An expert system to teach troubleshooting of common problems associated with the automated anesthesia recordkeeper

Automated anesthesia recordkeepers have been used to monitor patients during surgery in up to 90% of cases at The Ohio State University. The record-keeping devices are complex and can be difficult to troubleshoot. The 1st-CLASS Fusion Program, an expert system shell-program, has been programmed to allow the resident or nurse anesthetist to solve the two most common types of problems associated with the recordkeeper: printer problems and patient monitor problems. Use of this program allows the resident or nurse anesthetist to troubleshoot the recordkeeper quickly and accurately and promotes in the user a sense of competence and control over the technology.     

A Study on the Compliance of the Patients with Ocular Fundus Diseases

Purpose: To investigate the compliance of the patients with ocular fundus diseases with recommendation for follow-up examination after laser treatment, and the underlying reasons for non-compliance.Methods: 53 patients with ocular fundus disease were asked to fill in a questionnaire which includes the socio-demographic characteristics, fear of the fundus disease, conception of the laser treatment and the motivation for staying healthy. Variables were compared for the compliers group and the non-compliers group by chi-square test. Result; Of the 53 subjects, 35 were classified as non-compliers and 18 were classified as compliers. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups on all selected socio-demographic factors, conception of the laser treatment and the motivation for staying healthy. Significant difference was found between the two groups on two of those items concerning the fear of the diseases (P<0. 05). About half of the participants showed the lack of knowledge about     

Physicians and death: Comments and behaviour of 605 doctors in the north-east of Italy

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of socio-demographic and professional factors on physicians' attitudes to the terminally ill. Between May 1992 and May 1993, a survey was conducted in the province of Pordenone (north-east, Italy) in order to analyse a number of specific issues, such as emotional involvement, the need for aggressive treatments and the communication of diagnosis and prognosis. After obtaining a list of board-certified physicians from the Medical Association office in Pordenone, a modification of the cancer questionnaire of Haley and Blanchard (QSPT) was mailed to 916 doctors. Of these, 605 (60%; 487 male, 118 female; mean age 41 ± 11 SD) returned the completed questionnaire. Within the group of responders, we identified three main subgroups, according to their type of activity: general practitioners (175, 29%), hospital doctors (235, 39%) and other doctors (195, 32%). In age, sex and activity, the only significant difference between responders and non-responders was age (mean age 41 and 43 years respeetively). Most of the responders (77%) stated that they were able to deal with the terminally ill patient and his/her needs; 44%, however, admitted that patients' anxiety is sometimes unbearable. For the vast majority of the doctors polled (91%), providing a comfortable environment for an incurable patient was more important than pursuing aggressive treatment, but only 44% were convinced of the uselessness of aggressive care. To the question on whether to disclose information about imminent death to allow patients to prepare spiritually, 37% answered No, 38% Yes, and 25% were uncertain. Almost all responders (95%), however, believed in the beneficial effect of hope on the terminally ill. Ourresults suggest that doctors' professional and, most of all, sociodemographic and cultural factors determine the relationship with the patient on both the emotional and the clinical decision-making levels.     

肿瘤患者合并肺部念珠菌感染药敏测定研究

采用ＲＰＭＩ１６４０及ＦＤＡ抗生素３号两种培养基的微量稀释法对肿瘤患者合并肺感染分离出５１株念珠菌进行药敏对比测定。结果显示二性霉素Ｂ在两种培养基中均具有非常好的抗菌活性，敏感率均为９８．０％，其次酮康唑也显示出良好的抗菌活性，敏感率均为９４．１％。相比之下，在ＲＰＭＩ培养基中伊曲康唑和氟康唑的敏感性稍差，敏感率分别为９２．２％和９０．２％，但在ＦＤＡ抗生素３号培养基中，伊曲康唑和氟康唑敏感性明显下降，敏感率分别为７０．６％和６６．７％。为此我们建议抗真菌药敏试验，尤其是咪唑类药物应该选用ＮＣＣＬＳ推荐的ＲＰＭＩ１６４０培养基做药敏试验     

Patient satisfaction with health care providers in South Africa: the influences of race and socioeconomic status.

