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'ÄúEveryone in a hospital leadership role should read this book as it offers a wealth of practical advice for organizations intent on improving their clinical care delivery.'Äù 'ÄîAmy C. Edmondson, professor, Harvard Business School, and author of The Fearless Organization All Americans deserve and should have access to high quality, affordable healthcare services delivered by professionals who have sufficient time and resources to care for them. This book offers proven and practical approaches for redesigning healthcare organizations to be less fragmented'Äîand more patient-centered'Äîby tapping into the experiences of staff on the front lines of patient care. Peter Lazes and Marie Rudden show how collaboration and active communication among administrators, medical staff, and patients are a core element of a successful organizational change effort. Through case studies and the direct voices and experiences of frontline workers, they explore exactly what it takes to effectively engage staff and providers in improving the patient care shortcomings within their institutions. This book not only is a manual detailing what can be achieved when frontline staff have a direct voice in controlling their practice environments but was written to show how to accomplish transformative changes in how our hospitals and outpatient clinics work. At a time when the massive gaps in our healthcare systems have been laid bare by the fragmented responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, this book offers hope and a plan for change.

Background Stories are an integral aspect of everyday life, and within medicine and medical education a wide range of stories are told every day. These stories include patients’ stories or stories from those who care for patients. Doctors share stories and do so for many reasons. This includes doctors’ life stories, which we have defined for the purposes of this review as non-fiction stories told first-hand by doctors about their own experiences. When used in undergraduate medical education, these doctors’ life stories allow students to explore, reflect on, and learn from aspects of clinical life they may not yet have experienced. The evidence on doctors’ life stories is sparse however, and this review aimed to explore doctors’ life stories within the context of undergraduate medical education. Methods A scoping review methodology was utilised, informed by established methodological guidance and recommendations. A search of five databases, the grey literature, and a hand search of the references of the included articles was carried out. Data from included articles were then collated and analysed using descriptive numerical summary analysis and qualitative content analysis. Results A total of 4,978 articles were screened, and 48 articles were included. Included articles were published over a 33-year period, with a significant increase in the number of articles published in the last 10 years. The findings from this review show that doctors’ life stories have been used in multiple key areas of undergraduate medical education and to achieve a variety of intended educational outcomes. The findings highlight a lack of conceptual clarity, evidenced by the range of terms used to describe doctors’ life stories and the lack of a clear definition being described within the literature. To address this, the authors propose a definition to enhance conceptual clarity, complemented by a conceptual framework that provides a structured representation of the phenomenon. Conclusion Doctors’ life stories are an emerging topic area within undergraduate medical education and are used in areas that are crucial in supporting the development of medical students into doctors. This scoping review acts as a foundation to guide teaching practice and future research within this area.

Introduction and Objectives: The affected functional domains in patients with degenerative dementias serve as clues to trace with varying levels of certainty the underlying neuropathology (1) and the negative impact on their autonomy reveals part of the clinical diagnosis of the disease. Healthcare professionals often rely on tools that measure this functionality, allowing them to distinguish between mild cognitive impairment and actual dementia (FAQ (2), CDR(3)). According to the science fiction author Philip K. Dick, Kipple is a useless object like advertising cards, matchboxes after the last match has been used, yesterday’s newspaper wrapper, etc. Considering that the deterioration in the autonomy of dementia patients negatively impacts their connection with the environment, it is expected that the kipple around them will be few. The aim of this work is to create a low-cost, simple, and quick tool that allows the physician to measure the negative impact of the patient’s cognitive failures on their functionality.

The widespread prevalence and persistence of misinformation in contemporary societies, such as the false belief that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, is a matter of public concern. For example, the myths surrounding vaccinations, which prompted some parents to withhold immunization from their children, have led to a marked increase in vaccine-preventable disease, as well as unnecessary public expenditure on research and public-information campaigns aimed at rectifying the situation. We first examine the mechanisms by which such misinformation is disseminated in society, both inadvertently and purposely. Misinformation can originate from rumors but also from works of fiction, governments and politicians, and vested interests. Moreover, changes in the media landscape, including the arrival of the Internet, have fundamentally influenced the ways in which information is communicated and misinformation is spread. We next move to misinformation at the level of the individual, and review the cognitive factors that often render misinformation resistant to correction. We consider how people assess the truth of statements and what makes people believe certain things but not others. We look at people's memory for misinformation and answer the questions of why retractions of misinformation are so ineffective in memory updating and why efforts to retract misinformation can even backfire and, ironically, increase misbelief. Though ideology and personal worldviews can be major obstacles for debiasing, there nonetheless are a number of effective techniques for reducing the impact of misinformation, and we pay special attention to these factors that aid in debiasing. We conclude by providing specific recommendations for the debunking of misinformation. These recommendations pertain to the ways in which corrections should be designed, structured, and applied in order to maximize their impact. Grounded in cognitive psychological theory, these recommendations may help practitioners—including journalists, health professionals, educators, and science communicators—design effective misinformation retractions, educational tools, and public-information campaigns.

