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While Captain James T. Kirk might find it amusing to learn that ACOG issued a 'Red Alert' at its 50th Annual Clinical Meeting--about the state of professional medical liability--physicians affected [...]

The process of creating an intravenous therapy (IV) manual is discussed. IV manual copies should be accessible throughout the hospital in order to provide easy reference in looking up drug administration policies, protocols and procedures. It consists of general information, drug reference guide, emergency drug facts and administrative procedures for IV formulatry drugs. Each section is carefully prepared and undergoes pharmacy and therapeutics approval. Frequent updates are provided by hospital staff., When intravenous therapy caused interdisciplinary confusion, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians created this easy-to-use guide. A cardiologist directs an RN to give a patient propranolol (Inderal) IV. She hesitates; she's not [...]

Educational materials written for patients for the average national reading level are not necessarily appropriate for a medical care facility. This is because patients' literacy levels vary widely from one area to another. Accurately assessing the reading level of the patient population can furnish facilities with valuable information to be able to target print materials for the appropriate grade level. Furthermore, designing patient reading level assessment projects is a relatively easy task., Don't assume the education materials your staff wrote for the average national level are right for your facility. Patients' reading levels vary widely from area to area; therefore, many patient [...]

Tracking the record of a patient's IV therapy can lead you through more twists, turns, and detours than Alice took in Wonderland. Venipunctures are charted in the nurses' notes, but [...]

Is memo writing a task that you take for granted-just another layer in a mile-high stack of paperwork? If that's your attitude, take a new view. You can't possibly do [...]

Paperwork, paperwork. Most of us grumble that we'd have more time to spend with our patients if we weren't perpetually scribbling in their charts. Keeping the intake and output record [...]

Depend Protective Underwear, for adults with moderate to heavy incontinence, has a cloth-like outer cover and comfortable fit. It comes in two sizes and 20- and 18-count packages. The manufacturer, [...]

Drainage of a subungual hematoma This article is one in a series prepared by faculty members in the department of family practice, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, [...]

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) recently released a position paper (AVSABonline.org) outlining the importance of early puppy socialization, preferably before the puppy reaches 12 to 16 weeks [...]

KEY WORDS * blunt chest trauma * pneumothorax * hemothorax * flail chest * 'brown paper bag effect' * pericardial tamponade * aortic tear * commotio cordis A motor vehicle [...]

Dementia may compromise the competence and safety of an older driver. Persons with dementing diseases frequently experience disturbances in memory, language, orientation, visual spatial skills, and the ability to perform complex tasks. Safety cannot be increased by training or modifications to the vehicle, nor can those afflicted be expected to exercise sound judgment. Individuals may become lost on familiar streets, fail to follow directional signs, and drive at inappropriate speeds. This paper will provide an overview of state licensing provisions, physician responsibilities, and a clinical approach to address and manage the driver with dementia., Driving is the method of transportation preferred by most elders and is essential to their independence. It is important for socialization and to acquire the necessities of food, clothing, and [...]

Thorough, comprehensive documentation is an essential component of patient care. But, as any nurse can tell, you the traditional paper chart has its problems. To analyze the problems--and hopefully come [...]

This month we look at six common types of surgical tape: paper, plastic, silk, elastic, cloth, and waterproof. All are available in rolls in a variety of widths, and some [...]

Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease that can be hard to diagnose because its symptoms tend to be vague and sufferers typically visit various specialists. The syndrome, however, afflicts an estimated four million Americans, 90% of whom are middle-aged women. Symptoms include dry eyes and mouths and extraglandular symptoms such as arthritis. Diagnostic tests include the Schirmer test, in which a paper strip is put under the lower eyelid to indicate the presence of keratoconjuctivitis sicca or dry eye., Dry eyes and mouth are just two of the many symptoms that can develop as a result of this common but little-known autoimmune disease that gradually destroys the exocrine glands. [...]

Nurses are often called upon to make quick decisions based upon the patient's condition and laboratory test results. It would therefore be very convenient to have instant access to vital information about standard lab values and possible interventions for abnormal test results. Such information can be written down in a letter-sized sheet of paper folded in quarters. Each quarter contains specific information regarding blood components and electrolytes, standard values and intervention procedures., Here's how one nurse pulled together vital information about lab values and put it in her colleagues' hands. A staff nurse calls the lab for blood test results and enters [...]

Doctors often avoid working in nursing homes as they are overcrowded with patients who do not co-operate. Patients who have no chronic diseases are demented, deaf or even confused while interacting with a doctor. The amount of paper work doctors have to do often frustrates them and the regulation in the nursing home is too binding for them. The compensation they receive is not satisfying. Doctors are also constantly interrupted by the telephone., Ask some doctors why they avoid nursing home practice, and they'll supply you with plenty of reasons. You've heared them before: * Nursing homes are full of difficult patients, and [...]

