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The Last Word
APRIL 1986, VOL. 43, NO 4
AORN JOURNAL
The Last Word
0 In case you are one of those who believes the Hippocratic oath is outdated and has no relevancy, a new version was published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The author calls it the “corporate version.” He starts out by swearing by all health maintenance organizations, preferred-provider organizations, and all the prepayment systems and joint ventures (making them his witnesses) that he will fulfill his oath and covenant. Among his promises are to hold the one who taught him the business as equal to his corporation president, to live his life in partnership with him, to give him capital, and to regard his offspring as equal to his colleagues and teach them the business for a fee and under contract. He vows to give a share of his practicemanagement techniques and computer systems to his children, to the children of the one who taught him, and to students who have signed the contract and taken an oath according to Medicare law, but to no one else. He promises to report to government commissions or administrators, or use in his book, those things that he may see or hear in the course of treatment that he should never divulge to anyone. He swears that into whatever clinics he may enter, that he will enter for the benefit of the insured, keeping himself far from all except capitated care for the underprivileged, especially if they are not covered by the group contract. If he fulfills his oath and does not violate it, he hopes that he may be granted to enjoy life and business, and be able to retire at the age of 50 in the Sunbelt, and if he transgresses it and
swears falsely, that he will remain in Milwaukee. There is slot machine elbow, and Gambler’s Anonymous, and now something good has come from pulling that old metal arm. According to a recent issue of Nursing, Allied Services for the Handicapped, Scranton, Pa, installed four slot machines to help their cerebrovascular accident and spinal cord injury patients. The machines were adapted with two arms so they could be pulled with either hand and a pedal so they could be used by foot. Staff members noticed that patients using the machines seemed to show more improvementthan those using traditional forms of occupational therapy. The facility’s director of education, who was working on his doctoral degree, wrote his dissertation on the differences between those who used traditional occupational therapy alone and those who also used the slot machines. He found that patients using the slot machines improved significantly over the control patients in each of five variables-depression, range of motion, fine motor coordination, gross motor coordination, and muscle strength. The slot machine had its greatest effect on fine motor coordination, possibly from picking up the slugs and putting them in the small holes. It was pointed out that because some of the exercises used in occupational therapy are boring, and because therapists have expressed the need for purposeful, innovative, entertaining devices, that a slot machine that instills a feeling of play seems to “fit the bill” (or is it coin). What a jackpot.
AORN JOURNAL
The Last Word
0 In case you are one of those who believes the Hippocratic oath is outdated and has no relevancy, a new version was published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The author calls it the “corporate version.” He starts out by swearing by all health maintenance organizations, preferred-provider organizations, and all the prepayment systems and joint ventures (making them his witnesses) that he will fulfill his oath and covenant. Among his promises are to hold the one who taught him the business as equal to his corporation president, to live his life in partnership with him, to give him capital, and to regard his offspring as equal to his colleagues and teach them the business for a fee and under contract. He vows to give a share of his practicemanagement techniques and computer systems to his children, to the children of the one who taught him, and to students who have signed the contract and taken an oath according to Medicare law, but to no one else. He promises to report to government commissions or administrators, or use in his book, those things that he may see or hear in the course of treatment that he should never divulge to anyone. He swears that into whatever clinics he may enter, that he will enter for the benefit of the insured, keeping himself far from all except capitated care for the underprivileged, especially if they are not covered by the group contract. If he fulfills his oath and does not violate it, he hopes that he may be granted to enjoy life and business, and be able to retire at the age of 50 in the Sunbelt, and if he transgresses it and
swears falsely, that he will remain in Milwaukee. There is slot machine elbow, and Gambler’s Anonymous, and now something good has come from pulling that old metal arm. According to a recent issue of Nursing, Allied Services for the Handicapped, Scranton, Pa, installed four slot machines to help their cerebrovascular accident and spinal cord injury patients. The machines were adapted with two arms so they could be pulled with either hand and a pedal so they could be used by foot. Staff members noticed that patients using the machines seemed to show more improvementthan those using traditional forms of occupational therapy. The facility’s director of education, who was working on his doctoral degree, wrote his dissertation on the differences between those who used traditional occupational therapy alone and those who also used the slot machines. He found that patients using the slot machines improved significantly over the control patients in each of five variables-depression, range of motion, fine motor coordination, gross motor coordination, and muscle strength. The slot machine had its greatest effect on fine motor coordination, possibly from picking up the slugs and putting them in the small holes. It was pointed out that because some of the exercises used in occupational therapy are boring, and because therapists have expressed the need for purposeful, innovative, entertaining devices, that a slot machine that instills a feeling of play seems to “fit the bill” (or is it coin). What a jackpot.