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Biomedical subjects

S Fredriksen

Publications and source records attributed to S Fredriksen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Tragedy, utopia and medical progress.

In this article, tragedy and utopia are juxtaposed, and it is proposed that the problem of "medicalisation" is better understood in a framework of tragedy than in a utopian one. In utopia, it is presupposed that there is an error behind every setback and every side effect, whereas tragedy brings to light how side effects can be the result of irreconcilable conflicts. Medicalisation is to some extent the result of such a tragic conflict. We are given power by medical progress, but are also confronted with our fallibility, thus provoking insecurity. This situation is illustrated by the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Recent epidemiological investigations have shown that infants sleeping in a prone position have a 15-20 times higher risk of dying from SIDS than infants sleeping in a supine position. A simple means of preventing infant death is suggested by this discovery, but insecurity is also created. What else has been overlooked? Perhaps a draught, or wet diapers, or clothes of wool are just as dangerous as sleeping prone? Further investigations and precautions will be needed, but medicalisation prevails.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1995

Coping with obligations towards patient and society: an empirical study of attitudes and practice among Norwegian physicians.

A questionnaire relating to attitudes towards setting economic priorities within the health care system was sent to all 151 general practitioners in Northern Norway. Of these, 109 (72 per cent) responded. Ninety-six per cent of the respondents agreed or partly agreed that the setting of economic priorities within the health care system was necessary. Ninety-three per cent had experienced a conflict between their responsibility towards the individual patient and the requirement for them to manage the health budget. The responses suggest that doctors act more in the interests of their patient than the interests of society. However, 68 per cent reported having refrained from giving the best treatment to patients because it was too expensive. As many as 60 per cent of the respondents wanted more public guidelines. Only 10 per cent wanted doctors to have more influence in difficult questions arising from setting priorities.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1993

[Is the main goal of the health care services to produce health?].

A questionnaire on the relative weight attached to severity of disease and health gain when allocating scarce resources between patient groups was answered by 99 doctors in general practice. The same questionnaire had been previously answered by politicians. Doctors and politicians alike tended to emphasize severity of disease rather than health gain when allocating scarce resources. Furthermore, many did not emphasize either of these factors, but distributed the resources equally between the different patient groups. If the patients were equally ill, the doctors attached greater weight than the politicians did to health gain. The answers to the questionnaire indicate that the obligation to help the most seriously ill and to uphold the ideal of equality are regarded as more fundamental than the goal of producing health effectively.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1993

Left ventricular performance and cerebral haemodynamics during xenon anaesthesia. A transoesophageal echocardiography and transcranial Doppler sonography study.

The effects of xenon anaesthesia on myocardial function and cerebral blood flow velocities were investigated with transoesophageal echocardiography and transcranial Doppler sonography. Seventeen ASA 1 patients undergoing open cholecystectomy (n = 16) or abdominal hysterectomy (n = 1) were studied. Anaesthesia with 65% xenon in oxygen was induced by ventilating the lungs through a circle system with minimal fresh gas flow. The echocardiographically obtained mean (SD) fractional area change in a short axis view of the left ventricle at the level of the papillary muscles was 65 (10)% (n = 14) before xenon. There was no significant change after 5, 10 and 15 min of xenon anaesthesia. Cerebral blood flow velocities were unchanged during the first 5 min of xenon anaesthesia, but were significantly increased in the left and right middle, and the right anterior, cerebral arteries after 15 and 30 min (n = 16) (p < 0.05). In conclusion, xenon anaesthesia had no adverse effect on myocardial function, but probably increased cerebral flood flow.

Adult↗