Knowledge and attitudes of private health insurance company employees toward patient confidentiality: a preliminary study in Central Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract: Due to the rapid advances in information and communication technologies, particularly in the last two decades, electronic health records (EHRs) that include patients’ sensitive medical data in a digital format have become common in many countries, including Turkey. Despite EHRs’ great benefits, such as improving the quality of health care, easy accessibility, decreased costs, reduced adverse drug reactions and medical errors, scant attention has been paid to the ethical problems that might arise from the use of EHRs. This preliminary study aims to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of employees of private health insurance companies in Central Anatolia, Turkey, toward patient confidentiality. It also seeks to discuss the potential risk of health insurance companies’ breaches of confidentiality. Therefore a survey was conducted among 40 employees of the randomly sampled private health insurance companies that serve the cities of Ankara, Kayseri, and Konya. As a result, although 91.2% of the participants confirmed that they have never reached/shared their customer’s EHRs, 70.6% stated that EHRs should be accessible to health insurance companies. There is a statistically significant relationship between participants’ years of professional experience and their opinions on whether or not EHRs should be accessible to health insurance companies (p < 0.05). Among participants, 20.6% also stated that health insurance companies can by any means reach their clients’ private medical data via EHRs without the clients’ consent. In conclusion, there appears a potential risk of health insurance companies’ breaches of patient confidentiality, and new legal developments should be implemented immediately by the Turkish health authorities.

Key Words: Medical ethics; patient confidentiality; private health insurance; electronic health records; Turkey (Central Anatolia Region)

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Özel Sigorta İşletmesi Çalışanlarının, Hasta Mahremiyeti Konusundaki Bilgi Düzeyi ve Yaklaşımları: İç Anadolu Bölgesi’nde Bir Ön Araştırma - Özet: Bilgi ve iletişim teknolojilerinde özellikle son 20 yılda görülen hızlı ilerleme sayesinde hastalara ait özel tıbbi bilgiler Türkiye’nin de aralarında bulunduğu birçok ülkede elektronik ortama aktarılmaktadır. Elektronik sağlık kayıtları (ESK), hastaların yaşam kalitesini iyileştirme, kolay erişilebilirlik, giderleri düşürme, beklenmeyen etki veya tıbbi hataları azaltma, vb. konularda birçok yarar sağlamakla birlikte konuya ilişkin doğabilecek etik sorunlar üzerinde gereğince durulmamıştır. Zira bilgi teknolojileri hasta mahremiyetini ihlal etme potansiyeli taşımakta olup ESK üzerinden elde edilebilecek kişisel sağlık verilerinin hastaların rızası dışında paylaşımı veya kullanımı hasta özerkliğini tehlikeye atabilmektedir. Bu ön araştırma ile İç Anadolu Bölgesi’nde hizmet vermekte olan özel sigorta işletmelerinde çalışan kişilerin, hasta mahremiyeti konusundaki bilgi düzeyi ve yaklaşımlarının belirlenmesi ve özel sigorta işletmelerinin hasta mahremiyeti ihlali konusunda sahip olduğu potansiyel riskin tartışılması amaçlanmıştır. Bu nedenle İç Anadolu Bölgesi’ndeki üç şehirde (Ankara, Kayseri ve Konya) faaliyet gösteren ve basit rasgele örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilmiş özel sigorta işletmelerinde çalışmakta olan 40 kişiye anket uygulanmıştır. Sonuç olarak, katılımcıların % 91,2’si geçmişte hasta ESK’na erişmediklerini veya bu kayıtları paylaşmadıklarını belirtmiş, ancak % 70,6’sı ESK’nın sağlık sigorta işletmelerinin erişimine açık olması gerektiğine inandıklarını ifade etmiştir. Katılımcıların mesleki tecrübe süresi ile ESK’nın sigorta şirketlerinin erişimine açık olması gerektiği düşüncesine sahip olma durumları arasında istatistiksel açıdan anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmuştur (p < 0,05). Katılımcıların % 20,6’sı özel sağlık sigorta işletmelerinin, ESK’na (hastanın rızası olmaksızın) bir şekilde ulaşabileceklerini düşündüklerini ifade etmiştir. Sonuç olarak özel sigorta işletmelerinin hasta mahremiyeti ihlali konusunda potansiyel bir risk taşıdığı anlaşılmakta olup konuya ilişkin yeni yasal düzenlemelerin en kısa sürede uygulamaya konması gerekmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Tıbbi etik; hasta mahremiyeti; özel sağlık sigortası; elektronik sağlık kayıtları; Türkiye (İç Anadolu Bölgesi)

Cite: Tekiner, Halil., Ulu, Ahmet. “Knowledge and attitudes of private health insurance company employees toward patient confidentiality: a preliminary study in Central Anatolia, Turkey,” Turkiye Klinikleri J Med Ethics, 1(2), (2015): 1-7.

