
Kali Tal- Ph.D.
- Researcher scientific editor medical writing curriculum designer at University of Bern
Kali Tal
- Ph.D.
- Researcher scientific editor medical writing curriculum designer at University of Bern
Founder of Publisher Pro, a new SaaS application that helps medical researchers and health scientists write Better Paper
About
83
Publications
11,044
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,396
Citations
Introduction
Primarily a theorist and researcher in the humanities and qualitative social sciences, with a few crossover publications, listed here. Working for the last decade as a scientific editor and writer.
Current institution
Publications
Publications (83)
INTRODUCTION
People with psychiatric and substance use disorders are more likely to smoke and less likely to quit than smokers in the general population. We evaluated the efficacy of e-cigarettes for abstinence from tobacco smoking in people with psychiatric and substance use problems.
METHODS
We analyzed data collected in the larger ‘Efficacy, Sa...
INTRODUCTION
Many tobacco smokers try to quit with electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS or e-cigarettes). We aimed to describe e-liquid flavors and nicotine concentration use over 6 months in a prospective cohort of smokers willing to quit with ENDS.
METHODS
We included 622 participants from the intervention group of the Efficacy, Safety and...
(Abstracted from N Engl J Med 2024;390:601–610
In a recent systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), e-cigarettes were found to be more effective for tobacco smoking cessation than nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Yet, limited evidence exists on the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes over standard-of-care cessation counseling an...
Develop interventions to increase the confidence PCPs in current evidence-based treatment.-Provide guidance on creating a safe environment for PCPs in QCs to hone their communication skills and understand SDM..-Determine if this interventions effectively reduce antibiotic prescriptions
Introduction
In Switzerland, primary care physicians (PCP) often disregard guideline recommendations and prescribe antibiotics to treat self-limiting infections,1–3 but when PCPs who participated in quality circles (QC) were informed by the latest evidence and taught to use shared decision-making (SDM), antibiotic prescription rates fell.4–6 We thu...
Background
Diagnostic ultrasound has become a bedside tool widely available to many primary care physicians (PCPs) in Europe. It is often used as point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) in this setting. In Switzerland, certain POCUS examinations are listed as learning objectives in existing ultrasound training programs (we defined these examinations...
Background:
Electronic nicotine-delivery systems - also called e-cigarettes - are used by some tobacco smokers to assist with quitting. Evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of these systems is needed.
Methods:
In this open-label, controlled trial, we randomly assigned adults who were smoking at least five tobacco cigarettes per day and who...
Developing shared decision-making tools for primary care physicians in Switzerland: choosing antibiotic prescriptions recommended by guidelines
Information leaflet and decision aid for antibiotic treatment in the case of acute sinusitis / acute rhinosinusitis combined with a clinical encounter support tool
This document, made for physicians, contains a summary of key research data for shared decision-making together with the patient suffering from UTI. In addition, we added a clinical encounter support tool.
This document, made for physicians, summarizes key research data that can be used to share decision-making with the patient suffering from acute bronchitis
This document, made for physicians, contains a summary of key research data for shared decision-making together with the patient.
This document, made for physicians, contains a summary of key research data for shared decision-making together with the patient suffering from sore throat.
Background: Cannabis use may impair cognitive function (CF) differently in men and women, due to sex-specific differences in neurobiological mechanisms and environmental risk factors. Objective: Assess sex differences in the association between cumulative exposure to cannabis and cognitive performance in middle age. Methods: We studied participants...
Purpose Medical schools increasingly rely on near-peer tutors for ultrasound teaching. We set out to compare the efficacy of a blended near-peer ultrasound teaching program to that of a faculty course in a randomized controlled trial.
Methods 152 medical students received 21 hours of ultrasound teaching either by near-peer teachers or medical docto...
Aims of the study:
Canton Vaud, Switzerland, implemented an organised colorectal cancer screening programme with colonoscopy and faecal occult blood tests in 2015, 4 to 6 years ahead of neighbouring cantons. Before its implementation, nearly half of Swiss citizens were already up to date with screening, primarily from opportunistic colonoscopies....
