Aniyan Emphasizes Compassion for Patients
Dr. William G. Aniyan, vice
president for health affairs, is urging
his colleagues to place "far greater
emphasis on humane,
compassionate and dignified
interactions with fellow human
beings who have placed their lives in
the hands of the physician."
Writing in last week's issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine,
Aniyan warned that "high
technology, exposure to multiple
specialists and third-party payments
are some elements that tend to
fragment the historic
patient-physician relationship and
render it impersonal."
"Each patient," he said, "should
be able to identify one physician
who by education and training is
willing to become his advocate as
well as the (medical) team leader."
Anlyan's statements are part of a
guest editorial in the journal listing
21 personal recommendations that
he believes could help to improve
medical education before the year
2000.
Other Suggestions
Among the other suggestions the
physician made were;
— Each state or region should have
a public-supported preparatory high
school with a strong program in the
sciences for gifted children whose
parents live and work in small
communities lacking such resources
in their high schools. He cited the
North Carolina School of Performing
Arts in Winston-Salem as a
successful model in music, drama
and dance.
— A national study should be
made of “who does what to whom,
where and when in health care" so
that physicians and other health care
professionals can use their time more
effectively for the public good.
—There should be one qualifying
examination for all recipients
(United States and foreign medical
graduates) of the M.D. degree before
entry into residency training in this
country.
— At least 50 per cent of all
residency programs should be
geared to the production of primary
care physicians.
— All doctors should be recertified
every five years through professional
DUUD
Intercom
Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 29
JULY 22,1977
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
organizations or state licensing
boards rather than through
governmental control.
'Sleeping Giant'
— Continuing education
programs, possibly the "sleeping
giant" of medical education, should
offer a variety of opportunities for
practitioners since the best method
of learning varies from individual to
individual.
— Universities and colleges should
share educational resources to
concentrate on quality programs and
to avoid unnecessary duplication. A
student should not be confined to a
single institution throughout his or
her education, but should be allowed
to transfer freely to wherever
educational opportunities are
greatest.
—Certain talented students should
be offered, as early as their second
year in college, admission to medical
school after college so that they
might pursue interests in the
humanities and social sciences
before beginning clinical training.
— More medical sciences faculty
members should be actively
involved in pre-medical advisory
programs for undergraduates and
greater use should be made of
advisers throughout the course of
medical education.
^ vi
Specialist Explains Misconceptions
Poor Light Won't Hurt Eyes
Liht IN /\ LiOLUhlSH BOWL—Kae Enright, a physkian's asso iate, is spending some
time unufrwaiL-r as a volunteer in experiments at Duke's F.C. Hall Laboratory tor
Environmental Research (hyperbaric chamber). Bud Shelton, another physician's
associate who is conducting the research, said the work is designed to establish a
more accurate method for measuring hovi' c ompression and decompression in deep
sea diving affect the body's absorption and elimination of gases. The ultimate goal,
he added, is to produce safer tables that tell divers how quickly they can return to the
surface without getting the "bends" after working beneath the sea. Enright called the
experiments "fun, once you get over the initial shock of them closing the lid over the
top." (Photo by/im Wallace)
By David Williamson
Read in poor light and just about
anyone will tell you that you'll ruin
your eyes doing it.
There's something funny about
those words of warning, though —
they are simply not true.
"Reading in dim light may be
fatiguing just like it's fatiguing to
walk two miles," said Dr. Joseph A.
C. Wadsworth, chairman of the
op h thalmology department at Duke.
"But you're not hurting your legs
by walking, and you won't damage
your eyes by using them, even if you
don't have enough light," he said.
Misconceptions by the Dozen
The belief that inadequate lighting
is harmful is just one of dozens of
misconceptions about eyes and eye
care that the specialist has heard
again and again since he earned his
M.D. 38 years ago.
In an interview in his Eye Center
office, Wadsworth discussed some of
these wives' tales about vision. Most
are harmless, he said, but there are a
few that are dangerous and need to
be corrected.
The physician began by saying
that carrots, widely believed to be
good for the eyes, "have absolutely
nothing to do with improving
vision. A deficiency in vitamin A can
retard night vision," he said, "but
vitamin A is plentiful in butter, egg
yolk, cheese, liver, fish oils, tomatoes
and many other vegetables.
"No one eating close to a normal
diet needs to worry about it."
Tiring, Not Harmful
The specialist was then asked
whether wearing someone else's
glasses that are too strong or too
weak can damage eyes.
"No," he said. "It may be
uncomfortable because everything is
blurred, and you have to call on more
muscles to focus, but there's no harm
in it."
Wadsworth said that a person can
neither read too much nor hold a
book too closely, although such
practices also can be tiring to eye
muscles after extended periods.
A child who shows a tendency to
be cross-eyed, however, should be
taken to an ophthalmologist as soon
as possible so that the problem can
be corrected, he cautioned. The
notion that the child will outgrow
the condition in time is false, and to
wait until he is six or seven years old
can result in permanently weakened
vision in one eye.
Drops Put the Red In
Is regular rinsing of the eyes
important?
"It's completely unnecessary
unless you get something in your
eye," Wadsworth said. Most
commercial eye drops will make
pollen or pollution-irritated eyes feel
fresher and lcx)k whiter, but they
have a disadvantage most people
don't know about, he added.
"The drops work by shrinking the
size of swollen blood vessels in the
white of the eye," he explained. "But
after the drops wear off, the eyes may
be redder than they were originally.
If the drops are used frequently,
chronic redness can result ^cause
the tiny vessels lose their ability to
contract normally."
Consumers should consult their
pharmacists to purchase drops
without " vasoconstricting"
chemicals, the physician
recommends, or better yet, use a
teaspoon of boric acid in a pint of
water.
The boric acid and water solution
is healthier and costs only about five
cents a pint instead of $1.29 for just
over half an ounce of other eye wash.
"Of course, boric acid doesn't
come in as pretty containers," he
said.
(Continued on page 2)