Link: http://www.turkiyeklinikleri.com/article/en-knowledge-and-attitudes-of-private-health-insurance-company-employees-toward-patient-con64257dentiality-a-preliminary-study-in-central-anatolia-turkey-73975.html

Türkiye'deki eczacılık tarihi müzeleri

Özet: Türkiye’nin ilk eczacılık tarihi müzesi Prof. Dr. Turhan Baytop (1920-2002) tarafından İstanbul Üniversitesi Eczacılık Fakültesi’nde 1960 yılında kurulmuştur. Baytop’un kişisel koleksiyonuyla kurulmuş olan bu müze zamanla gelişmiş ve bazı ünlü eczanelerin ve Topkapı Sarayı Enderun Eczanesi’nin malzemesi ile bugünkü zengin durumuna ulaşmıştır. 2013 yılı sonu itibariyle Türkiye’deki eczacılık tarihi müzelerinin toplam sayısı 15 olup bu müzeler makalede şu beş kategori altında incelenmiştir: Üniversite bünyesinde açılan müzeler, ilâç firmaları tarafından açılan müzeler, Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı müzeleri, vakıf müzeleri ve şahıs müzeleri.

Anahtar Sözcükler: Eczacılık tarihi, koleksiyon, müze, müzecilik

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Museums of the History of Pharmacy in Turkey - Abstract: The first museum of the history of pharmacy in Turkey was founded in 1960 by Prof. Dr. Turhan Baytop (1920-2002) at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Istanbul University. Baytop’s private collection constituted the core of this museum which, in the course of time, was enriched with different items taken from old drugstores as well as the Enderun Pharmacy of the Topkapı Palace (Istanbul). This initiative was followed up by the foundation of similar museums in other faculties of pharmacy, pharmaceutical companies and individuals, amounting to 15 by the end of 2013. The present paper aims to introduce these museums under the following categories: History of pharmacy museums located at universities, those opened by drug companies, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, foundations, and the private history of pharmacy museums.

Key words: Collection, history of pharmacy, museology, museum

Cite: Mat, Afife., Tekiner, Halil. "Türkiye'deki eczacılık tarihi müzeleri," Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları, 15(2), (2014): 1-20.

Link: http://www.journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iuoba/article/view/5000080003

The forgotten hair transplantation experiment (1897) of Dr. Menahem Hodara (1869-1926)

Abstract: Menahem Hodara (1869−1926), an Ottoman dermatologist with international fame, made a number of remarkable scientific achievements in his 36 years of professional life. Hodara also conducted a hair transplantation experiment in 1897 by implanting hairs taken from patients with the scars left by favus. He first presented his findings at a session of the Imperial Society of Medicine in Istanbul, held on March 26, 1897, and shared his further results at two other sessions on October 22, 1897 and March 25, 1898. Later, this communication, which was literally entitled “On the Growth of Hair in Favus Scars after Scarification and Implanting of Portions of the Hair,” was also published in German and French. Soon after its publication, Hodara’s experiment received massive attention from international press media but a very little attention in the dermatology literature, and finally fell into oblivion after Hodara’s death. Considering the long-neglected gap in medical history, this paper aims to present Hodara’s experiment and its early reception in the field of dermatology.

Key words: Alopecia, dermatology, hair, history of medicine, Turkey

Cite: Tekiner H, Karamanou M. The forgotten hair transplantation experiment (1897) of Dr. Menahem Hodara (1869−1926). Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 2016;82:352-5, DOI: 10.4103/0378-6323.179089, PMID: 27088955.

Link: http://ijdvl.com/article.asp?issn=0378-6323;year=2016;volume=82;issue=3;spage=352;epage=355;aulast=Tekiner

Can pharmaceutical history courses contribute in building future pharmacy leaders? A preliminary study from Erciyes University, Turkey

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pharmacy students' opinions on the importance of leadership and their levels of interest in pharmaceutical history. We administered a structured questionnaire to 160 undergraduate students (response rate of 86.3%) who have taken pharmaceutical history courses at the Erciyes University Faculty of Pharmacy in the past three years. We observed that 42.8% of the participants valued leadership as a very important skill that a pharmacist should possess through his/her professional career, of which 54.2% were very interested in pharmaceutical history. There is a statistically significant relationship between participants' opinions on the importance of leadership and their levels of interest in pharmaceutical history. Our findings suggest that the participants valuing leadership as a very important skill are more interested in pharmaceutical history than those valuing leadership as an unimportant skill. This result indicates that pharmaceutical history courses can serve as an effective tool for developing pharmacy students' awareness and attitudes toward professional leadership.

