Ugeskrift for laeger
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Ugeskrift for laeger · Mar 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial[Mask physiotherapy for prevention of pulmonary complications after heart surgery. A controlled study].
The objective of this prospective, consecutive, randomized, controlled study was to investigate the effects of mask physiotherapy on postoperative complications after heart surgery. Sixty-six low-risk male patients undergoing coronary artery by-pass graft surgery were evaluated. The patients were treated with routine chest physiotherapy alone or supplied with either positive expiratory pressure (PEP), or inspiratory resistance-positive expiratory pressure (IR-PEP). ⋯ There was an almost equal decrease and subsequent rise in spirometric and blood gas values in all three groups, but patients treated with the PEP mask had a borderline significantly higher increase in PaO2 from day three to day six compared with patients treated with no mask. There was an almost equal frequency of atelectasis in the three treatment groups. It is concluded that no significant differences in outcome were found between the three groups.
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A questionnaire survey was carried out with the aim of evaluating knowledge about and practice of cancer pain treatment in Denmark. A questionnaire was sent to a 10% random sample of Danish physicians. Of these 1411 physicians, 1068 (76%) returned the questionnaires and after the exclusion of those doctors who never treated cancer patients, 577 (54%) were analyzed. ⋯ Older physicians performed less satisfactorily than did their younger colleagues. Basic pain treatment skills have been acquired by the Danish physicians. However, in the future emphasis should be placed on the treatment of neuropathic pain with coanalgesics and the management of opioid side-effects.
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Ugeskrift for laeger · Mar 1997
[Relevance of the 112-emergency calls among the clientele of the emergency department of the Herlev hospital admitting office].
It is a common view, shared by Emergency Department staff and ambulance crews, that a large number of patients unnecessarily use Emergency Service ambulances instead of transporting themselves to the hospital by other, more appropriate means. In this retrospective study, 528 consecutive Emergency Service calls to the Herlev Hospital Casualty/Emergency Department during a six week period were reviewed for relevance. Attention was solely aimed at the relevance of the use of Emergency Service ambulances in each case, but not on patient or health care providers' perception of urgency. ⋯ Seventeen point six percent of all calls were deemed irrelevant. Thirty-three percent of all calls not resulting in admission were deemed irrelevant. The results confirm Emergency Department health care providers' and ambulance crews' view that Emergency Service ambulances are used inappropriately by the public.