The influence of ethnicity and gender on navigating an acute coronary syndrome event.

Background: Ethnicity and gender may influence acute coronary syndrome patients recognizing symptoms and making the decision to seek care.

Objective: To examine these potential differences in European (Caucasian), Chinese and South Asian acute coronary syndrome patients.

Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 European (Caucasian: 10 men/10 women), 18 Chinese (10 men/eight women) and 19 South Asian (10 men/nine women) participants who were purposively sampled from those participating in a large cohort study focused on acute coronary syndrome.

Understanding nursing on an acute stroke unit: perceptions of space, time and interprofessional practice.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study conducted to uncover nurses' perceptions of the contexts of caring for acute stroke survivors.

Background: Nurses coordinate and organize care and continue the rehabilitative role of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers during evenings and at weekends. Healthcare professionals view the nursing role as essential, but are uncertain about its nature.

Medical innovation, unmet medical needs, and the drug pipeline.

This paper outlines and illustrates the working of a theoretical approach from the social sciences for analyzing medical innovation, unmet medical need, and the drug pipeline. Using the social history of three drugs made from recombinant DNA (insulin, human growth hormone, and tissue-plasminogen activator) the paper shows how drugs can be both technically and organizationally efficient while the needs they satisfy can be created or identified. The paper posits that drugs that require more organizational efficiency tend to satisfy identified, rather then created needs.