Although mental health promotion is consistent with the philosophy of family medicine, it is largely unclear what behaviors or interventions comprise mental health promotion in practice. A recent effort in psychology, known as "positive psychology," has endeavored to better understand happiness, meaning in life, character strengths, and how these all can be developed. Because happiness is assoc...

maintaining dignity and respect is among patients’ most fundamental rights. the importance of patient dignity, the status quo, patients’ needs, and a shortage of survey studies in this area were the underlying incentives for conducting this study. this was a cross-sectional descriptive study in which data were collected through patient dignity inventory (pdi). the questionnaire was completed by...

The randomized carotid stent versus carotid surgery trial reported by Brooks et al. (1) in this issue of the Journal is a notable accomplishment in several respects. By reporting results in 104 patients, it becomes the largest randomized carotid artery stent versus carotid endarterectomy trial published to date (to my knowledge). It is also an excellent example of team building with a surgeon, ...

BACKGROUND Several questionnaires have been used to evaluate shoulder disability after neck dissection. The purpose of this study was to review these measures and highlight their strengths and weaknesses. METHODS A literature review was performed to identify measures of shoulder disability after head and neck cancer surgery. These measures were evaluated in terms of their methods of developme...

BACKGROUND The authors provide a suggested framework for completing a comprehensive evaluation of practice processes and routines. Their approach focuses on improving the professional image of dentists and the methods they use to market themselves. CONCLUSIONS A practice can benefit by implementing a program to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the practice and how these strengths an...