Journal Club Follow ups

[Annelies Tjebbes]

Hey all,

I wanted to say that I really enjoyed all of the great discussions that we had this year with the club.  I remembered that I said I'd follow up on a few things after 2 of the most recent journal clubs so here goes.  I just put together a list of questions to send PATH (Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health) as a follow up to the journal club on Appropriate Medical Technology for perinatal care in low-resource countries.  If you guys have any other questions please pass them on!  I am also looking into some resources on the psychology of killing that my friend in the military told me about and will share those once I have them. 

Also some interesting info that has been passed on to me since I brought up the topic of medical ethics with a friend I thought I'd share:

There's a project in Kenya studying the use of male circumcision as a tool for AIDS prevention where one of the guys working on the project reported that people assumed that they actually got AIDS from the testing which caused them to not get tested was from "The Uncertain Business of Doing Good" by Larry Krotz:

"He faced one myth, however, broadly held enough that it ought, he said, to cause worry.  With sufficient frequency to make him take note, people told him they believed getting tested was not simply how one found out one had AIDS, it was in fact the way one caught AIDS.  "My cousin, my friend, my colleague," they would tell him, "went and got tested and now he has AIDS."  The implication in their minds seemed to be that if he hadn't gone to the clinic for that test, he would still be fine."

Finally, info about HIV/AIDS going up in gay communities upon the introduction of antiretroviral drugs is from Elizabeth Pisani.  She talks about it in her Ted Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_pisani_sex_drugs_and_hiv_let_s_get_rational_1.html. 

Hope these are of interest, and have a wonderful rest of term all!

Take care

****************************************************
Annelies Tjebbes

Chapter President, Engineers Without Borders UBC Chapter
Biomedical Electrical Engineering Student, UBC

(c) 604-561-7237

[Jiyoon Koo]

Hi,

1) A brief google search leads me to this link about the psychology of killing (I was too curious to wait any longer! Internet is a great fix for these kinds of things), a book review for one titled "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" http://mankindprojectjournal.org/2010/12/the-psychology-of-killing/#ixzz1IJgcyiie

And I quote,

A previous military scholar named S.L.A. Marshall did some research about war following World War II that has forever changed military science and the way we prepare soldiers for war.   Marshall found that in World War II, only 15 to 20 percent of soldiers actually fired their weapons.   In previous wars, this (or a lower percentage) was true as well.   Those soldiers who did fire their weapons, often deliberately aimed in the air.  Marshall proved clearly that throughout history we humans have had a very difficult time killing one another, especially if we can see whom we are killing.  Sane humans must overcome deep-seated psychological hardwiring that gives them a great resistance to killing their fellow humans.  Humans naturally feel a connection with another’s humanity, even an enemy’s humanity.  To overcome this hardwiring, it takes rigorous, methodical training.

 
15-20 percent seems a reasonable "firing rate"-- the event in which this amount of firing actually hits and kills someone, is probably very low, making Annelise's 3% figure seem very likely.


2) Also, I'm not sure how male circumcision helps as a tool for AIDS prevention? Am I missing some crucial information here?

-jiyoon

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[Jiyoon Koo]

Also, did you know that it's been 40 years since MSF's been founded? An interesting look at their past with respect to humanitarian intervention methods, especially with regards to the current situation in Libya:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/

cheers,
Jiyoon Koo
604 700 5770

[M S]

Thanks for this article Jiyoon. Very relevant for MSF members indeed.

  I wish I could read more on Doctors who do more front line work and their experience or speaking on the topic and not only nurses-- although their perspective may be slightly different.  I say this because, I once knew a doctor specialist who served in the military on the front line doing work, although he has now retired,  he had some interesting perspectives on serving in that sense. 

Also, This is nice to read in light of the anti-bullying/harassment initiative being initiated by our province as of late.

On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 4:21 PM, Jiyoon Koo <jiyoo...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Mona Shoker
Interdisciplinary Program in Political Science, Sociology and Health
Major in Psychology
Delegate, Vice Chair | VAPA
Chair, Philanthropy | VKAT
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2






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