BACKGROUND The Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS) is a collection of monographs written by pharmaceutical companies and published by the Canadian Pharmacists Association. The CPS is widely available and is consulted frequently by Canadian physicians. We examined overdose management advice contained in the CPS to see whether it reflects current standards. METHODS We restricted...

in recent years, medical and health care consumption has risen, making health risk an important determinant of household spending and welfare. we aimed to examine the determinants of medical and health care expenditure to help policy-makers in the improvement of china's health care system, benefiting the country, society and every household. this paper employs panel data from china's provinces ...

Religious faith and medicine combine harmoniously in Buddhist views, each in its own way helping Buddhists enjoy a more fruitful existence. Health care providers need to understand the spiritual needs of patients in order to provide better care, especially for the terminally ill. Using a recently reported case to guide the reader, this paper examines the issue of medical futility from a Buddhis...

A physician friend of mine recently was caring for a critically ill infant who was dying. The infant's mother insisted that the infant be treated with maximal life support as long as possible. The physician told me that, as a physician, he had the right and the duty to refuse to provide treatment any longer because the effort was `futile'. I pressed him about how he knew he was doing the morall...

The aim of this study was to obtain insight into which proportion of cancer patients is admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and how their survival, demographic, and clinical characteristics relate to cancer patients not admitted to the ICU. Data from patients registered with cancer between 2006 and 2011 in four hospitals in the Netherlands were linked to the Dutch National Intensive Care E...

The emergence of new obstetrical and neonatal technologies, as well as more aggressive clinical management, has significantly improved the survival of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. This development has heightened concerns about the limits of viability. ELBW infants, weighing less than 1,000 grams and no larger than the palm of one’s hand, are often described as “miracles” of late t...

In developing countries, low levels of awareness, cost and organizational constraints on access to specialized care contribute to inadequate patient help-seeking behavior. As much as 95% of cancer patients in developing countries are diagnosed at late to end stage disease. Consequently, treatment outcome is dismally poor and a vicious cycle sets in, with public mystification of cancer and the a...

• Respect the dignity of both patient and caregivers. • Be sensitive to and respectful of the patient’s and family’s wishes. • Use the most appropriate measures that are consistent with the choices of the patient or the patient’s legal surrogate. • Ensure alleviation of pain and management of other physical symptoms. • Recognize, assess, and address psychological, social, and spiritual problems...