Week 8 Questions: The Study of Place

In her guest lecture, Professor Patterson made reference to poet and eco-activist, Gary Snyder, who says that you can “choose to live in a place as a sort of visitor, or try to become an inhabitant.” Comment on the relevance/application of this idea to the practice of medicine and public health.

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The Study of Place

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Week 7 Questions: Nature and Local Traditions

What is your perception – and what would you say is contemporary medicine’s perception – of “complementary and alternative medicine?” This week we learned about Professor Quave’s ethnobotanical approach to drug discovery. Is what she does “complementary and alternative medicine” or is it “scientifically/empirically-based medicine?” What is the difference? What insight does her work lend to conversations about the distinction between “complementary and alternative medicine” and “scientifically/empirically-based medicine?”

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Nature and Local Traditions

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Week 6 Questions: Impact of Culture and Gender

Answer one of these two questions:

1.       Does/should happiness require the resolution of conflict? What are the implications of your answer to this question for the practice of medicine and public health? Be sure to make reference to this past week’s assigned readings and Professor Scully’s lecture material.

2.       How does shame factor into the practice of medicine and public health? Be sure to make reference to this past week’s assigned readings and Professor Scully’s lecture material. (As an aside, those of you looking into the concept of shame here might be interested in this short piece from CBC Radio:http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/shame-the-secret-tool-of-marketing-1.2801801).

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The Impact of Culture and Gender

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Week 5 Questions: Engaging Ethics

Professor Wolpe described the complexity of the clinician-patient encounter, underlining a myriad of important factors/dimensions that play into this dynamic. At the same time, he reported that – typically – it is only really a matter of seconds after a patient sits down with a clinician that he/she is interrupted and the clinician recasts the patient’s narrative. Can this realistically be resolved?

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Engaging Ethics

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Week 4 Questions

Please use this week’s material to address the following prompt:

If disability is an important part of a person’s identity, should we conserve disability rather than try to “fix” or “cure” it? Think of the implications of your answer here.

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Disability

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