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Context. The first update of the 1997 gastric lavage position paper was published by the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists in 2004. This second update summarizes the 2004 content and reviews new data. Methods. A systematic review of the literature from January 2003 to March 2011 yielded few studies directly addressing the utility of gastric lavage in the treatment of poisoned patients. Results. Sixty-nine new papers were reviewed. Recent publications continue to show that gastric lavage may be associated with serious complications. A few clinical studies have recently been published showing beneficial outcomes, however, all have significant methodological flaws. Conclusions. At present there is no evidence showing that gastric lavage should be used routinely in the management of poisonings. Further, the evidence supporting gastric lavage as a beneficial treatment in special situations is weak, as is the evidence to exclude benefit in all cases. Gastric lavage should not be performed routinely, if at all, for the treatment of poisoned patients. In the rare instances in which gastric lavage is indicated, it should only be performed by individuals with proper training and expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was in the years immediately following World War II and through the 1950s that the psychoanalytic establishment officially defined psychoanalysis as a subspecialty of psychiatry, and it was in that context of the professionalization of American medicine that they codified the distinction between psychoanalysis and (psychoanalytic) psychotherapy. In this commentary on Steven Stern's “Session Frequency and the Definition of Psychoanalysis,” I deconstruct a series of binaries that was built into the analysis/therapy distinction and that has plagued our discipline. It is argued that psychoanalysis identified itself with the culturally “masculine” and heterosexual values of autonomous individuality (the intrapsychic), while it split off all that was relational and social (interpersonal), marked as “feminine,” homosexual, and “primitive,” onto psychotherapy, which it then devalued. The paper then examines the implications for practice and psychoanalytic education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to identify indicators of cultural competence in 670 news stories covering obesity by four urban news organizations: two mainstream newspapers and two ethnic newspapers serving the African-American and Hispanic communities. Through semantic network analysis, the research found that the news organizations converged on five themes: unhealthy lifestyle, food access and education, healthy lifestyle, public policy, and research. Public policy solutions were favored by the mainstream newspapers, while self-efficacy was emphasized in the ethnic papers. In all four newspapers, indicators of cultural competence were mixed. Ethnic newspapers showed particular competence in certain areas, such as community-based sourcing, direct mention of groups at risk for obesity, and lack of medical jargon. Chi-square tests showed, however, that the African-American newspaper discussed obesity less than expected, while the metropolitan daily directly mentioned ethnic groups at risk for obesity less than expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1987 the University of Iowa began training health care professionals to care for farmers' occupational health needs. The training enables health professionals from various disciplines to function in the anticipation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of occupational illnesses and injuries in the farm community. A grant from National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) entitled 'Building Capacity for Health and Safety Professionals' allowed for the expansion of this training to other states. This paper describes the challenges, successes, and lessons learned from dissemination of Agricultural Medicine Core Course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on church-sect theory, this paper asserts that midwifery is much like an established sect in relation to its church equivalent: Western medicine. We find that midwifery can endure in this form - as both protest movement and established institution - because of its ability to maintain its central oppositional values while being accepted as a legitimate, if marginalized, profession. Using interview data from 25 Florida midwives, we draw an analogy between the liminal status of midwifery and three of the most important characteristics of the established sect: limited institutionalization, acceptance and opposition, and a unique value set. This comparison sheds light on both church-sect theory and midwifery, which also leads us to suggest that similar analogies be used for analysis across other sub-fields in sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the evolution of patient empowerment in the United States over the last thirty years and ways the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) has impacted and paralleled the history of the American consumer health movement. EBM is the practice of supporting clinical decision making with systematic research, while taking into account the personal values, unique biology, and individual concerns of each patient. EBM has improved medical practice by judiciously integrating the best studies (better evidence) into the medical decision-making process. In this era of patient-centered care, EBM impacts not only the decisions consumers make about their health care, but the professional and consumer health literature used to inform and support medical decision making. While an evidence-based consumer health literature is still nascent, twenty-first century medicine is now seeing resources created to translate systematic research in a format and language appropriate for the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of papers presented at the 2003 North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology Annual Meeting. "Foxy Methoxy: A New Drug of Abuse," by S. Smolinske, R. Rastogi, and S. Schenkel; "Serotonin Syndrome Following Initiation of Escitalopram Monotherapy For Depression," by T. Wiegand and D. Stuart; "Pediatric Overdose of Desmopressin Acetate," by T. Sigg, A. M. Burda, and S. Aks; Others.