and 2009.

In 2009 the German media featured the so-called 'patient trade' scandal. Offending against the rules of the professional code for German doctors, some medical practitioners had accepted bonus payments from specific hospitals for referring patients to them. This article discusses a historical precedent for this scandal, the patient trade affair of 1909, in which several medical professors of the Berlin university clinics were accused of having paid agents for bringing them lucrative private patients. Although the historical contexts were different, then, as in 2009, a commercial attitude towards medical practice clashed with the ethical ideal of the economically disinterested doctor.