What is just or fair in the distribution of healthcare resources? Libertarians, utilitarians and egalitarians have different viewpoints. Utilitarian Utilitarian theories aim to maximises the amount of health gained. This can be measured by metrics such as QALY (or alternatives like DALY), which stands for quality-adjusted life year where one year of perfect health equals one QALY. Of course, it can be hard to define … Continue reading Distributive justice

The four principles of healthcare (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice) were proposed by Beauchamp and Childress to evaluate ethical issues in medicine from different perspectives. It is important to remember that these are complex ethical principles that balance and oppose each other, and not iron-clad rules that must be taken literally at all times (e.g. non-maleficence and surgery). Autonomy The concept that patients should have … Continue reading The four principles

Proprioceptors provide information of the position and movement of muscle and joints. In addition to exteroceptors (cutaneous receptors), proprioceptors mediate proprioception, the sense of position and movement of the body. Nevertheless, proprioceptors are crucial to reflexes. The three major groups of proprioceptors include: muscle spindles, golgi tendon organs and joint receptors. Muscle spindles Muscle spindles sense muscle length with typically 20-100 embedded in each muscle. … Continue reading Proprioceptors

Movements require specific combinations of force in different muscles. This includes finely graded-low force contractions for detailed movements yet high-force when needed. This is achieved by a combination of: different motor unit types and the size principle of motoneuron recruitment Motor unit types Motor units are a group of muscle fibres all innervated by a single motorneuron. Different motor units are more suited to different … Continue reading Muscle force control

Tables, charts and graphs are useful for representing data visually to make them more easily understandable. Tables Example table 1: Score of individuals at an archery game Score Frequency Percentage (%) 1 0 0 2 3 60 3 2 40 Example table 2: Education level of individuals vs their annual salary Education University Apprenticeship High school Salary ($) 10-49k 1 6 5 50-99k 2 6 … Continue reading Representing data