The Journal of family practice
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Mupirocin cream is as effective as oral cephalexin in the treatment of secondarily infected wounds.
Topical antimicrobials have been considered for treatment of secondarily infected wounds because of the potential for reduced risk of adverse effects and greater patient convenience. We compared mupirocin cream with oral cephalexin in the treatment of wounds such as small lacerations, abrasions, or sutured wounds. ⋯ Mupirocin cream applied topically 3 times daily is as effective as oral cephalexin given 4 times daily for the treatment of secondarily infected wounds and was well tolerated.
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Most clinicians prescribe antibiotics for acute bronchitis in spite of recommendations against this practice. Because the results of individual clinical trials have been mixed, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether antibiotics are effective treatment for acute bronchitis. ⋯ Antibiotics may be modestly effective for a minority of patients with acute bronchitis. It is not clear which patient subgroups might benefit, and the failure of some studies to report negative findings may have resulted in overestimates of the benefits of antibiotics. Antibiotics are not necessary for every patient with acute bronchitis.
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Many factors contribute to the variations seen in physician workforce projections, including assumptions about attrition, new physician entry, and geographic requirements. Our study offers data for bench-marking future research into this complex issue. ⋯ Variations in accounting for clinical time used for non-generalist clinical and nonclinical activities may explain a large part of the difference between generalist head count and full-time equivalency (FTE) study results; together these activities can be said to make up a "fourth compartment" contributing to improper specialty designation. The decrease in the percentage of family physicians older than 59 years indicates that the future supply of practicing family physicians is not in jeopardy. The rural family physician workforce is decreasing, while the general internist and general pediatrician rural workforce is increasing, but the total rural workforce is still well below the urban workforce. Neither component of the rural workforce appears to have stabilized.