Fiona McDonald

It’s always a pleasure: Exploring productivity and pleasure in a writing group for early career academics

The professional development needs of early career academics (ECAs) are increasingly subject to scrutiny. The literature notes writing groups can be successful in increasing research outputs and improving research track records – a core concern for ECAs. However, the pressure on ECAs to publish takes the pleasure out of writing for many. We argue writing groups, created by and for ECAs, can provide an environment for ECAs to (re)produce pleasure in writing and participation in the processes of academic review and debate. In addition, our experience of a writing group was that it provided a platform of social and emotional support contributing to our personal well-being and professional development.

Working to Death: The Regulation of Working Hours in Health Care

Recent research highlights significant risks associated with health professionals working long hours – risks to their health and safety, to the safety and quality of care provided to patients and to public safety. This article undertakes a review of the various instruments used to regulate working hours in health systems, using six countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the European Union as primary comparators. The review demonstrates differences in the instruments used to regulate the issue in these countries and in the economic, social, and cultural factors that limit instrument choice and moderate instrument effectiveness.

Exploring the post-genomic world: differing explanatory and manipulatory functions of post-genomic sciences

Richard Lewontin proposed that the ability of a scientific field to create a narrative for public understanding garners it social relevance. This article applies Lewontins conceptual framework of the functions of science (manipulatory and explanatory) to compare and explain the current differences in perceived societal relevance of genetics/genomics and proteomics. We provide three examples to illustrate the social relevance and strong cultural narrative of genetics/genomics for which no counterpart exists for proteomics. We argue that the major difference between genetics/genomics and proteomics is that genomics has a strong explanatory function, due to the strong cultural narrative of heredity. Based on qualitative interviews and observations of proteomics conferences, we suggest that the nature of proteins, lack of public understanding, and theoretical complexity exacerbates this difference for proteomics. Lewontins framework suggests that social scientists may find that omics sciences affect social relations in different ways than past analyses of genetics.

Interview with Dr. Young-Ki Paik, President of the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO): Pharmacoproteomics and the approaching wave of "proteomics diagnostics"

Dr. Young-Ki Paik directs the Yonsei Proteome Research Center in Seoul, Korea and was elected as the President of the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) in 2009. In the December 2009 issue of the Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (CPPM), Dr. Paik explains the new field of pharmacoproteomics and the approaching wave of “proteomics diagnostics” in relation to personalized medicine, HUPO’s role in advancing proteomics technology applications, the HUPO Proteomics Standards Initiative, and the future impact of proteomics on medicine, science, and society. Additionally, he comments that (1) there is a need for launching a Gene-Centric Human Proteome Project (GCHPP) through which all representative proteins encoded by the genes can be identified and quantified in a specific cell and tissue and, (2) that the innovation frameworks within the diagnostics industry hitherto borrowed from the genetics age may require reevaluation in the case of proteomics, in order to facilitate the uptake of pharmacoproteomics innovations. He stresses the importance of biological/clinical plausibility driving the evolution of biotechnologies such as proteomics,instead of an isolated singular focus on the technology per se. Dr. Paik earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia and carried out postdoctoral work at the Gladstone Foundation Laboratories of Cardiovascular Disease, University of California at San Francisco. In 2005, his research team at Yonsei University first identified and characterized the chemical structure of C. elegans dauer pheromone (daumone) which controls the aging process of this nematode. He is interviewed by a multidisciplinary team specializing in knowledge translation, technology regulation, health systems governance, and innovation analysis.

