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Nursing care of the 1830s−40s required significant financial stewardship, material resources, spiritual fortitude and political support alongside the everyday routines of cleaning, cooking and home visiting. The minutiae of Catholic, Protestant and other Prussian institutional donations, budgets and schedules, government records and occasionally women's own writings reveal how German nursing was not a singular and timeless profession. Rather, the feminisation of nursing emerged out of a myriad of gendered ways elite, bourgeois, religious and working women collectively cared for the poor and the sick even before bacteriology and maternalist women's movements transformed nursing in the late nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this multicenter cross-sectional study was to analyze a cohort of breast (BC) and gynecological cancer (GC) patients regarding their interest in, perception of and demand for integrative therapeutic health approaches. Methods: BC and GC patients were surveyed at their first integrative clinic visit using validated standardized questionnaires. Treatment goals and potential differences between the two groups were evaluated. Results: 340 patients (272 BC, 68 GC) participated in the study. The overall interest in IM was 95.3% and correlated with older age, recent chemotherapy, and higher education. A total of 89.4% were using integrative methods at the time of enrolment, primarily exercise therapy (57.5%), and vitamin supplementation (51.4%). The major short-term goal of the BC patients was a side-effects reduction of conventional therapy (70.4%); the major long-term goal was the delay of a potential tumor progression (69.3%). In the GC group, major short-term and long-term goals were slowing tumor progression (73.1% and 79.1%) and prolonging survival (70.1% and 80.6%). GC patients were significantly more impaired by the side-effects of conventional treatment than BC patients [pain (p = 0.006), obstipation (< 0.005)]. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate a high overall interest in and use of IM in BC and GC patients. This supports the need for specialized IM counseling and the implementation of integrative treatments into conventional oncological treatment regimes in both patient groups. Primary tumor site, cancer diagnosis, treatment phase, and side effects had a relevant impact on the demand for IM in our study population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women's participation in medicine and the need for gender equality in healthcare are increasingly recognised, yet little attention is paid to leadership and management positions in large publicly funded academic health centres. This study illustrates such a need, taking the case of four large European centres: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), Medizinische Universität Wien (Austria), and Oxford Academic Health Science Centre (United Kingdom).Case: The percentage of female medical students and doctors in all four countries is now well within the 40-60% gender balance zone. Women are less well represented among specialists and remain significantly under-represented among senior doctors and full professors. All four centres have made progress in closing the gender leadership gap on boards and other top-level decision-making bodies, but a gender leadership gap remains relevant. The level of achieved gender balance varies significantly between the centres and largely mirrors country-specific welfare state models, with more equal gender relations in Sweden than in the other countries. Notably, there are also similar trends across countries and centres: gender inequality is stronger within academic enterprises than within hospital enterprises and stronger in middle management than at the top level. These novel findings reveal fissures in the 'glass ceiling' effects at top-level management, while the barriers for women shift to middle-level management and remain strong in academic positions. The uneven shifts in the leadership gap are highly relevant and have policy implications.Conclusion: Setting gender balance objectives exclusively for top-level decision-making bodies may not effectively promote a wider goal of gender equality. Academic health centres should pay greater attention to gender equality as an issue of organisational performance and good leadership at all levels of management, with particular attention to academic enterprises and newly created management structures. Developing comprehensive gender-sensitive health workforce monitoring systems and comparing progress across academic health centres in Europe could help to identify the gender leadership gap and utilise health human resources more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estate inventories taken after the death of sixteenth- and seventeenth- century German noblewomen occasionally contain itemizations of court apothecaries. These accounts not only portray the pharmacy as squarely under the guidance of the women in question, they also give us a sense of what specific materia medica noblewomen used in their practice. At the same time, this essay argues, inventories are inherently flawed historical documents, because they portray first and foremost what state bureaucrats found most valuable. Inventories of noblewomen's apothecaries thus tend to skew towards foreign and exotic drugs, beautiful containers, and unusual objects - a stark contrast to the more quotidian ingredients that take centre stage in most medicinal recipes. These material remnants of court apothecaries, moreover, tell only part of the story of noblewomen's medicine. In interactions during their lifetimes, noblewomen's children and heirs seemed far more interested in their medical knowledge than in their medical possessions. Some explicitly referred to family books of medicinal recipes as a treasure, or Schatz. Through an examination of these two different kinds of valuable legacies - material and immaterial - we can start to develop a broader picture of the perceived worth of noblewomen's healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: There is only one cancer to our knowledge named in honor of its female describer, the Dąbska tumor. Maria Dąbska was a brave hero of the Warsaw Resurrection of 1944 who survived deportation to Germany to graduate from medical school in Gdańsk and pursue a career in pathology, for which her research on the Dąbska tumor, breast cancer, sweat gland tumors, keratoacanthoma, soft tissue sarcomas, bone pathology, parachordoma, melanoma, and other entities remains salient. Working behind the Iron Curtain, she nevertheless achieved international recognition, yet few today are cognizant of her and her accomplishments. This vibrant distinguished professor is celebrating her 90th birthday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proportion of female dentists in Germany has considerably increased during the last two decades. Given this development many health experts now speak of a "feminization" of dentistry. However it is unclear whether this term relates mainly to quantitative changes or to meaningful issues such as the influence of women within this medical sector, and filling positions of professional and political relevance. This article focuses on this question. Based on recent surveys, an analysis of existing literature, and an interpretation of available statistics, we draw five conclusions: (1) The proportion of female graduates has steadily increased during the period under study. (2) Female dentists are less likely to establish their own practice than their male colleagues. (3) The limited access of female dentists to lucrative subfields continues despite the increasing proportion of women. (4) The number of women in executive positions remains limited. (5) A minor influence of female dentists on professional politics is verifiable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on their review of abstracts submitted to the German Cardiac Society, Boehm et al. (2014) report better success of female vs male cardiologists publishing in journals with an impact factor ⩾5. However, only 25% of conference abstracts were submitted by women, perhaps suggesting a paucity of women in academic cardiology. In this 'letter to the editor' we review gender statistics in the medical field using Germany and the US as examples. While women are well represented in early career stages, only fewfull professors are women. This reflects a wasted opportunity to benefit from the best of both genders. Recent gender research has shown that subtle gender bias may play a role. To change the gender statistics in academic medicine a multifaceted approach is necessary. This will ultimately lead to a more equal representation of women in senior roles, and bring science, medical care, and leadership to a new level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an article by Dr. August Vogl that appeared in a 1957 issue of "Ärztliche Mitteiliungen" in which he advocated for the introduction of women to the emergency services field. His goals centered around the need to be better prepared for possible catastrophes as well as to decrease the shortage of nurses in Germany. Compensation, accommodations and expectations for women in emergency services are discussed.