16 Dec
Despite evidence demonstrating the benefits of understanding patients, there is a paucity of information about how physicians address psychological and social concerns of patients. Patients cried in 157 encounters out of a total of 18,627 giving an incidence rate of 8.4 per thousand. More frequent reasons for encounters were: feeling depressed (12.7%), social handicap (mainly [...]
4 Jun
Health systems are social products, and as such they cannot being invented. They are expression of the final election between “freedom” and “equity”. Freedom means that each person may select and pay for the needed health services. Equity means solidarity, to help those in need even at the cost that are fit. Only the USA [...]
10 Apr
In this review, we consider empirical studies from the United States and elsewhere, and we focus on how one aspect of health systems, clinical care, contributes to maintaining systematic differences in health across population groups characterized by social disadvantage. We consider inequities in clinical care and the policies that influence them. We develop a framework [...]
10 Apr
We lack data about total mortality in the Swedish Two County Trial. After almost 30 years of follow-up, results are no definitive, and doubts persist about the efficacy of breast cancer screening. Problems are with overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and its mortality. So we need data about total mortality. Swedish Two County Trial: total mortality data [...]
20 Dec
The health system has four functions: 1/ health protection, 2/ health promotion, 3/ health prevention, and 4/ care of diseases and helping to die. In this text there is a proposal for a graphical representation that helps in understanding the medical activity. Logical graphical representation of medical activity. Gérvas, J. Diciembre 2011. Download English version here.
13 Oct
Influenza vaccines are useless. But every year millions of patients and healthy persons get vaccinated against flu virus. Cochrane reviews are consistent: flu vaccines are useless in healthy persons (elderly, adults and children under two years) and do not stop transmission in between humans. The case of Poland versus the world demonstrated that the vaccine [...]
13 Oct
All health services have adverse effects, all health services might produce damage to health. A few services produce more benefits than harms in specific situations. Unnecessary and inappropriate services mainly produce harms, and few benefits if any. Quaternary prevention is the prevention of unnecessary and/or inappropriate services and the prevention of over-medicalisation. Quaternary prevention refers mainly to personal services, [...]
