Quality of Life of Children and Adults in Medicine
Billy F. Andrews, M.D. Professor and Chairman Emeritus Department of Pediatrics School of Medicine University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.
I am greatly honored and pleased to be asked to be a participant in this International Workshop on "Quality of Life of the Patients in Medicine and Nursing." My gratitude for this opportunity is equally extended to Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara and the other members of the Board of The Life Planning Center, Sasakawa Kinen Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan. I bring greetings from the Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Kosair Children's Hospital. Slides 1,2,3 are of this children's hospital. I have not performed research in this area, where I found on computer search that over 6,000 articles have been written on this subject since 1993.
When we speak of quality of life, we must consider all aspects, conditions and stages that occur throughout the duration of one's existence, even before birth, through death. The duty of the doctor and nurse is to restore and to maintain the patient's health and well-being. The applied knowledge of medicine and science and the loving care are only a part, however, of the nurture and sustentation necessary for the survival of the human body and spirit. Genuinely excellent quality of life depends on many other elements of self and society as well. In the early 1970's, when the term "quality of life" was beginning to be used, I was privileged to have one of my nation's first grants on "Data Analysis For High Risk Newborns." This study was designed to give outcome information, especially on survival of infants in specific categories of high risk, e.g. prematurity, postmaturity, asphyxia, anemia, infections, hypoglucosemia, hyperbilirubinemia, etc., along with social risks. Almost all of my career to that point had been spent in developing technology and gaining knowledge about such infants. The information gained under the "Data Analysis Grant For High Risk Newborns" did much to prove the value of neonatal intensive care and perinatal care in saving infants' lives, which will be mentioned later.
