‘I believe high blood pressure can kill me:’ using the PEN-3 Cultural Model to understand patients’ perceptions of an intervention to control hypertension in Ghana

Objectives: Currently in Ghana, there is an on-going task-shifting strategy in which nurses are trained in hypertension management. While this study will provide useful information on the viability of this approach, it is not clear how patients in the intervention perceive hypertension, the task-shifting strategy, and its effects on blood pressure management. The objective of this paper is to examine patients’ perceptions of hypertension and hypertension management in the context of an on-going task-shifting intervention to manage blood pressure control in Ghana.

Design: Forty-two patients participating in the Task Shifting Strategy for Hypertension program (23 males, 19 females, and mean age 61. 7 years) completed in-depth, qualitative interviews. Interviews were transcribed, and key words and phrases were extracted and coded using the PEN-3 Cultural Model as a guide through open and axial coding techniques, thus allowing rich exploration of the data.

Results: Emergent themes included patients’ perceptions of hypertension, which encompassed misperceptions of hypertension and blood pressure control. Additional themes included enablers and barriers to hypertension management, and how the intervention nurtured lifestyle change associated with blood pressure control. Primary enabling factors included the supportive nature of TASSH nurses, while notable barriers were financial constraints and difficulty accessing medication. Nurturing factors included the motivational interviewing and patient counseling which instilled confidence in the patients that they could make lasting behavior changes.

Conclusions: This study offers a unique perspective of blood pressure control by examining how patients view an on-going task-shifting initiative for hypertension management. The results of this study shed light on factors that can help and hinder individuals in low-resource settings with long-term blood pressure management.     

医改尚未成功,路在何方?

目前我国医疗制度改革尚未取得成功,这与计划经济向市场经济转轨这历史时期及卫生工作的特殊性有关,出现问题,甚至失误,在所难免。提出(1)医改的目的是确保全国人民健康,人人享有医疗保健。(2)把卫生系统推向市场,医疗机构商业化,不是医改的方向。(3)预防为主,健全预防医学制系。(4)国家增加投入。(5)制定公立及私立医院各项制度,保护医务人员的合法权益。(6)加强社区基层医疗机构的建设。     

对高等教育大众化背景下中医药高等院校专业建设问题的思考

中医药高等院校专业建设应随着社会的进步发展和社会的需求而不断拓宽、延伸其专业领域，本文从中医药高校的专业延伸的必要性、建设原则以及专业延伸的思路等三个方面对中医药高等院校的专业建设工作提出了几点思考。     

Some practical perspectives for educating gifted children

This article identifies common characteristics of educationally related programs that form a common basis for understanding and working with gifted programs. Special approaches and programs for educational enrichment as well as specific activities that have been successful are discussed.     

不同年龄,职业及文化程度人群心身健康特点的研究

探讨我国不同年龄、职业及文化程度的心身健康特点。方法根据我国人口学资料分层抽样，采用标准化的中国心身健康量表进行人群心身健康测查。结果（１）以５５～６４，２５～３４及４５～５４岁年龄组，离退休人员、干部及技术人员的心身健康量表分均较高，工人及军人次之，而农民心身健康各量表分最低；（２）初、高中者心身健康各量表分较高，大学次之，小学最低。结论我国不同年龄、职业及文化程度的心身健康状况不同。     

高师地理学科的环境教育

党的十六大所提出的全面建设小康社会，是一个包括政治、经济、文化、环境乃至国民素质的综合概念。它特别要求国民具有健全的环境意识，良好的环境伦理道德和高尚的环境道德行为。作为担负着提高全体国民环境素质和培养中小学环境教育教师和地方环境建设服务三重使命的高师地理学科，面临着其环境教育的课程设置、教材建设和教师队伍建设等不可回避的课题，有必要进行深入探索。     

医院组织文化的认知调查分析

文章对组织文化调查问卷的认知部分进行了分析研究,并针对出现的问题,提出医院文化建设和管理方面的建议。     

组织工程学--21世纪面临的机遇与挑战

组织工程学是近20年来医学生命科学领域最具进展与挑战性的前沿科技领域之一,被誉为“一场意义深远的医学革命”、“再生医学的新时代”,标志着复制再生组织与器官的时代的来临!由于它具有修复创伤、重建功能、挽救生命、提高生存质量所特有的优势及巨大的社会、经济价值,而倍受国际学术界及各国政府的高度关注与支持。目前国际上组织工程皮肤、组织工程软骨已有产品面世,并得到美国FDA的批准,国际上已成立了近百家组织工程公司,我国多家大学、研究单位亦相继成立了组织工程研发中心或组织工程公司。目前不但可以构建组织工程化组织,而且复杂生命器官组织工程化构建亦已在国内外积极展开,同时,一些组织工程化组织已初步应用于临床并取得了可喜的临床疗效,显示出组织工程技术可喜的局面、巨大的生命力与宏伟的远景。然而,组织工程学是一门新兴学科,是跨领域、多学科参与合作的边缘学科,目前的工作仅仅是初始,还有大量基本科学问题尚待阐明,大量技术难题尚待攻克;光明与困难共存,机遇与挑战同在;应不失时机抓住机遇,开拓创新,迎接挑战,全力打造组织工程技术的新时代,使组织工程技术能够尽早造福于人类。     

Occupational irritant contact dermatitis and fungal infection in construction workers

We have examined 6 construction workers who developed chronic skin diseases on their hands over a period of 15 years (1970–1985). 4 developed a Trichophyton rubrum infection, and the other 2 an irritant contact dermatitis. All of them carried out jobs which caused traumatization of the skin, due to the presence of ethylene glycol and mineral oils during operation of pneumatic hammers in winter. They also suffered other types of skin trauma during their work. Construction workers may be at risk of developing an occupational skin disease involving fungal infection.