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Full-Text Articles in Medical Humanities

Anti-Vaccination: Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy And Its Consequences For Modern Public Health Policy, Joshua Bird May 2023

Anti-Vaccination: Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy And Its Consequences For Modern Public Health Policy, Joshua Bird

Senior Honors Theses

Modern vaccination is arguably the most significant medical achievement in human history. Through widespread vaccination, populations are no longer susceptible to diseases that plagued humanity for most of its existence (measles, rubella, smallpox). While vaccinations have largely shown themselves as safe and efficacious under most circumstances, small but considerable portions of the worldwide population reject vaccination for various social, religious, and political reasons. Research indicates that vaccine hesitancy spans all socioeconomic boundaries, affecting patients and their physicians. To explore the underlying themes of vaccine hesitancy and their relationship to loss aversion and omission bias, a study of various factors underlying …


Communicating Comfort In Crisis: A Literature Review On Overcoming The Emergency Room Environment To Foster The Nurse-Patient Relationship, Faith G. Davenport Apr 2022

Communicating Comfort In Crisis: A Literature Review On Overcoming The Emergency Room Environment To Foster The Nurse-Patient Relationship, Faith G. Davenport

Senior Honors Theses

The average emergency room patient is not receiving the compassionate nurse-patient communication that patients experience on other hospital floors. Fewer positive nurse-patient interactions prompt patients to state that they feel uncomforted and dissatisfied on hospital exit surveys, inciting hospital management to investigate how to reverse this trend to retain their federal funding. Emergency room nurses cite multiple barriers inherent in their work environment that prevent them from building rapport with their patients, including a layout not conducive to private conversations, strict time constraints, and a fluctuating workload. Working for a prolonged period under these conditions is driving many nurses to …


The Patient-Physician Relationship: Overcoming Language And Cultural Barriers, Corrilynn Lynch Apr 2019

The Patient-Physician Relationship: Overcoming Language And Cultural Barriers, Corrilynn Lynch

Senior Honors Theses

The patient-physician relationship governs the field of medicine, forming the basis for all relationships, interactions, and procedures in medicine. The degree to which a patient trusts his physician and thus is willing to be receptive to medical advice and adhere to assigned treatment is dependent on the quality of his relationship with his physician. The method of relationship chosen will dictate how the patient feels he is perceived and thus to what extend he will participate in his healthcare. A patient-centered approach to medicine will increase this confidence and lead to improved clinical results. Additionally, the rise of physician burnout …


The Role Of Compassion In Medical Ethics And Its Reintegration In Modern Practice, Hannah E. Borchers Apr 2019

The Role Of Compassion In Medical Ethics And Its Reintegration In Modern Practice, Hannah E. Borchers

Senior Honors Theses

Compassion has been an integral part of medical ethics since its origins, but as medicine progressed, compassion slowly disappeared from practice. The development of any industry results from many complex factors, but the decline of compassion in medicine can be largely attributed to the evolution of technology and role of medical ethics committees. Change is not always negative, but in this case, medicine neglected one of its foundational principles. This is seen by analyzing the history and progression of medical ethics and its four pillars. Plato and Aristotle defined justice in Greek philosophy, Hippocrates used the concept of non-maleficence in …