The history of medical assisting as a separate and distinct profession goes back to the founding of the Maryland Medical Secretarial School as a division of Hagerstown Business College in 1941. The college, having been established in the... more
The history of medical assisting as a separate and distinct profession goes back to the founding of the Maryland Medical Secretarial School as a division of Hagerstown Business College in 1941. The college, having been established in the summer of 1938 by Edward J. Hajek had a strong secretarial program that had grown in reputation. By 1941 Hagerstown Business College had begun a separate program adding specialized medical terminology to its existing secretarial course and under the leadership of a trained nurse named Josephine Kiracofe, the medical secretarial program was formally launched. It was at this time that Ms. Kiracofe approached President Hajek with a proposal, " with your money and my brains, I think we can build something great. " With those words Ms. Kiracofe persuaded President Hajek to start a separate division of the fledgling business college which would become The Maryland Medical Secretarial School of Hagerstown Business College. Kiracofe ran the division and quickly made improvements to the curriculum. As time went on and the college's graduates were being employed in larger numbers among the hospitals and medical practices in the nearby cities of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Ms. Kiracofe began to receive requests to add more specialized clinical training to the curriculum such that the students could be used in both front and back office positions. Kiracofe and the faculty with the support of President Hajek created what is believed to be one of the first curricula for what would become medical assisting. By the late 1940s, Hagerstown Business College had a separate and distinct program in Medical Secretary/Assistant, one of the only schools in the country offering such a program. The program was well known and developed a strong and prestigious reputation that drew students from throughout the Eastern United States. It was at this time that the college developed a need for student housing and contracted with the Dagmar Hotel in downtown Hagerstown to provide housing for students who came to Hagerstown Business College seeking its specialized and unique medical training. Because most of the students in the Medical Secretary/Assistant program were female, they quickly took on the nickname the " Dagmar Girls " .
The vast intricacies that hover over post-operative care often lead to higher risk and inherent damage, when ignored. Postoperative care has several complications, ranging from decreased quality of care due to enormous patient to doctor... more
The vast intricacies that hover over post-operative care often lead to higher risk and inherent damage, when ignored. Postoperative care has several complications, ranging from decreased quality of care due to enormous patient to doctor gap ratio to unavailability of remote healthcare. To ensure that these issues are eradicated, the Cognitive NLP assistant using Dialogflow is proposed. This assistant will hold a regular conversation similar to what a medical professional would, but at the feasibility of the user's home. It will monitor and track symptoms. The assistant will suggest prompts, based on prior charts and care suggested for the respective surgery. The proposed methodology is achieved by using the Rule-Based Grammar algorithm and the ML matching algorithm. The assistant's services will extend to connecting with the medical professional if any abnormalities arise and cover communication gaps, by providing the details it has gathered. This assistant has reduced the burden of the physician while providing care to the user and eliminating the need to travel distances to seek treatment for non-emergent issues along with reducing the stress to schedule an appointment. It will function as a whole care provider by being available around the clock to tend to the user.
Aim: This study was conducted to determine the status of sharps and needlestick injuries of interns and internal-surgical medicine research assistants in Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine Hospital. Material and Method: This... more
Aim: This study was conducted to determine the status of sharps and needlestick injuries of interns and internal-surgical medicine research assistants in Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine Hospital.
Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on total 333 health worker including 123 interns and 210 internal-surgical medicine research assistants. Data collection was conducted by a questionnaire consisted of 23 questions including 6 questions about sociodemographic characteristics and 17 questions about work-life of the participants. Participants’ sharps and needlestick injury rate was compared in terms of age, gender, marital status, work-life characteristics.
Results: 78.1% of residents and 48.8% of interns stated that they injured with sharps during training or their professional life (p<0.001). The most common type of injury was needle stick injury (84.7% of residents, 70.0% of interns). Sharps and needle stick injury incidence in the last 1 year was 36.6% in residents and 30.3% in interns (p=0.247). More than half of the injuries (65.8% of residents, 53.7% of interns) occurred in 9 hours and above shifts. 91.1% of residents and 98.5% of interns did not report the injury to the occupational health and safety department. Only 9.5% of residents and 6.5% of the interns stated that they participated in the training about sharps and needlestick injuries organized by the hospital. 16.2% of residents and 10.6% of interns found the precautions sufficient taken by the hospital. 76.7% of residents and 72.4% of interns immunity to Hepatitis B was enough (took up 3 doses of vaccine or had enough titer).
Conclusion: This study revealed that residents and interns have a high incidence of sharps and needlestick injuries; it is found that training and precautions taken by the hospital were insufficient. Educations and precautions about sharps and needlestick injuries for medical students and residents are needed.
Keywords: Resident, intern, sharps and needle stick injury
