OAR@UM Collection:
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37393
2024-03-29T01:32:06ZProfessionalism in the 21st century
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21420
Title: Professionalism in the 21st century
Authors: Cilia, Saviour
Abstract: During the last few years, health care in Malta has under gone numerous important changes. The Health Care Professions Act 2003 1 has redefined the relationship between the different professions in the health care sector, with the Specialists Accreditation Committee (SAC) and the numerous medical specialists associations and colleges being recognised as the regulators of the different specialities. Faced with today's many changes and challenges it is wrong to assume that all doctors understand what it means to be a professional and use this understanding as they make decisions in their private and professional lives. Confronted with reformation of the Maltese health care system, it is opportune for every medical practitioner to think and reflect on what professionalism means, as the traditional understanding of professionalism is not adequate any longer. In the international literature, much attention has been devoted in the last decade to the question of professionalism in medical education and medical practice. 2 - 9 Because the word professionalism carries with it 50 many connotations, and complexities, there is no common understanding of what is meant by professionalism. In times when few people had the opportunity to get an education, the term "profession" meant one of the "classical professions": medicine, law, or theology. Today there are hundreds of disciplines and occupations whose educational, scientific, and academic rigor have grown up to be equal to that of classical professions, and as such they call themselves professions. Different occupational groups have used the word differently and for different purposes. Unfortunately, the designation has always been a starus symbol, sought by many and achieved by few. Accountants, engineers, architects, pharmacists, nurses and social workers are among those who have earned it and the)' are issued a licence by the President of Malta authorizing them to practice independently. Optometrists, dieticians and therapists are among those who are pressing hard to get full recognition, but are still considered by law as "professions complementary to medicine".l Furthermore, at a time when "rat catchers" are "rodent operatives" and "trash collectors" me "waste disposal executives," and when the prevailing view is that "we're all professionals now", the exact meaning and significance of professionalism is uncertain; it has virtually lost its meaning because it is 50 widely used. Yet if professionalism is to remain integral to medical education and medical practice, and if professionalism is to result in meaningful change that benefits both the medical profession and the society it serves, it is necessary that 14 VOLUME 15 ISSUE 01 JUNE 2006 every doctor has a clear understanding of what medical professionalism entails.2006-06-01T00:00:00ZHomeopathy : wherein lies the cure?
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21419
Title: Homeopathy : wherein lies the cure?
Authors: Grech Sammut, Cynthia
Abstract: The term Homeopathy comes from the Greek words homaeo, meaning 'similar', and pathos, meaning 'suffering' or 'disease' It is a system of medicine developed in the late 18th century by Samuel Hahnemann (l7SS -1843), a German physician, chemist and linguist. However the underlying concept - the 'similia principle' or 'like cures like', was described by Hippocrates, who noted that, for example, recurrent vomiting could be treated with a small dose of an emetic (such as ipecacuanha) which in a larger dose would be expected to make it worse. Samuel Hahnemann was a father of eight children. He was disil!usioned with the medical methods of his time after several of his children died from epidemic disease and he was powerless to save them. He lived at a time, when common medical treatments were harsh (bloodletting, purging), and there were few effective medications for treating patients. He gave up medicine and turned to translating medical text. The first major step in his work reportedly was when he was translating an herbal text and read about the treatment (cinchona bark) used to cure malaria. This was solely based on the fact that it was 'bitter'. Interested in the logic of this treatment he himself took some cinchona bark and observed that, as a healthy person, he developed symptoms that were very similar to malaria symptoms. This led Hahnemann to consider that a substance may relieve symptoms that it can also create - the similia principle. A simple example of this principle in action is as follows: While cutting an onion, one's eyes start to water and the nose starts to discharge. The homeopathic medicine made from the onion is used to treat hayfever with these same symptoms of lachrymation of the eyes and coryza. Another simple example is the homeopathic medicine made from the bee, which helps to relieve the symptoms and heal a bee sting.2006-06-01T00:00:00Z11th Conference of the European Society of General Practice/Family Medicine
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21418
Title: 11th Conference of the European Society of General Practice/Family Medicine
Abstract: A new chapter was written in the history of Maltese Family Medicine at the 11th Conference of the European Society of General Practice / Family Medicine (World Organisation of Family Doctors: WONCA - Europe). Here, for the first time, two Specialists in Family Medicine from Malta were invited to give plenary presentations at an international conference of General Practice / Family Medicine. The Malta College of Family Doctors was represented by Dr Mario R Sammut and Dr Jean Karl Soler at this conference which took place in Greece on 3-7 September 2005 on Kos, the Island of Hippocrates (Figure 1).2006-06-01T00:00:00ZSetting up of the Family Medicine Teachers Group
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21415
Title: Setting up of the Family Medicine Teachers Group
Abstract: During its first meeting held on 3rd March 2006 a number of doctors, who had received training in the previous three modules organised by the Malta College of Family Doctors in collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners, met together to officially set up the Family Medicine Teachers Group.2006-06-01T00:00:00Z