The diploma thesis "Media Representation of Female Doctors' Status in the Czech Republic" focuses on how the media reflects the trend of feminization in medicine. It discusses what aspects affecting the female doctors' status are accentuated by the media and whether the media representation of female doctors' status in mainstream and professional media differs. Indeed, surveys show that female doctors in the Czech Republic face discrimination due to persistent negative stereotypes about the unsuitability of women particularly in surgical fields. They are disadvantaged due to the assumption of pregnancy and career interruption due to motherhood (Stieranková & Veselská, 2020). Using grounded theory (Strauss & Corbinová, 1999), this study qualitatively analyzes articles dealing comprehensively with female doctors' status in the Czech Republic. It takes into consideration articles that have appeared in Czech mainstream and professional media in printed or electronic versions approximately over the last eleven years. The time frame is explained and justified in the thesis. A subsequent analysis of the articles found no significant difference in the media representation of the female doctors' status in mainstream and professional media. The vast majority of the analyzed articles reflected the female...

(in English) The current thesis on Nourishment of the czech aristocracy in period before Bílá Hora and contemporary medical literature focuses on two main topics: dining and medicine. Today, both could be included under one label, which is nutrition. The thesis can be divided into two parts. The first one, on the topic of cuisine/dining of noblemen, introduces their diet, habits and provides a few examples of period recipes. The second one presents overview of books that addressed the issue of dining and cuisine at that time. This part also includes personal and literary profiles of several personalities whose writings contributed to this area. A link between these two parts is a chapter on cuisine from the perspective of physicians. In writing the thesis I relied mostly on two sources: literature on lifestyle and historiographic literature. The latter focuses on cuisine from an everyday life perspective without the medical point of view. The objective of the thesis is to show that cuisine, or nutrition is not only a matter of modern age, but it had its place in the examined period as well.

This study is based on doctors' experiences of the changing conditions in the workplace from a profession to the ongoing deprofessionalisation. Former studies suggests that medical professionals have undergone deprofessionalisation in the form of social changes. Our purpose with this paper is to find out the doctors’ experiences of the changing conditions. The empirical data consists of ten interviews with ten different doctors regarding their worklife experience from the medical profession.    The result indicate patterns of deprofessionalisation based on three social changes: 1. Knowledge society – the relationship between the doctor and the patient has changed because of the patient’s rights and the information society, which has led to the weakening of the doctors' exclusivity of the knowledge base. 2. New Public Management – new reforms in the form of bureaucracy and market management has entered the profession, and it has led to the weakening of the profession’s autonomy. 3. The attributes of the medical profession – the doctor’s coat has been a clear status symbol and distinction between doctors and outsiders, and the removal of the doctor’s coat has led to the reduced status of the profession.

Student Number : 9713472V - PhD thesis - School of Anatomical Sciences - Faculty of Health Sciences / The medical professional requires expertise in a wide range of disciplines as well as competence encompassing knowledge, skills and attitudes. Of these, the knowledge and skills gained in Anatomy play a fundamental role in contributing to the quality and performance of the medical practitioner. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of the teaching-learning Anatomy in the training of doctors at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique and therefore to contribute to the effectiveness of the medical curriculum to ensure that it produces high quality medical professionals. The following questions were addressed: i) Is the Anatomy course perceived by the students to be structured to address their needs regarding medical practice? ii) Is there a relationship between performance in Anatomy and other disciplines as recalled by the students? iii) Do medical students demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge of Anatomy in dealing with patients in practice? The study involved the medical students in the clinical cycle and the junior doctors employed at the Central Hospital of Maputo City. Data obtained by means of questionnaires, examination of clinical reports and interviews was analysed statistically by the SPSS programme. The results showed that overall the students have a positive view of how well the Anatomy course meets their clinical needs, and that there is a direct relationship between knowledge of Anatomy and the ability to perform in the clinical setting. There is however a need to review the current medical curriculum in order to achieve better integration between the courses and cycles and particularly to improve the efficacy of the teaching-learning process by selecting the content more appropriately and adjusting the assessment procedures. From this study recommendations may be made to help improve the students’ application of anatomical knowledge by increasing vertical and horizontal integration in the curriculum and introducing earlier exposure to clinical problem solving. Further studies are needed to better understand the impact of assessing the outcomes of the basic sciences such as Anatomy on the educational process as well as on medical practice.

MFamMed, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010

Illegible written prescriptions and “Doctor’s handwriting” may have been synonymous, but this stereotype has begun to change with the gradual uptake of e-prescriptions. These eprescriptions are electronically captured and delivered prescriptions, and are touted as the solution to the many medical risks caused by written prescriptions. Whilst there is published support for the benefits of e-prescriptions, the uptake of e-prescribing has been too gradual for all patients to enjoy these benefits. The inadequate research into physicians’ adoption of e-prescribing systems presents a need for further study in this area, in an effort to improve the general use of these systems. Based on a review of literature, this study proposes six factors which may explain physicians’ intentions to use e-prescribing systems. These factors are based upon the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). This model is extended in this study by Social Dominance Theory, Commitment-Trust Theory and the Product Evaluation Model. Quantitative data was collected to test the proposed hypotheses. This data was gathered from physicians who have had some exposure to an e-prescription system. 72 usable responses were obtained for this study. The results of the study suggest that Performance Expectancy and Price Value have the highest influence on Behavioural Intention. Effort Expectancy and Social Influence had no direct influence on Behavioural Intention when in the presence of other variables, but they, along with Trust, had an indirect effect on Behavioural Intention through Performance Expectancy. Surprisingly, Social Dominance Orientation was not found to have an influence on Behavioural Intention. Implications, contributions and further research are discussed.

