The Journal of family practice
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A randomized controlled trial of nonpharmacologic approaches for relief of low back pain during labor.
Low back pain is common during labor. Our randomized controlled trial compared the effectiveness of 3 nonpharmacologic approaches for relief of back pain. ⋯ Intracutaneous sterile water injections are more effective than standard care (back massage, bath, and mobilization) or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for relieving low back pain during labor.
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Our goals were to assess family physicians' spiritual well-being, identify their perceived barriers to discussing spiritual issues with patients, and determine how often they have these discussions. ⋯ Family physicians in this survey had high spiritual well-being scores. Most believed spiritual well-being is an important factor in health. Despite this belief, however, most reported infrequent discussions of spiritual issues with patients and infrequent referrals of hospitalized patients to chaplains. Lack of time and training were key barriers to spiritual assessment.
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Physicians who have been sued multiple times for malpractice are assumed to be less competent than those who have never been sued. However, there is a lack of data to support this assumption. Competence includes both knowledge and performance, and there are theoretical reasons to suspect that the most knowledgeable physicians may be sued the most. ⋯ Among Florida family physicians, the frequency of malpractice claims increased with evidence of greater medical knowledge.