_Reasonable Risk_ examines the concept of risk as it applies to everyday life in general and to alcohol consumption specifically. The book addresses how we assess risks, and the strategies we use to manage them. It examines the elements that shape our perceptions of risk-cultural influences, social factors, and how we are presented with information about risk. The final chapter of the book focuses on the role of risk in policy formulation, examining in particular how alcohol policies are developed within (...) the context of individual and societal responsibility. (shrink)

Environmental ethics is the subject in philosophy that examines the moral relationship of human beings to the environment and its non-human species. It concerns human’s ethical relationship with the natural environment. The central question concerning environmental ethics is essentially – what is human being’s moral obligation concerning the natural environment? The paper will firstly provide a review of the ethical relations of humans and the environment, secondly examine how value-based education can assist in inculcating environmental ethics among learners.

Health care organizations are increasingly asked to show accountability about their performance. This paper proposes that accountability can best be achieved through evaluative methods that are based on evidence regarding the relationship between processes of care and expected outcomes. Root cause analysis (RCA) is used as an illustration of how a generic method of inquiring can be transformed into an ongoing monitoring, evaluation, user education and accountability strategy. The role of performance indicators, as well as patient and community expectations, is (...) discussed. (shrink)

I am an M.D/Ph.D. student and work as a research assistant for the director of a division of the school of medicine who is an M.D. He assigned me to research a certain topic and gave me no guidelines or guidance as to how to do it. Nevertheless, I did the research and wrote it up. My supervisor liked the report and said that he thought it was so good that “I would like to offer you the opportunity to publish (...) it and list you as the primary author.” Some bells went off when he so grandly offered to let me author the report for which I had done 100% of research and writing. I consulted some other people in the field and they said that, as long as I was the primary author, it was legitimate for him to list himself as secondary author if he did some editing later. After editing the abstract only, he e-mailed his revisions to me and in a note at the bottom he asked me what I thought of his revised author order. His name was first, mine second, and the name of his girlfriend was third. I was shocked by what seemed to be a case of unethical author attribution and confronted him asking why he changed the order when we had agreed that I was primary author. He said that he had put in several hours of work. (shrink)