Incidence of epilepsy increases rapidly after age 65; recent studies indicate that approximately 10% of nursing home residents are being treated with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Almost all are being treated with first generation AEDs. The average nursing home patient receives six medications, has age-related changes in protein binding, decreases in hepatic and renal clearance, and may have alterations in gastrointestinal absorption. AEDs that do not have drug-drug interactions, are not metabolized by the liver, and are readily absorbed may offer benefits in this population. New studies are demonstrating that the first generation AEDs have a number of shortcomings for treating older patients, whereas some of the newer AEDs may overcome these limitations. This paper reviews the present knowledge base and compares properties of the first generation AEDs with newer agents to develop a more rational approach for drug selection in older adults. Key words: antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) * epilepsy * seizures elderly * geriatrics, Use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is common in older patients, especially those in nursing homes (NH). Recent studies have reported that approximately 10% of NH residents in the United States [...]

Source: Standards for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with COPD: A summary of the ATS/ERS position paper. Eur Respir J 2004; 23(6):932-46. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) and European [...]

Question Is it true that Medicare will require all providers to file claims electronically as of October 16? I currently file Medicare claims on paper. Will I need to comply? [...]

The Mobile Charting Unit is a vertical charting station that makes point-of-care charting more convenient. The unit is designed to accommodate paper as well as notebook computer charting. The work [...]

The Motherisk Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto has published Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy: State of the Art 2000, which includes papers given at an international [...]

Sexually transmitted skin diseases are on the rise in the United States, This article reviews the diagnosis and treatment of pubic lice infestations, while the following paper discusses the management [...]

More than 1,000 research papers were resented at this year Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), on topics ranging from cloning to endometriosis to ZIFT. Here [...]

The Pap smear is more than 50 years old, yet screening is still not universal. Why the discrepancy? Papanicolaou published his first paper on screening for cervical cancer during the [...]

CP-800DW is a digital, roll-type, high-resolution printer from Mitsubishi Electronics' Imaging Products (Cypress, Calif.). It produces exceptionally sharp images while reducing paper exchanges and jams, according to the [...]

I keep a daily work journal, which helps get the frustration out on paper. Sometimes reading what I've written makes all he difference--I'm able to recognize that the cause of [...]

Providing care to patients who have Alzheimer's disease requires that professional care providers have an understanding not only of the disease and its progression, but also of informal caregivers, their roles, capabilities, and needs. Using experience from the Medicare Alzheimer's Demonstration Project and subsequent work of the Legacy Health System in Portland, OR, this paper reviews the perspectives of case managers and caregivers regarding a variety of strategies that have been implemented., A wide gulf in communications exists between healthcare practitioners, community-based resources, and providers who deal with patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). For Legacy Health System and Regence Blue Cross Blue [...]

'It simply doesn't make sense that patients in the 21st century are still filling out forms with pens on papers that have to be stored away somewhere.' --President Barack Obama, [...]

In the obituary, my name isn't listed among the members of the deceased's family. The four-inch blurb in the local paper mentions Josephine's son and daughter, her grandchildren and their [...]

At our one-day surgical unit, the head nurse has asked the day shift to chart on paper, and then those of us on the night shift are to enter this [...]

Here you'll find a bibliography to guide your decision making and position papers published by key nursing organizations. There are also addresses of organizations concerned with ethical issues. If you [...]

Source: Food and Drug Administration talk paper, October 1998 The anticancer agent tamoxifen has received FDA approval for use by women at high risk for breast cancer to prevent its [...]

Source: Food and Drug Administration talk paper, October 1998. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a new ruling on prescribing aspirin in persons at risk for cardiovacular, cerebrovascular, and [...]

Nurses can learn much from keeping journals of their daily practice. The events written on a journal can help nurses understand their jobs better. Journaling also brings life to the daily routines of nurses. It acts as a decision-making tool that brings confidence to nurses' points of view. Nurses will need a pen, paper or notebook, and quiet place to write. They should strive for honest writing and forget about grammatical rules, spelling or complete sentences., Keeping ajournal isn't a job, it's a joy, says this veteran nurse. And essential in these hectic days. For most of the two decades I have been a nurse, I [...]

'I know it's here someplace!' While nursing staff members waited impatiently to discuss their assignments, Margaret, the charge nurse, frantically rummaged through the stacks of papers on her desk. She [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The arguments for increased adoption of adaptive clinical trial techniques are compelling, particularly in the role they can play in cutting development costs and reducing time to market. [...]

I am not going to talk about the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains in the morning mist, the spring wildflowers, the bluegrass festivals, or the Appalachian handicrafts. They are all [...]

Pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations have been working to improve productivity and return on investment by modifying processes, decreasing cycle times, and implementing improvements wherever possible. (1) According to [...]

Over the past year many data managers have expressed concern about their ongoing roles and livelihoods with the increasing adoption of EDC/eClinical. Add to this concern the following statement: 'A [...]

Very recently, the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium, also known as CDISC, released version 1.3 of its Operational Data Model (ODM). With this new version of the standard, the CDISC [...]

WEIGHT LOSS occurs when more calories are expended than are consumed. Healthy animals can experience weight loss, but in a geriatric cat, a subtle decrease in weight can also be [...]

The number of patients with implantable cardiac devices is rising sharply. In 2000, 152,000 hospitalized patients received pacemakers, compared to 197,000 in 2003. (1,2) During that same period, the number [...]

Not so long ago, ob/gyns didn't think twice about tossing out the leftover blood in the umbilical cord and placenta (UCB) after delivery. Our perspective changed, however, with the discovery [...]