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Educare

Educare

MARZO 2004 N° 3 Volumen 2

The new generation of nurses and how they impact upon today´s society and culture

Section: TEACHING TO LEARN

Authors

Mª Paz Mompart García

Position

Profesora titular de Administración de Servicios de Enfermería de la Escuela Universitaria de Toledo, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.

Contact address

EUE de Toledo. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Campus Universitario Tecnológico. Fábrica de Armas. Avda. Carlos III, s/n. 45071 Toledo.

Contact email: paz.mompart@uclm.es

Abstract

Health is considered by all world cultures as an asset or a life model to which we aspire and, as such, the way it is perceived changes depending on the perspectives of each different culture. Because of this, any given situation may be considered a “state of health” in a given setting or a “state of sickness” in a different setting.
Numerous societal groups, may they be of a scientific or a social nature, organizations or international agencies have attempted to define the concept of “health”, taking it to the limits of utopia and possibly far from the opinions that people who suffer either individually or as a group from being in “sickness or in health” have of it.
Sickness and health are individual phenomena that one lives personally but that have repercussions or manifestations on the entire societal group. In other words, these conditions affect the setting in which the involved individuals thrive.
Within the context of today´s society, with the development of certain social and cultural life styles (globalization, transport, changes in the environment, the prolongation of life expectancy) favors the development of diseases unknown until now or that had been eradicated and have reappeared again.
Some of these new diseases rank high such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), both of infectious epidemiology, and also fibromyalgia, within the group of psychosomatic conditions.
There is no totally effective treatment known to date that can treat these three conditions, mainly because the origin of the disease is not completely understood. These diseases not only affect the physical condition of the sufferer but also their daily living experience with their families and friends, a fact that has to be taken into account by the clinician when dealing with these diseases.

Keywords:

new diseases; emerging diseases; Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Versión en Español

Título:

Las nuevas enfermedades y su impacto social y cultural