Propelled by a national concern with social justice and health disparities, the notion of cultural competency is being incorporated into both government regulation and professional standards. Although most of the standards that are being developed nationally apply at the institutional level, it is in the clinical setting where the expectation of cultural competency is the most demanding. The re...

This feature explores the operation of individual markets. Patterns of behavior in markets for specific goods and services offer lessons about the determinants and effects of supply and demand, market structure, strategic behavior, and government regulation. Suggestions for future columns and comments on past ones should be sent to James R. Hines Jr., c/o Journal of Economic Perspectives, Depar...

In 2003 a working group established on the initiative of the Centre of Information Technology of Education under the Ministry of Education and Science, has been reviewing regulations for the assessment and certification of educational software. This article analizes the main aspects of the proposed orders. It discusses general structure of quality assurance system, the procedures for the certif...

R. Haeusler1, T. Antoni1, W.D. Apel1, A.F. Badea2, K. Bekk1, K. Bernlöhr1, E. Bollmann1, H. Bozdog2, I.M. Brancus2, A. Chilingarian3, K. Daumiller4, P. Doll1, J. Engler1, F. Feßler1, M. Föller1 H.J. Gils1, R. Glasstetter4 , W. Hafemann1 , A. Haungs1, D. Heck1, T. Holst1, J.R. Hörandel1 K.-H. Kampert1;4, H. Keim1, J. Kempa5, H.O. Klages1, J. Knapp4 H.J. Mathes1, H.J. Mayer1, J. Milke1, D. Mühlen...

Ongoing professional development is a mandatory component of a nurse's license to practice. One such opportunity to engage in professional development is through clinical supervision. Clinical supervision is a formal arrangement embedded within a structure aimed at supporting staff and enhancing outcomes for both clinicians and service users. Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social an...

Each year, US government agencies promulgate health and safety regulations that impose hundreds of millions of dollars of costs on the national economy. A key issue in developing these regulations is determining whether the value of the associated risk reductions and other benefits exceeds the value of the resources diverted from other purposes. This article explores one component of this benef...

The informed consent process is designed to inform the subject of the risks, rights, and benefits of participation in a clinical research trial. Informed consent, while not always necessary, is a critical component of ethical research involving human subjects. This article includes an overview of two sets of regulations regarding informed consent found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) T...

Ms. Heitzman addresses in her article the impact of the Administration Simplification statute of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 on the protection of health information by third parties to health care transactions. These regulations were enacted, in part, to increase consumers' trust in the health care system. However, their impact on business associates that com...

The model of regulations on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Taiwan is often categorized as “equalization” or “non-discriminatory,” though in reality the TCM practice is unequally regulated or even marginalized. The thesis of this Article is that medical licensing law in Taiwan played a major role in marginalizing TCM in the medical system and thus delayed the acceptance of TCM by orthodox...