Keywords: history of pharmacy, pharmaceutical history, Turkey, pharmacy education, leadership

Cite: Elmali, Ferhan., Staiger, Christiane., Tekiner, Halil. "Can pharmaceutical history courses contribute in building future pharmacy leaders? A preliminary study from Erciyes University, Turkey," Die Pharmazie 2015;70(11):753-754.

Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295938832_Can_pharmaceutical_history_courses_contribute_in_building_future_pharmacy_leaders_A_preliminary_study_from_Erciyes_University_Turkey

One hundred years of the history of pharmacy studies in Turkey

Abstract: As an inheritor of the rich medico-pharmaceutical heritage in Asia Minor, Turkey constituted a critical junction of exchange and dissemination of pharmacy knowledge between East and West throughout history. This greatly contributed to the rapid development of pharmacy as an established profession. The 20^th century saw scholarly examination of the field’s history: the first book on the history of pharmacy appeared in Turkish (1911); a history of pharmacy course was offered for the first time in the pharmacy curriculum (1945); the first history of pharmacy museum was founded (1960); and national conferences on the history of pharmacy were launched (1990). In addition to providing information on the milestones of the history of pharmacy studies in Turkey in the last hundred years, this study aims to statistically evaluate the change in the number of history of pharmacy-related publications per decade as well as discuss the current situation of history of pharmacy education at Turkish universities. The history of pharmacy has become a stronger and more independent academic discipline in Turkey, particularly in the last two decades. As of 2014, history of pharmacy undergraduate courses are taught at all faculties of pharmacy in Turkey, except the Yuzuncu Yil University (Van), mainly between first and fourth semesters.

Keywords: history of pharmacy, pharmacy, Turkey

Cite: Tekiner, Halil. "One hundred years of the history of pharmacy studies in Turkey," Die Pharmazie 2015;70(2):139-144, DOI: 10.1691/ph.2015.4096, PMID: 25997256.

Link: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/govi/pharmaz/2015/00000070/00000002/art00013?crawler=true

Turhan Baytop (1920-2002): A pioneer historian of pharmacy from Turkey

Abstract: Turhan Baytop, a Turkish professor of pharmacognosy (the scientific study of crude drugs of animal, vegetable, and mineral origin), received international acclaim not only for his contributions in collecting and identifying the Anatolian plants, but also for his extensive research shedding light on the history of Turkish pharmacy. As a devoted researcher, collector, and lecturer, T Baytop was a genuine pioneer of the history of pharmacy as a discipline in Turkey.

Keywords: Turhan Baytop, historian of pharmacy, history of pharmacy, Turkey

Cite: Tekiner, Halil. "Turhan Baytop (1920-2002): A pioneer historian of pharmacy from Turkey," Journal of Medical Biography 2016: in press, DOI: 10.1177/0967772015608055, PMID: 26512066.

Link: http://jmb.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/10/27/0967772015608055.long 

The opium poppy as a symbol of sleep in Bertel Thorvaldsen’s relief of 1815

Abstract: Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770‒1844) is one of the most remarkable representatives of Neoclassicist sculptural art in Europe, which was largely inspired by the classical art and culture of Greek and Roman antiquity. A pair of marble reliefs, Night and Day, exhibited in the Thorvaldsen Museum (Copenhagen), marks the culmination of Thorvaldsen’s relief art and is of particular interest for the history of sleep medicine. In the first relief, Night, an angel with her neck bent and eyes closed has two babies in her embrace and seems to be floating down in grief, with an owl hovering behind her. Her hair is also twined with opium poppies, the symbol of sleep and death in antiquity. Our findings suggest that this relief not only indicates a mythological association between the opium poppy and sleep but also has a strong connotation with the poppy’s medicinal use for inducing sleep throughout the centuries.

Keywords: Ancient medicine, medicine in art, opium poppy, sleep medicine

Cite: Tekiner, Halil., Kosar, Muberra. "The opium poppy as a symbol of sleep in Bertel Thorvaldsen’s relief of 1815," Sleep Medicine 2016;19:123-125, DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2015.04.024, PMID: 26210393. 

Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945715008096