European journal of public health
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Eur J Public Health · Dec 2008
A comparison of physicians' end-of-life decision making for non-western migrants and Dutch natives in the Netherlands.
Non-western migrants have a different cultural background that influences their attitudes towards healthcare. As the first wave of this relatively young group is growing older, we investigated, for the first time, whether end-of-life decision-making practices for non-western migrants differ from Dutch natives. ⋯ Euthanasia was not less common among non-suddenly deceased non-western migrants as compared to Dutch natives. However, intensive symptom alleviation was used less frequently and forgoing potentially life-prolonging treatment involved different characteristics. These findings suggest that cultural factors may affect end-of-life decision making.
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Eur J Public Health · Oct 2008
Death within 8 days after discharge to home from the emergency department.
Deaths within 8 days after discharge have, in previous studies, been evaluated retrospectively based on review of hospital records and the cause of death. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of death within 8 days after discharge to home from the emergency department with a non-causative diagnosis in a prospective cohort study. ⋯ The mortality rate within 8 days of discharge found in the present study is considerably higher than findings in previous studies. Death shortly after discharge of patients with non-causative diagnosis may indicate a misjudgement of the patients' condition at the time of discharge.
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Eur J Public Health · Aug 2008
Do medical services personnel who deployed to the Iraq war have worse mental health than other deployed personnel?
There is evidence of increased health care utilization by medical personnel (medics) compared to other trades in the UK Armed Forces. The aim of this study was to compare the burden of mental ill health in deployed medics with all other trades during the Iraq war. ⋯ There is a small excess of psychological ill health in medics, which can be explained by poorer group cohesion, traumatic medical and post-deployment experiences. The association of mental ill health with a medical role was not the consequence of a larger proportion of reservists in this group.