Assistive Technologies for People with Dementia: Ethical considerations/Technologies D'assistance Pour Les Personnes Atteintes De Demence: Considerations ethiques/Tecnologias De Asistencia Para Personas Con Demencia: Consideraciones Eticas

Abstract The sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 include a new target for global health: SDG 3 aims to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” Dementia care of good quality is particularly important given the projected increase in the number of people living with the condition. A range of assistive technologies have been proposed to support dementia care. However, the World Health Organization estimated in 2017 that only one in 10 of the 1 billion or more people globally who could benefit from these technologies in some way actually has access to them. For people living with dementia, there has been little analysis of whether assistive technologies will support their human rights in ways that are consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The aim of this paper is to examine the relevant provisions of the convention and consider their implications for the use of assistive technologies in dementia care. Assistive technologies can clearly play an important role in supporting social engagement, decision-making and advance planning by people living with dementia. However, concerns exist that some of these technologies also have the potential to restrict freedom of movement and intrude into privacy. In conclusion, an analysis of the implications of assistive technologies for human rights laws is needed to ensure that technologies are used in ways that support human rights and help meet the health-related SDG 3.

Rethinking Rural Health Ethics

This chapter pulls together the arguments advanced in this book to rethink rural health ethics. In particular, we highlight two key premises emerging from a feminist analysis and which run through this book – context and power – and their application to rural health and rural health ethics. In doing this we challenge traditional urban-centric approaches to ethics and to health policy and practices. We believe that the development of an ethical framework for rural health care is important both for the field of health ethics and for the development of health policy and practices that better meet the needs of rural residents, rural health providers and rural communities.

The Ethical Imperative to Move to a Seven-Day Care Model

Whilst the nature of human illness is not determined by time of day or day of week, we currently structure health service delivery around a five-day delivery model. At least one country is endeavouring to develop a systems-based approach to planning a transition from five- to seven-day healthcare delivery models, and some services are independently instituting program reorganization to achieve these ends as research, amongst other things, highlights increased mortality and morbidity for weekend and after-hours admissions to hospitals. In this article, we argue that this issue does not merely raise instrumental concerns but also opens up a normative ethical dimension, recognizing that clinical ethical dilemmas are impacted on and created by systems of care. Using health policy ethics, we critically examine whether our health services, as currently structured, are at odds with ethical obligations for patient care and broader collective goals associated with the provision of publicly funded health services. We conclude by arguing that a critical health policy ethics perspective applying relevant ethical values and principles needs to be included when considering whether and how to transition from five-day to seven-day models for health delivery.

A new tool to assess compliance of mental health laws with the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

Since the introduction of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) (CRPD), there have been calls to establish standards to measure compliance of domestic mental health laws with the human rights outlined in the CRPD. This article aims to address this gap by proposing a tool: the Analysis Instrument for Mental health (AIM). In particular, the tools purpose is to enable states and civil society to assess the compliance of non-forensic domestic mental health laws with Article 12 of the CRPD. It responds to Dawsons (2015) call for a mechanism designed to provide clear and measurable standards for which to undertake this exercise. The content of AIM draws directly from the authoritative interpretation of Article 12 provided by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Committee) in its General Comment, as well as the substantial body of academic and other literature about Article 12.

The Idealisation of Rural Life and Rural Health Care

We argue in this chapter that we need use an ethics lens to critically examine stereotypes that idealise rural life and rural health care and be attentive to the ways in which they inform our thinking, including whether they have any negative impacts on rural health providers or patients. We ask whether our nostalgia about rural life and rural health care, as framed by the stereotypes of the idyll and the ideal rural health provider, may be obstructing the development of better policies and decisions about the provision of rural health services, much in the same way that the deficit or dystopia framing, discussed in Chap. 3, may limit the development of health policies and practices. It is our hope that by examining these stereotypes, we will be able to reduce injustice or inequities and make better decisions about providing health care to all citizens, wherever they reside.

The Value of Place

We argue in this chapter for an explicit value of place in health ethics. Psychologists have identified that some people feel what they term place attachment. We argue that ethicists should acknowledge that some people may feel connected to and identify with a particular place which has epistemological implications and implications for a person’s standpoint – as what we know is fundamentally influenced by where we come from. Place may also sometimes be used as a means to stereotype particular patients and their likely responses and values. In this chapter we argue for a value of place to give it the necessary weight and attention in ethical deliberations around the provision of health care at the micro, meso and macro levels of service delivery. We argue that the value of place is particularly relevant for rural residents as it may influence their health care choices, their experience of receiving care and their access to health services.