OBJECTIVE: The first democratic government elected in South Africa in 1994 inherited huge inequalities in health status and health provision across all sections of the population. This study set out to assess, 4 years later, the influence of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on perceived quality of care from health care providers. DESIGN: A 1998 countrywide survey of 3820 households assessed many aspects of health care delivery, including levels of satisfaction with health care providers among different segments of South African society. RESULTS: Fifty-one percent (n = 1953) of the respondents had attended a primary care facility in the year preceding the interview and were retained in the analysis. Both race and SES were significant predictors of levels of satisfaction with the services of the health care provider, after adjusting for gender, age, and type of facility visited. White and high SES respondents were about 1.5 times more likely to report excellent service compared with Black and low SES respondents, respectively. CONCLUSION: In South Africa, race and SES are not synonymous and can no longer be considered reliable proxy indicators of one another. Each has distinct and significant but different degrees of association with client satisfaction. Any assessment of equity-driven health policy in South Africa should consider the impacts of both race and SES on client satisfaction as one of the indicators of success.     

Patient-controlled intranasal diamorphine for postoperative pain: an acceptability study

A patient acceptability study was conducted using patient-controlled intranasal diamorphine. Patients undergoing nonemergency orthopaedic or gynaecological surgery self-administered intranasal diamorphine for 24 h postoperatively. Pain, pain relief, sedation, respiratory rate, nausea and vomiting were assessed regularly. After 24 h, patients and their attending nurses completed a questionnaire assessing satisfaction and practical aspects of the technique. Satisfaction was reported as good or complete by 69% of patients and 69% of nurses. Pain relief was assessed as better than expected by 45% of patients and better than normal by 50% of nurses. Seventy-nine per cent of patients would be pleased to use patient-controlled intranasal diamorphine again and 89% of nurses would be happy for their patients to use it again. Sedation was uncommon and mild and there were no episodes of significant respiratory depression. Fifty-three per cent of patients reported no nausea and 74% did not vomit at any stage. There were seven withdrawals, four due to problems with the device and three due to therapeutic problems. The nasal spray may need modification to improve reliability. However, we found patient-controlled intranasal analgesia an effective technique, which was well tolerated by patients and nurses and was without unpleasant side-effects. Further work to determine how it performs compared with intramuscular or intravenous analgesia is now needed.     

Patient Capacity in Mental Health Care: Legal Overview

The discriminatory effects of categorizing psychiatric patients into competent and incompetent, have urged lawyers, philosophers and health care professionals to seek a functional approach to capacity assessment. Dutch and English law have produced some guidelines concerning this issue. So far, most legal systems under investigation have concentrated on alternatives for informed consent by the patient in case of mental incapacity, notably substitute decision-making, intervention of a judge and advance directives. It is hard to judge the way in which the law may further adapt to a more functional assessment of capacity, because the nature of law shows that legal reforms usually take place only when new methods have been accepted by the field. This is not yet the case today.     

0.15％左旋布比卡因用于子宫全切术后硬膜外自控镇痛的临床观察

目的:比较0.15%左旋布比卡因和布比卡因用于经腹子宫全切术后患者自控硬膜外镇痛(PCEA)的临床效应.方法:择期经腹子宫全切术患者60例随机分成左旋布比卡因组(L组,n=30)和布比卡因组(B组,n=30)进行PCEA,观察患者24h镇痛效果、运动阻滞情况及不良反应.结果:两组视觉模拟评分(VAS)、舒适评级(BCS)相似,而24h硬膜外用药量、24h按压次数/实际有效进药次数(D/D)比值及PCA按压次数B组＞L组(P＜0 05);术后运动阻滞完全恢复时间,术后4h、8h、12h运动恢复分级两组差异无显著性;低血压发生率L组明显低于B组,差异有显著性(P＜0.05).结论:0.15%左旋布比卡因用于PCEA能达到满意镇痛效应,并减少局麻药及芬太尼用量,术后不良反应较少,安全性高;运动神经阻滞与布比卡因相同,作用时间较长.