Morphinofobia: the situation among the general population and health care professionals in North-Eastern Portugal.

Background: Morphinofobia among the general population (GP) and among health care professionals (HP) is not without danger for the patients: it may lead to the inappropriate management of debilitating pain. The aim of our study was to explore among GP and HP the representation and attitudes concerning the use of morphine in health care.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 412 HP (physicians and nurses) of the 4 hospitals and 10 community health centers of Beira Interior (Portugal)and among 193 persons of the GP randomly selected in public places.

[Pain and conflicts: a comparative approach and implications for end-of-life quality of care].

Unlabelled: Are conflicts to an organization what pain is to an organism?

Objectives: To explore the similarities and the differences between pain and conflicts in palliative care settings, and to better understand the potential importance of conflicts in end of life quality of care.

Methods: Comparative and reflective methods focusing on how conflicts and pain are taken care of in health structures.

Results: Pain and conflicts present numerous similarities such as identity, typology, prevalence, warning function, economic and social costs, denial, occultation and hurdles to appropriate management.

[Incidence of hip fracture: reversal of a secular trend].

Hip fractures are a major cause of burden associated with osteoporosis in terms of mortality, disability, and costs. Many studies reveal an increase of the age-adjusted hip fracture incidence but long-term data on secular changes in women and men within a well-defined community are still rare. From 1991 to 2000, 4115 hip fractures were recorded in Geneva in 2981 women and 822 men 50 years and older.

[End of life conflicts: perceptions of health professionals in French speaking Valais].

The aim of the study was to identify the perception health professionals in palliative care had of end of life conflicts. The nature of t he conflicts,their prevalence, intensity, causes andeffects were specially addressed. Furthermore proposals of possible solutions of conflicts were investigated.

[End of life conflicts in palliative care: a systematic review of the literature].

To evaluate the extent and the quality of the research related to End of life conflicts in palliative care from 1995 to 2004. Accessible Literature of several electronic data bases (BDSP, Cinhal, Cochrane, Francis, Medline, Psychinfo, Saphir, Scopus and Web of science) as well as the grey literature. Studies published in French and English between 1995 and 2004 reporting end of life conflicts, tensions, disagreements, disputes in the context of palliative care.

["A good death": perception of health personnel in French-speaking Switzerland].

Aims: To describe the perception of "Good death" among health personnel working in nursing homes in French-speaking Switzerland and to identify the differential explanatory factors.

Methods: A cross sectional study with a self-administered questionnaire, adapted from the "the' new measure of concept of good death", was done among health personnel in 5 nursing homes (2 in Geneva and 3 from Valais) in spring 2004. One hundred and sixty one persons participated at the study representing over 90% of the personel contacted.

[Research note: "On the progression of the incidence of hip fractures in the elderly"].

We studied 39,896 hip fractures that occurred in Quebec during 10 years. We found an increase in the incidence of hip fracture during this period. Demographical or anthropologic factors (such as smoking, alcohol consumption, residential placement), seasonal variations or socioeconomic factors alone could not give a satisfactory explanation for such an increase of this incidence.