PRECLINICAL STUDENTS' VIEWS ON MEDICAL ETHICS EDUCATION: A FOCUS GROUP STUDY IN TURKEY.

Aim: We aimed to receive the opinions of the preclinical medical students on medical ethics education, and to present some suggestions for the education program.

Methods: Focus group discussions were held with third-grade medical students. The analyses were implemented using Creswell's six-step qualitative data analysis.

Exposure of Students to Emotional and Physical Violence in the School Environment.

Introduction: While peer abuse or physical violence in school is emphasized more, the physical and emotional violence caused by school staff has been emphasized less. The purpose of this study was to investigate the variables related to emotional and physical violence that students are exposed to in the school environment.

Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted by applying a questionnaire to 434 fifth-grade students receiving education in the primary schools in Konak district of Izmir province.

Sexual attitudes, behaviour changes and opinions of interns in Izmir, Turkey.

Objectives: To evaluate sexual attitudes, behaviour and opinions of students at the end of their medical education studies in Izmir, Turkey, and compare findings with the results of the study carried out when they were first-year students.

Methods: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study, with data collected via a questionnaire.

Results: 'Friends' were most often mentioned as the source of their personal sexual information by students on both occasions.

Globalization of the pharmaceutical industry and the growing dependency of developing countries: the case of Turkey.

In developing countries, the effect of globalization on the pharmaceutical sector has resulted in a decrease in exportation and domestic production, accompanied by an increase in importation of pharmaceuticals and a rise in prices and expenditures. As an example of a developing country, Turkey has been facing the long-standing and increasing pressure of global regulations placed on its pharmaceutical sector. This has led to an increasing dependency on multinational companies and a gradual deterioration of an already weakened domestic pharmaceutical sector.

Bioethics and Turkey: crossroads and challenges.

Despite extraordinary improvements in medicine, health care worldwide continues to exhibit indefensible contradictions and extreme inequalities. "Health-for-all" campaigns, and development programs targeting welfare and social security have addressed these problems with limited success, but bioethicists, who by this point in the globalization era might have been expected to be addressing these problems urgently and persistently, have had little to say. We ask if bioethics, stalled at a crossroads, is prepared to alter course.

Sexual attitudes and risk-taking behaviors of high school students in Turkey.

Background: The risk of sexually transmitted diseases is high but opportunities of sexual education for adolescents are limited in Turkey. The aim of this study was to evaluate sexual attitudes and behaviors and to determine the predictors of sexual initiation among adolescents.

Methods: A questionnaire designed by the researchers was administered to 861 senior year high school students in their classrooms.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and use of psychostimulants among children in Turkey.

Recently, the use of psychostimulant medication in children with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been subject to extensive debate. The problems faced while assessing and diagnosing ADHD, unnecessary prescribing of psychostimulants, the possible side-effects of psychostimulants on the developing brain, the risk of drug dependency, and the risk of stigmatising children through medicalisation of normal life events are considered among the principal objections to the use of psychostimulant medications. On the other hand, what also need to be taken into account are the increasing evidence on the genetic, biochemical and diagnostic validity of the disorder, the data showing the therapeutic effects of psychostimulants and the rarity of the above-mentioned side-effects, as well as the ethical problems created by insufficient treatment of children because of the concerns of parents.

Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals: developed countries experiences and Turkey.

While several major problems concerning drugs occur in the world, the attempts to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has gained a considerable impetus lately in both developed and developing countries. DTCA has increasingly become an appealing advertising alternative for the pharmaceutical industry as drug companies have come to wrestle with such problems as the expansion of the drug market; the decline of the medical representatives' work efficiency; drug reimbursement restrictions; and the escalating role of the Internet in the consumer market. Some of the main disadvantages of the DTCA are: increasing drug expenditures, unnecessary drug consumption and adverse effect risks.

What patients think about promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies in Turkey.

Objective: Drugs, as commercial products, are subject to diverse marketing methods including promotional activities. Although the legal/ethical aspects of promotional activities have been discussed in a limited manner, the patient has remained the neglected variable of this equation. The goal of our study, therefore, is to investigate the patients' opinion on the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies.

Trends in diagnostic imaging utilization in a university hospital in Turkey.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate utilization trends of the diagnostic imaging examinations during the past decade in a university hospital in Turkey.

Methods: Patient registries of a university hospital were used for the years 1995 and 2003. The data set consisted of patients' admissions, social security status, and diagnostic imaging tests.

Globalization and the trends of medical technology trade in Turkey.

Medical technology trade is one of the most affected health areas by global regulations in the developing countries. The aim of the study is to examine recent changes in medical technology import and export and their results in Turkey. Data show that the total medical technology imports (MTI) increased from $ 34.

An important public health problem: rabies suspected bites and post-exposure prophylaxis in a health district in Turkey.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe rabies suspected animal bites and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) practices in Narlidere District in Turkey between 1999 and 2001.

Methods: One thousand five hundred and sixty-nine rabies suspected bite cases reported were identified from the District's rabies surveillance forms.

Results: Males comprised 66.

Sexual behaviours and contraception among university students in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the sexual attitudes and behaviours of university students. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to 550 final-year university students aged 20-25 years in Izmir, Turkey. Male students opposed premarital sexual intercourse for both genders more than female students did.

Attitudes and practices of primary healthcare center patients about drug use in Turkey.

Objective: Noncompliance is considered as a widespread but often neglected problem all over the world. In order to promote compliance, it is essential to first know the current drug use situation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the level of drug compliance in patients of a primary healthcare centre and identify factors which affect the patients' drug compliance in Turkey.