JOURNAL AMHA - ACTA MEDICO-HISTORICA ADRIATICA.

In this paper, the first 20 years of publication of the scientific journal AMHA - Acta medico-historica Adriatica (2002-2022) are presented and analysed. This journal has undoubtedly become and remained the central activity of the Croatian Scientific Society for the History of Health Culture, which has rapidly evolved into a globally esteemed journal in the history of medicine. The beginning and the context of publishing the journal with reference to the scientific conference "Rijeka and Its Citizens in Medical History" are presented, as well as the journal's profiling into a distinguished international scientific journal, co-publishing with the Faculty of Medicine (University of Rijeka) and its fast development in the later years.

Diversity awareness, diversity competency and access to healthcare for minority groups: perspectives of healthcare professionals in Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia.

Introduction: Due to cultural, language, or legal barriers, members of social minority groups face challenges in access to healthcare. Equality of healthcare provision can be achieved through raised diversity awareness and diversity competency of healthcare professionals. The aim of this research was to explore the experiences and attitudes of healthcare professionals toward the issue of social diversity and equal access to healthcare in Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia.

Caring for Transgender People in Healthcare: A Qualitative Study with Hospital Staff in Croatia.

Transgender and gender-diverse people have greater health risks due to increased social stress and face a disadvantaged position in the healthcare system as a result of the stigma associated with their gender identity. Due to the lack of research in Croatia on the position of transgender people in the healthcare system, this research was intended to supplement the knowledge about the experiences of hospital staff in the Croatian healthcare system when caring for patients with transgender identities. Qualitative research was conducted using an interview method.

The Labin Region, an ecologically vulnerable geographical area in Croatia: Mortality characteristics in an area polluted by industrial over a 40-year period.

The history of the Labin region in Croatia includes intensive industrial development with repercussions of pollution on environment and health. Assuming that prolonged exposure to polluted environments causes qualitative changes in mortality, the aim was to analyse the mortality characteristics of the population of the Labin Region for the 1968-2008 period based on data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Public health and social opportunities in this geographical area carry a long-term burden of exposure to an industrial polluted environment with outcomes expressed by mortality or/and morbidity in the population.

Equal access to healthcare in national legislations: how do Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia counteract discrimination in healthcare?

Background: The aim of the study was a comparative analysis of legislative measures against discrimination in healthcare on the grounds of a) race and ethnicity, b) religion and belief, and c) gender identity and sexual orientation in Croatia, Germany, Poland and Slovenia.

Methods: We conducted a search for documents in national legal databases and reviewed legal commentaries, scientific literature and official reports of equality bodies. We integrated a comparative method with text analysis and the critical interpretive approach.

Diversity Competency and Access to Healthcare in Hospitals in Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia.

Diversity competency is an approach for improving access to healthcare for members of minority groups. It includes a commitment to institutional policies and practices aimed at the improvement of the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals. The aim of this research is to investigate whether and how such a commitment is included in internal documents of hospitals in Croatia, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia.

Social diversity and access to healthcare in Europe: how does European Union's legislation prevent from discrimination in healthcare?

Background: Social diversity can affect healthcare outcomes in situations when access to healthcare is limited for specific groups. Although the principle of equality is one of the central topics on the agenda of the European Union (EU), its scope in the field of healthcare, however, is relatively unexplored. The aim of this study is to identify and systematically analyze primary and secondary legislation of the EU Institutions that concern the issue of access to healthcare for various minority groups.

Mortality Characteristics of Two Populations in the Northern Mediterranean (Croatia) in the Period 1960⁻2012: An Ecological Study.

In the second half of the 20th century, the town of Bakar (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia), where a coking plant was operational 1978⁻1994, experienced intensive industrialisation. The town of Mali Lošinj (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia) in this period based its economy on non-industrial sectors. The study goal was comparing mortality characteristics of these populations in the northern Mediterranean for 1960⁻2012.

New contributions to the study of the life and work of Vinko Frančišković (1919-1984), pioneer of Croatian cardiothoracic and transplantation surgery.

Aim: To explore personal biography of Vinko Frančišković (1919-1984), to improve the understanding of the beginnings of Croatian cardiothoracic and transplantation surgery.

Methods: Comparative critical analysis of written published materials, archival materials and information collected through oral history interviews.

Results: Vinko Serafin Frančišković was born in Praputnjak, a settlement of the eastern surroundings of Rijeka, Croatia.

[Scientific conference Rijeka and its citizens in Medical History 2000-2016].

This paper presents the form and content of the sixteen scientific conferences "Rijeka and its Citizens in Medical History" ("Rijeka i Riječani u medicinskoj povjesnici") which were held in the period between 2000 and 2016 according to the archive data of the conference organizer Croatian Scientific Society for the History of Health Culture. It presents data about the beginning of science convention, some its organisational features and the number of participants. A total of 315 presentations, whose abstracts were published in individual conference's abstract books, were given at the sixteen conventions by 463 participants from Croatia and abroad.

[Medical elements in the sacral heritage of the Mošćenice region].

Sacral heritage, religious practices and customs, and the ethnomedical heritage of the Mošćenice region have not had so far the attention of medico-historians, which represents the starting point of this paper. The research of the mentioned dimensions of medico-historical reality of Mošćenice and its surrounding area has been conducted on three levels. Starting with the usual methodology, sacral inventory of certain churches and chapels from the Mošćenice parish is analyzed from the perspective of the history of medicine.

[Medical elements in the Parish Church of Saint George in Lovran (Croatia)].

For some reason, the sacral heritage of Lovran and its surroundings has escaped the eye of medical historians, until now. seeing that the Parish Church of st George in Lovran holds a central position in this heritage, the authors provide an analysis of medical elements in the church. The analysis has focused on three aspects.