Introduction
Most people who smoke cigarettes begin in their teens and teens may also be attracted to new tobacco, nicotine, and cannabis products. We describe use prevalence among upper-secondary school students in Switzerland, including daily use, of tobacco, nicotine, and cannabis products.
Methods
We invited secondary school students (age 15 t...
Swiss health insurance reimburses screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) with either colonoscopy or fecal occult blood test (FOBT). Studies have documented the association between a physician's personal preventive health practices and the practices they recommend to their patients. We explored the association between CRC testing status of primary ca...
Introduction:
Tobacco cigarette taxes aim at reducing smoking, but smokers are still dependent on nicotine and need safe and cheap alternatives. As the costs play a role in the product chosen, we compared standardized nicotine costs across products and countries.
Methods:
We gathered prices of tobacco cigarettes, heated tobacco products (HTP), p...
Trial design:
In the Special Program University Medicine-Acute Coronary Syndromes (SPUM-ACS) observational study (clinical trial registration: NCT01000701), a multicentre before-after clinical trial, we assessed 5-year outcome after acute coronary syndrome, comparing a systematic with an opportunistic smoking cessation counselling phase.
Methods:...
Prescribing fewer antibiotics should lower the antibiotic resistance rate • Though self-limiting, acute otitis media, uncomplicated urinary tract infection and tonsillopharyngitis account for 25% of antibiotic prescription in ambulatory care • Quality Circles and shared decision-making (SDM) help PCP reduce antibiotic prescriptions • We should deve...
The first canton in Switzerland to implement an organized colorectal cancer screening program (OSP) was Uri. Starting in 2013, it offered 50-69-year-olds free testing with colonoscopy every 10 years or fecal occult blood test (FOBT) every 2 years. We tested the association between the OSP and testing rates over time.
We analyzed claims data of 50-6...
Recent recommendations for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening suggest fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or colonoscopy. Since 2013, mandatory health insurance in Switzerland reimburse CRC screening. We set out to determine if CRC testing rate and type of CRC screening changed in Switzerland from 2007 to 2017 and between the three main language regions....
Guidelines recommend brief smoking cessation interventions for hospitalized smokers reporting low motivation-to-quit. However, an intensive smoking cessation intervention may improve smoking cessation for these smokers. We conducted a secondary analysis of a pre-post interventional study that tested the efficacy of a proactive approach systematical...
Objectives: Guidelines recommend colorectal cancer (CRC) screening by fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or colonoscopy. In 2013, Switzerland introduced reimbursement of CRC screening by mandatory health insurance for 50-69-years-olds, after they met their deductible. We hypothesized that the 2013 reimbursement policy increased testing rate.
Methods: I...
Vaporizers (e-cigarettes) are the most common smoking cessation aids in Switzerland, but we do not know what information customers receive in vape shops. We surveyed vape-shop managers to find out what recommendations they make to their customers. An interdisciplinary group developed the questionnaire. Respondents self-reported their smoking histor...
Introduction
HIV incidence varies widely between sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This variation coincides with a substantial sociobehavioural heterogeneity, which complicates the design of effective interventions. In this study, we investigated how sociobehavioural heterogeneity in sub-Saharan Africa could account for the variance of HIV incid...
Background
Long-term cardiovascular health effects of marijuana are understudied. Future cardiovascular disease is often indicated by subclinical atherosclerosis, for which carotid intima-media thickness is an established parameter.
Methods
Data from the CARDIA Study, a cohort of 5,115 Black and white women and men at Year 20 visit. We studied the...
Guidelines recommend cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT‐I) as first‐line treatment for chronic insomnia, but it is not clear how many primary care physicians (PCPs) in Switzerland prescribe this treatment. We created a survey that asked PCPs how they would treat chronic insomnia and how much they knew about CBT‐I. The survey included t...
Aims
To evaluate the prevalence of electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities in marijuana users as an indirect measure of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Design
Longitudinal and cross‐sectional secondary data analysis from the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study.
Setting
4 communities in the United States.
Parti...
We investigated the prevalence and treatment of patients with chronic insomnia presenting to Swiss primary care physicians (PCPs) part of “Sentinella”, a nationwide practice‐based research network. Each PCP consecutively asked 40 patients if they had sleep complaints, documented frequency, duration, comorbidities, and reported ongoing treatment. We...
