American family physician
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American family physician · Mar 2010
Editorial CommentVitamin D in children: the right dose of evidence.
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Urine drug screening can enhance workplace safety, monitor medication compliance, and detect drug abuse. Ordering and interpreting these tests requires an understanding of testing modalities, detection times for specific drugs, and common explanations for false-positive and false-negative results. Employment screening, federal regulations, unusual patient behavior, and risk patterns may prompt urine drug screening. ⋯ Unexpected positive test results should be confirmed with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or high-performance liquid chromatography. A positive test result reflects use of the drug within the previous one to three days, although marijuana can be detected in the system for a longer period of time. Careful attention to urine collection methods can identify some attempts by patients to produce false-negative test results.
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Poorly controlled hypertension is a common finding in the outpatient setting. When patients present with severely elevated blood pressure (i.e., systolic blood pressure of 180 mm Hg or greater, or diastolic blood pressure of 110 mm Hg or greater), physicians need to differentiate hypertensive emergency from severely elevated blood pressure without signs or symptoms of end-organ damage (severe asymptomatic hypertension). Most patients who are asymptomatic but have poorly controlled hypertension do not have acute end-organ damage and, therefore, do not require immediate workup or treatment (within 24 hours). ⋯ Oral agents may be initiated before discharge, but intravenous medications and fast-acting oral agents should be reserved for true hypertensive emergencies. High blood pressure should be treated gradually. Appropriate, repeated follow-up over weeks to months is needed to reach desired blood pressure goals.
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Vocal cord dysfunction involves inappropriate vocal cord motion that produces partial airway obstruction. Patients may present with respiratory distress that is often mistakenly diagnosed as asthma. Exercise, psychological conditions, airborne irritants, rhinosinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, or use of certain medications may trigger vocal cord dysfunction. ⋯ Pulmonary function testing with a flow-volume loop and flexible laryngoscopy are valuable diagnostic tests for confirming vocal cord dysfunction. Treatment of acute episodes includes reassurance, breathing instruction, and use of a helium and oxygen mixture (heliox). Long-term management strategies include treatment for symptom triggers and speech therapy.