Use of traditional medicine by immigrant Chinese patients.

Background: Chinese immigrants constitute the largest group of foreign-born Asians living in the United States. Knowledge of their use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is limited. A survey was conducted to determine their TCM use and to evaluate physician awareness of these practices.

Family medicine in Iran: the birth of a new specialty.

Since the revolution of 1978-1979, the government of Iran has worked toward development of a primary health care system to improve basic health for its citizens. Although infant mortality and other parameters have improved, increasing urbanization and poor lifestyle choices continue to present major challenges to improving overall health statistics in the country. Generalist physicians, with no training beyond medical school graduation, have not inspired confidence from patients or specialist colleagues.

Attitudes toward cervical cancer screening among Muslim women: a pilot study.

Background: Immigrant Muslim women have low rates of health care utilization, especially preventive care such as breast exams, mammograms, and cervical cancer screening. Religious and cultural beliefs, such as the value placed on modesty and premarital virginity, contribute to reluctance to seek health care. In addition, it has been unclear whether discussions of health care behavior that involve sexuality and reproductive health would be welcomed among immigrant Muslim women.

Can the future of medicine be saved from the success of science?

The author considers how an emphasis on the achievements of biomedical science has contributed to a loss of human understanding and increased cynicism and dissatisfaction in the practice of medicine. A balanced approach to health care requires attention to both the biological and humanistic aspects of our patients' lives. Awareness and acceptance of our own individual weaknesses and strengths as physicians are also essential to understanding and appreciating the full range of needs in our patients, a process that ultimately leads to compassionate care.

Knowledge and beliefs regarding type 2 diabetes mellitus in rural Mexico.

Objective: To investigate adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in a rural area of Mexico in order to explore their knowledge and beliefs regarding diabetes.

Design: A pilot study was conducted in a rural town in Morelos, Mexico. Adults over the age of 40 were invited to participate in a screening program for DM, and those who had been previously diagnosed with Type 2 DM were invited for an interview to learn about their knowledge and beliefs regarding diabetes.

Do required preclinical courses with family physicians encourage interest in family medicine?

Background: Many medical schools, including the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), added required preclinical course work with family physicians in the 1990s. We examined whether current UCSF students interested in family medicine noted more contact with family physicians and more faculty support of their interest than current Stanford students and 1993 UCSF students, neither of whom had required preclinical course work with family physicians.

Methods: A questionnaire was administered to students interested in family medicine at UCSF and Stanford in February 2001, with response rates of 84% and 90%, respectively.

Teaching family medicine medical students about sleep disorders.

Objectives: A 3.5-hour workshop was developed to teach family medicine medical students about sleep disorders.

Description: This family medicine clerkship requirement engages students in role-plays and provides them with didactic information about common sleep problems.

The cold pressor pain paradigm in children: feasibility of an intervention model (Part II).

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of testing a psychological approach (hypnosis) to pain reduction in children using the cold pressor paradigm. Children's pain ratings at 10 sec intervals and duration of arm immersion (40 sec maximum) in 15 degrees C (n = 37) and 12 degrees C water (n = 29) were assessed in 6-12-year-old children during 2 baseline trials (alternating arms), followed by 2 more trials after randomization to a control or hypnosis treatment condition. Hypnosis was found to reduce pain significantly more than the control condition in both 15 degrees C and 12 degrees C water.

An investigation of cold pressor pain in children (Part I).

Although the cold pressor model of pain has been used widely in laboratory studies with adults, it has been rarely used to study pain in children, likely because of obvious ethical concerns about the well-being of child participants. The goals of the present investigation were to determine (1) whether a laboratory study of this type could be conducted in a way that children would find interesting and non-threatening, and (2) whether potentially useful data could be gathered systematically within the framework of such a study. Results of a pilot study in children 6-12 years, with water temperature at 15 degrees C (n = 37) and 12 degrees C (n = 29), indicated that useful data could be obtained from this paradigm.