Both colonoscopy and fecal occult blood test (FOBT) are commonly used for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, but colonoscopy costs much more than FOBT. Swiss insurance offers high or low deductibles and choice of basic or private insurance. We hypothesized that high deductibles and basic insurance discourage colonoscopy, but do not change FOBT rate...
BACKGROUND
Demographic and socio-behavioural factors are strong drivers of HIV infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa. These factors are often studied in qualitative research but ignored in quantitative analyses. However, they provide an in-depth insight into the local behaviour, and may help to improve HIV prevention.
OBJECTIVE
Obtain an overview...
Background:
Demographic and sociobehavioral factors are strong drivers of HIV infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa. These factors are often studied in qualitative research but ignored in quantitative analyses. However, they provide in-depth insight into the local behavior and may help to improve HIV prevention.
Objective:
To obtain a comprehens...
Background
Demographic and socio-behavioural factors are strong drivers of HIV infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa. These factors are often studied in qualitative research but ignored in quantitative analyses. However, they provide an in-depth insight into the local behaviour, and may help to improve HIV prevention.
Methods
To obtain a comprehens...
Background
Guidelines recommend primary care physicians (PCPs) offer patients a choice between colonoscopy and faecal immunochemical test (FIT) for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Patients choose almost evenly between both tests but in Switzerland, most are tested with colonoscopy while screening rates are low. A quality circle (QC) of PCPs is a...
Malawi’s Option B+ program is based on a ‘test and treat’ strategy that places all HIV-positive pregnant and lactating women on lifelong antiretroviral therapy. The steep increase in patient load placed severe pressure on a health system that has struggled for decades with inadequate supply of health care workers (HCWs) and poor infrastructure. We...
Aims of the study:
Physician shortage is problematic, but the percentage of physicians who left patient care in Switzerland is unclear. We set out to describe this percentage and determine whether gender or language region was associated with leaving patient care.
Methods:
We analysed the National Registry (Medreg) of all physicians who graduate...
Objectives
To determine the proportion of 50–75-year-old patients who visit a primary care physician’s (PCP) office and were tested for colorectal cancer (CRC) by either colonoscopy within 10 years or fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) within 2 years. To describe the variation in care between PCPs and factors associated with these proportions.
Meth...
Background: HIV incidence varies widely between sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This variation coincides with a substantial sociobehavioural heterogeneity, which complicates the design of effective interventions.
Methods: We used unsupervised machine learning to analyse data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 29 SSA countries completed...
Primary care providers can use behavioral lifestyle interventions to effectively treat children with overweight and obesity, but implementing these interventions is challenging. Most childhood obesity intervention evaluation studies focus on effectiveness. Few studies describe implementation. Our goal was to evaluate critical components of a childh...
Quality circles or similar structured small groups of health professionals are learning environments, sites of continuous professional development, and interventions for quality improvement.
Quality circles or peer review groups, and similar structured small groups of 6–12 health care professionals meet regularly across Europe to reflect on and improve their standard practice. There is debate over their effectiveness in primary health care, especially over their potential to change practitioners’ behaviour. Despite their popularity, we...
Papers examining quality circles.
(DOCX)
Objective:
To compare birth weight and weight gain in HIV-exposed, uninfected infants up to 24 months old, who enrolled in the Malawian national HIV care clinic (HCC) programme either before or after Option B+ (OB+) was implemented.
Design, setting and participants:
HIV-exposed infants enrol in the HCC programme as soon as possible after birth a...
Background: A growing shortage of general practitioners (GPs), in Switzerland and around the world, has forced countries to find new ways to attract young physicians to the specialty. In 2017, Switzerland began to fund hundreds of new study places for medical students. This wave of young physicians will soon finish University and be ready for postg...
Most Malawian women who start ART under Option B+ are still in care three years later, a higher than average adherence rate for life-threatening chronic disease treatments, worldwide (50%). We asked 75 Malawian on ART their motivations for remaining in treatment, and what barriers they overcame. Focus groups and interviews included 75 women on ART...
