CONTENT

SHORT STORY

The Day of Butterflies

STUDIES

In the mirror of our losses: disposition disorders and sexual disorders in oncology patients

Working at an oncology ward we do more and more endeavor today to promote the patient’s fitting back to work and society. In the same time we barely deal with family relationships that can be altered by the disease and with emerging sexual problems. Nevertheless we see every day: uncertainty, fear and anxiety leave their marks on the patient’s way of thinking and on his/her social life as well. When the disease affects genital organs this takes an effect directly on sexuality. It is very difficult for our patients to talk about it since cancer and intimacy are taboos even separately. These two topics together form a double obstacle which the patient can not overtake without outer assistance. The authors provide with a syllabus on disposition disorders and sexual function disorders that accompany cancer diseases affecting the genital organs and about their frequency. In order to reduce the ratio of sexually totally inactive population the professional staff has to make the first step towards opened discussion of sexual problems among cancer patients. The article wishes to provide with help in this as well by introducing the elements of effective preventive sexual counseling.

Workers’ general condition’s survey among people working in hospices

The study - based on representative sampling - publishes the results of the survey concerning the general condition of those working in institutes in Hungary that provide active hospice care, and which gives the clear image that characterizes these collectives. It examines the availability of training possibilities, the extent of the need for those, the informal relationship between the worker and the organization, the atmosphere of the workplace, the assuring of workers’ general condition by the workplace and the co-workers. It touches upon the presence and importance of hierarchic relationships, the workers’ sense of responsibility for their work, the level of their self-esteem, and it also examines which reasons can lead to the thought of workplace-shifting. Overall, the results of the survey show a positive image concerning high ethical level, love of the job and the workers who are wedded to their job in spite of the health care system’s many difficulties. However it points out some problems (e.g. needs concerning the education system, overburdening, lack of financial esteem, etc.) that should be solved in the near future.

The history of artificial respiration and reanimation methods in Hungary from the age of enlightened despotism until the 1960-ies, the formation of local modern science of ambulance (oxyology)

The study discusses a less known part of medical history which includes emergency health care provision for patients in acute life-danger and the development and periods of rescue-history in Hungary. Since the second half of the 18^th century as reviving on the spot became more and more frequent the practice of airway-provision - according to the era’s technical level - was present. But what is more important: the age recognized the legal and moral obligation of life-saving and some of the age’s notabilities have made an attempt to start public education on health care for ordinary people. In the 19^th century a series of respiration techniques have come to light and reanimation started to become integral part of Hungarian and international medical practice. Beside reanimation protocols, respiration tools which were developed at the end of the century and the beginning of the 20^th century were also important, because the use of these - even if it was of lower efficacy - has added to the perfection of the tools’ practical design. The real revolutionary innovations were done after the 2^nd World War, in the second half of the 1950-ies. Further development didn’t manifest in the further perfection of techniques and equipment park but in the change of paradigm which led to the rise of the practice of modern reanimation in its present form: which is based on the principle of simultaneous provision of circulation and respiration and its consistent use.

DATA DEPOT

Funeral customs in Pécska and its environs

Due to the thorough, all-out collection work we can get acquainted with the funeral rites, burial folk customs, body of beliefs of the Hungarian inhabitants of Magyarpécska, a multi-national village in Arad County in Transylvania. From preparation to death, through vigil until funeral rites we can follow the lives of the village’s inhabitants and we can take a look into the customs of its Romanian habitants as well. The respect of traditions among village dwellers, the moral drives to be wedded with customs - although many times with the loss of the original meaning - preserved the folk customs that are characteristic to the region in a relatively archaic form, but we can also witness that in the distance of about three generations more or less changes and adjustments to the altered way of life can be detected.