Irish journal of medical science
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Evaluation of a new systems-based curriculum in an undergraduate Irish Medical School was carried out with the validated Dundee Ready Educational Environment (DREEM) inventory. Comparison was made with the results from a previous DREEM study in the old curriculum. ⋯ DREEM is a valuable tool in evaluating the educational environment and monitoring the impact of curricular change.
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Review Meta Analysis
Elevated prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism in patients with primary aldosteronism: a meta-analysis.
To conduct a meta-analysis of studies assessing abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM) prevalence among patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), calculating a combined pooled prevalence and summarizing metabolic parameters associated the pooled prevalence for comparative group. ⋯ There is a significant prevalence of elevated level of glucose metabolism in patients with PA. Awareness and treatment of this pre-diabetic or diabetic state are necessary.
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Emergency department (ED) boarders, namely patients who have been admitted under an in-patient service but remain on a trolley in the ED, have long been a problem in the Irish healthcare system. ⋯ Discrepancies in coding of ED boarders may result in significant revenue losses for certain hospitals.
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To characterise a cohort of patients with chronic pain registered to the Ulysses cognitive behavioural pain management programme (CBT-PMP) and to evaluate the effectiveness of the CBT-PMP 6 months post-discharge. ⋯ The effectiveness of the Ulysses CBT-PMP is established with measures of clinically significant change for physical and psychological outcomes contributing to the evidence for this novel approach of analysis. Future research determining benchmarks for CBT-PMP outcomes will assist clinicians in monitoring and enhancing patient's progress in clinical practice.
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Intrathecal opioid administration yields high quality analgesia with an associated low incidence of side effects and complication. The benefits of spinal "opioid only technique" include absence of neuronal blockade, infusion pump malfunction and sympathetic blockade. This technique declined after serious side effects were reported in the 1990s. ⋯ Intrathecal morphine for post-op analgesia is efficacious and safe in a post-thoracotomy population.