Semi-structured interview and focus group discussion guide.
(DOCX)
Background:
Caesarean section (CS) is not recommended for PMTCT in Malawi HIV Guidelines, contrary to most high-income countries where CS is indicated if viral suppression is sub-optimal pre-delivery. We describe patterns of CS in HIV-infected and uninfected women in Malawi and explored if insight into the use of Elective CS (ECS) for PMTCT could...
Introduction: In Malawi, HIV-infected pregnant and breastfeeding women are offered lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) regardless of CD4 count or clinical stage (Option B+). Their HIV-exposed children are enrolled in the national prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme, but many are lost to follow-up. We estimated the cumulat...
Objective
Financial incentives may encourage private for-profit providers to perform more caesarean section (CS) than non-profit hospitals. We therefore sought to determine the association of for-profit status of hospital and odds of CS.
Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Data sources
MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Database of Systemat...
Background: Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is crucial to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and ensuring the long-term effectiveness of ART, yet there is little data from African routine care programmes on maternal adherence to triple ART.
Methods: We analysed data of women who started ART at 13 large health facilities in Ma...
Background:
Studies of Malawi's option B+ programme for HIV-positive pregnant and breastfeeding women have reported high loss to follow-up during pregnancy and at the start of antiretroviral therapy (ART), but few data exist about retention during breastfeeding and after weaning. We examined loss to follow-up and retention in care in patients in t...
Background:
Previous analyses reported age- and gender-related differences in the provision of cardiac care. The objective of the study was to compare circadian disparities in the delivery of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) according to the patient's age and gender.
Methods:
We investigated...
Malawi adopted the Option B+ strategy in 2011. Its success in reducing MTCT depends on coverage and timing of HIV testing. We assessed HIV status ascertainment and its predictors during pregnancy. HIV status ascertainment was 82.3% (95%-CI 80.2-85.9) in the pre-Option B+ period and 85.7% (95%-CI 83.4-88.0) in the Option B+ period. Higher HIV ascert...
Homicide-suicides, the murder of one or several individuals followed by the suicide of the perpetrator, are rare but have devastating effects on families and communities. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing perpetrators of homicide-suicides with perpetrators of simple homicides and suicides and examined the proportion...
Background
Homicide–suicides are rare but catastrophic events. This study examined the epidemiology of homicide-suicide in Switzerland.
Methods
The study identified homicide–suicide events 1991–2008 in persons from the same household in the Swiss National Cohort, which links census and mortality records. The analysis examined the association of th...
Background:
Providing the highest quality care for dying patients should be a core clinical proficiency and an integral part of comprehensive management, as fundamental as diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to provide expert consensus on phenomena for identification and prediction of the last hours or days of a patient's life. This...
Social Text 20.2 (2002) 65-91
—Chester Himes, My Life of Absurdity
In 1977, when I was a sixteen-year-old high-school dropout, I had the good fortune to be admitted to a graduate course in science fiction writing taught by Theodore Sturgeon at Antioch College West, in Hollywood, California. For our third or fourth assignment, Ted gave us instructio...
Educational value of a diverse faculty: The University of Arizona has made slow but steady progress over the past two decades in diversifying its student body. This trend will accelerate in the coming years as America and Arizona’s diverse population swells. According to a recent study conducted by the Educational Testing Service, a significant tra...
Literature and Medicine 15.2 (1996) 217-220
Narrative is powerful, and doctors are no less attracted to storytelling than the rest of us. These three articles--"The Witnessing Imagination," "'I don't actually mind the bone saw,'" and "Daughters of Æsculapius"--all share the urge to order the universe by telling tales about it, though they relate ve...
Worlds of Hurt presents a coherent rendering of the relationships between individual trauma and cultural interpretation, using as its focus the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and the phenomenon of sexualized violence against women. Survivors of these traumas constitute themselves as unique communities and bear witness to their traumatic experiences bo...
One of the great tasks of feminist literary criticism has been the" revision" of literary works in
the manner suggested by poet and critic Adrienne Rich:" the act of looking back, of seeing
with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction"(18). This essay is
concerned with the re-vision of images of women in novels written...