Article Summary by Perseverence Madhuku How did exhaustion in British colonies become a medical problem to be fixed, remedied, and eradicated? In the first half of the twentieth century, Kruschen salts, a laxative and diuretic tonic, circulated in Britain and its colonies. It was advertised as a cure for a range of diseases and […]
Category: Blog
Fifty Years of Scary Scanners: Time to Exorcise a Movie Cliché?
Blog by Michael Jackson, Chair British Society for the History of Radiology (BSHR), and Arpan K Banerjee, Chair International Society for the History of Radiology (ISHRAD) This year, 2023, saw the passing of acclaimed movie director William Friedkin, whose films include The French Connection (1971), and Sorcerer (1977), and To live and die in LA […]
Ethnology, Part II: In Close Contact with Thoughts and Things
Blog by Susanne Lundin In this second part of a two-part series on the role of ethnology as a humanistic discipline, we look closely at ethnological methods. We saw in part one how a nineteenth-century pregnant farmer’s wife in a Swedish parish placed an axe under her marital bed, hoping to influence the sex of […]
How Swedish Residents Navigate Global Medical Markets
Blog by Emma Eleonorasdotter, Rui Liu and Susanne Lundin The global consumption of medicines has been rising and shows no signs of decreasing.1 In 2021, 13 percent of Swedish women and 7 percent of Swedish men took antidepressants, and 26 percent of both men and women were prescribed anti-hypertensives.2 While over-reliance on medicines in […]
Ethnology: In Close Contact with Thoughts and Things
Blog by Susanne Lundin In the Swedish parish of Anderslöv in the late 1880s, a pregnant farmer’s wife named Hulda placed an axe under the marital bed. She hoped her future child would be a boy because the farm needed a son to take over the business. A cracked clog in the same place would […]
Patients Making Meaning: Theorizing Sources of Information and Forms of Support in Women’s Health
Blog by Bryna Siegel Finer, Cathryn Molloy, and Jamie White-Farnham Patients suffer when they do not get the information and support that they need—particularly when they are faced with a health flashpoint, which we define in our work as a new diagnosis, a flare or worsening of an existing condition, or the point at which […]
Bharatanatyam in Creative Aging
Blog by Sloka S. Iyengar PhD, PMP In the relatively new field of “creative aging,” older adults participate in pursuits such as painting, drawing, knitting, writing, music, and dance. Creative aging programs aim to engage seniors in activities that promote resilience and plasticity. Some programs cater to specific populations, e.g., those with Parkinson’s Disease,1 whereas […]
An Ancient Malady
Book Review by Samuel Freeman Carl Erik Fisher, The Urge: Our History of Addiction (New York: Penguin Press, 2022). ISBN 978-0525561446. Carl Erik Fisher’s use of alcohol and drugs nearly ended his burgeoning career when he was a psychiatrist in training. In The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Fisher, a psychiatrist, bioethicist, and addiction specialist […]
A Commentary on Traumatic Events – Medical Training in the Wake of 2020
Blog by Lisa P. Michelson, M.A., M.Phys., and Sara J. King, B.S. Acknowledgements: Aaron Fox, Quinta Fernandes, Santiago Bejarano Hernandez “You – hold pressure on the thigh wound!” “Peds Surg is on their way!” “Placing a second IV.” “How much Morphine has he gotten?” “Can someone distract him with his bear?” These are the voices […]
We Are Trying to Put the Humanity Back Into Medicine … So, Why Do We Keep Removing It?
By Meagan Brennan The focus on patient-centred care has prompted physicians to consider how to better centre the human experience in healthcare. Most patient-centred initiatives ask, “How can we put the humanity back into our medical practice?” Perhaps a better question is “Why did we remove it at all?” Instead of trying to foster […]