Correspondence to Dr Temitope Fisayo, Queen Mary University of London Blizard Institute, London E1 2AT, UK; temitope.fisayo2@nhs.net Patricia Lockwood’s 2021 novel, No One Is Talking About This, demonstrates the challenge of rare diseases in childhood through its account of a family whose baby is diagnosed with Proteus syndrome.1 Set in the USA, the book is divided into two distinct halves. Families may feel a profound sense of uncertainty and fear about their child’s prognosis and quality of life. NHS funding for treatment for rare diseases remains a complex and contested area.6 Life after diagnosis and bereavement Parents to children with rare conditions often feel an obligation to raise awareness about their experiences.4 This is captured vividly in the novel—the narrator describes her manic desire to grab people, to sound the alarm: ‘It was a marvel how… this lifted her out of the stream of regular life…

AbstractObjectiveTo examine the effect of a (fictional) doctor working during the festive period on population health.DesignNatural experiment.SettingEngland, Wales, and the UK.Main outcome measuresAge standardised annual mortality rates in England, Wales, and the UK from 1963, when the BBC first broadcast Doctor Who, a fictional programme with a character called the Doctor who fights villains and intervenes to save others while travelling through space and time. Mortality rates were modelled in a time series analysis accounting for non-linear trends over time, and associations were estimated in relation to a new Doctor Who episode broadcast during the previous festive period, 24 December to 1 January. An interrupted time series analysis modelled the shift in mortality rates from 2005, when festive episodes of Doctor Who could be classed as a yearly Christmas intervention.Results31 festive periods from 1963 have featured a new Doctor Who episode, including 14 broadcast on Christmas Day. In time series analyses, an association was found between broadcasts during the festive period and subsequent lower annual mortality rates. In particular, episodes shown on Christmas Day were associated with 0.60 fewer deaths per 1000 person years (95% confidence interval 0.21 to 0.99; P=0.003) in England and Wales and 0.40 fewer deaths per 1000 person years (0.08 to 0.73; P=0.02) in the UK. The interrupted time series analysis showed a strong shift (reduction) in mortality rates from 2005 onwards in association with the Doctor Who Christmas intervention, with a mean 0.73 fewer deaths per 1000 person years (0.21 to 1.26; P=0.01) in England and Wales and a mean 0.62 fewer deaths per 1000 person years (0.16 to 1.09; P=0.01) in the UK.ConclusionsA new Doctor Who episode shown every festive period, especially on Christmas Day, was associated with reduced mortality rates in England, Wales, and the UK, suggesting that a doctor working over the festive period could lower mortality rates. This finding reinforces why healthcare provision should not be taken for granted and may prompt the BBC and Disney+ to televise new episodes of Doctor Who every festive period, ideally on Christmas Day.

Background Given the influence that personality can have on empathy, this study explores the relationship between empathy and personality, using three different measures of empathy, and taking into account gender and specialty preference. Methods Cross-sectional study. One hundred and ten medical students completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Empathy Quotient, and the NEO-FFI Big Five personality model . Multivariable linear regression was performed to assess the association between personality traits and empathy. Results Empathy scales showed weak and moderate correlation with personality. The strongest correlations were observed between IRI-Fantasy and Openness, and between IRI-Personal Distress and Neuroticism. Gender and specialty preference can modify this relationship. The extreme groups of Empathy Quotient had significant differences in most personality traits. Conclusions This study confirmed that empathy is related to personality. Using three empathy scales allows personalizing the evaluation of different empathy models and its relation with personality. These results can help to design programs to study if some personalized intervention strategies could improve the empathy in medical students.

[...]the water was hotter than their body temperature. Some stories and books centre on the climate crisis; in others, conventional plots unfold, with climate change forming the background. Strictly speaking not cli-fi, as the global warming and resulting sea level rise that have submerged London resulted not from carbon emissions but from a solar event. When the US bans the use of fossil fuels in 2074, five southern states secede from the Union, triggering a civil war.

Background Advances in biomedicine can substantially change human life. However, progress is not always followed by ethical reflection on its consequences or scientists’ responsibility for their creations. The humanities can help health sciences students learn to critically analyse these issues; in particular, literature can aid discussions about ethical principles in biomedical research. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the modern Prometheus (1818) is an example of a classic novel presenting complex scenarios that could be used to stimulate discussion. Main text Within the framework of the 200th anniversary of the novel, we searched PubMed to identify works that explore and discuss its value in teaching health sciences. Our search yielded 56 articles, but only two of these reported empirical findings. Our analysis of these articles identified three main approaches to using Frankenstein in teaching health sciences: discussing the relationship between literature and science, analysing ethical issues in biomedical research, and examining the importance of empathy and compassion in healthcare and research. After a critical discussion of the articles, we propose using Frankenstein as a teaching tool to prompt students to critically analyse ethical aspects of scientific and technological progress, the need for compassion and empathy in medical research, and scientists’ responsibility for their discoveries. Conclusion Frankenstein can help students reflect on the personal and social limits of science, the connection between curiosity and scientific progress, and scientists’ responsibilities. Its potential usefulness in teaching derives from the interconnectedness of science, ethics, and compassion. Frankenstein can be a useful tool for analysing bioethical issues related to scientific and technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and cloning. Empirical studies measuring learning outcomes are necessary to confirm the usefulness of this approach.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. Artificial intelligence can be both a blessing and a curse, and potentially a double-edged sword if not carefully wielded. While it holds massive potential benefits to humans—particularly in healthcare by assisting in treatment of diseases, surgeries, record keeping, and easing the lives of both patients and doctors, its misuse has potential for harm through impact of biases, unemployment, breaches of privacy, and lack of accountability to mention a few. In this article, we discuss the fourth industrial revolution, through a focus on the core of this phenomenon, artificial intelligence. We outline what the fourth industrial revolution is, its basis around AI, and how this infiltrates human lives and society, akin to a transcendence. We focus on the potential dangers of AI and the ethical concerns it brings about particularly in developing countries in general and conflict zones in particular, and we offer potential solutions to such dangers. While we acknowledge the importance and potential of AI, we also call for cautious reservations before plunging straight into the exciting world of the future, one which we long have heard of only in science fiction movies.