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities School of Human and Community Development 0216845j mulaudzit@highveldmail.co.za / The aim of the present study was to explore how women general practitioners experience work-family conflict, their sense of coherence, coping resources as well as implications of these on their level of job satisfaction. This involved investigating the bi-dimensional model of the work-family conflict and measuring them against other investigated variables like coping resources, sense of coherence and job satisfaction. The research was conceptualized based on the stress and coping models. Literature review based mostly on international level revealed that women doctors do experience work-family conflict and that it does impact on their level of well-being. The sample, which consisted of women general practitioners residing in the Gauteng province, was obtained using snowballing method and non-probability sampling method. A hundred and fourteen questionnaires were distributed by mail and within a period of three months only 28 questionnaires had been returned of which 22 were used for statistical procedures. Statistical analysis involved a number of procedures including Pearson correlation, t-test procedures and partial correlation methods. The results revealed that women general practitioners do experience work-family conflict especially one aspect of it known as the family interference with work (F→W). Furthermore results indicated that the experience of work-family conflict, specifically the F→W amongst these women does affect their level of job satisfaction in a significantly negative way. Demographics on the other hand proved to have no significant impact on the level of job satisfaction amongst these women. Lastly, it was noted that even though these women employed a wide variety of coping resources none of them proved to have any significant effect on their level of job satisfaction.

Lupus is a complex, poorly understood long-term disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues of any part of the body. The disease mainly affects young women of childbearing age. Studies from developed countries show that the condition affects individuals physically, emotionally and socially. However, nothing is known about how having lupus has affected individuals living with the condition in the African continent. I explored how lupus had affected individuals living with the condition in Kenya from the time individuals began to feel unwell. I interviewed three groups of participants. 10 individuals who attended the public rheumatology clinic, 11 individuals who attended a private rheumatology clinic and 6 doctors who worked in the rheumatology clinics. The study found that some individuals delayed in getting medical help for their lupus. It appears to take a long time for individuals to get their lupus diagnosed due to organisation and staffing of the Kenyan health system. It was also perceived by individuals with lupus that treatment for the condition was difficult to access and it was also costly. Some individuals believed that their lupus had a supernatural cause. Often there appeared to be a lack of understanding of lupus by individuals who suffered from the condition; and also by others, some having experienced disapproval or negative feelings from others. Individuals with lupus reported lacking the financial resources and social support to manage their condition better. Lupus was affecting them physically, emotionally and had an impact on their social lives. There are a number of challenges in living with lupus in Kenya, including individuals' and others perception of the condition, but also how healthcare is provided to these individuals.

This thesis aims to illuminate how paediatricians in the United Kingdom (UK) make difficult medical decisions when treating severely disabled children with complex health conditions. In particular, it examines the part played, if any, by law, rights, and ethics in those decisions. After drawing on jurisprudence of the English and European Human Rights Court, together with existing scholarship, to analyse the doctors' decision making, this thesis adopts a legal consciousness theoretical approach. Using this it looks at how the paediatricians make sense of and conceptualise law when making these decisions. It examines how decisions are, by the paediatricians' own accounts, commonly made at present and what the paediatricians say about how they and their colleagues make such decisions. This thesis addresses the following research questions: i) Which decisions do UK paediatricians find particularly difficult when working with disabled children and what makes those decisions particularly difficult? ii) What factors do UK paediatricians take into consideration when making difficult decisions for disabled children and what weight do they put on those factors? iii) What formal education in law, rights, and ethics have the doctors received and to what extent, if any, can we discern how this education impacts on their difficult decisions for disabled children? iv) How do UK paediatricians construct and understand the law, rights, and ethics when making their difficult decisions? This thesis makes an original contribution, being the first in-depth socio-legal study examining UK paediatricians' medical decision-making for severely disabled children, by identifying two distinct styles paediatricians adopt when approaching best interest decisions, and by recommending a new category of legal consciousness. It concludes by recommending research and changes both in doctors' training and approach to best interest decision-making to address the current challenges paediatricians describe facing when deciding for severely disabled children.

This research explored the topic of professional caregivers who commit serial murder in institutional settings. In-depth case studies were created for individuals convicted of serial murder in institutional settings in the United States. The purpose of this research was to identify the characteristics of this group of institutional serialists and compare the current data to existing data on serial killers. A technique of secondary data analysis was utilized to gather information on the sample of 17 individuals. Only public information was reviewed. Results of the data comparison between the current sample and existing information on serial killers indicated that institutional serialists share many similarities with previously identified serialists, but differences between the groups were identified as well. The characteristics of this current sample that were similar to those identified in previous research include sex of offender, race of offender, the offender's age at first murder, marital status of offender, number of victims, and victim characteristics. The characteristics that differed from those identified in previous research include sex of offender, the offender's childhood family situation, the offender's birth order, method of murder, number of victims, and victim characteristics.