Læknablađiđ
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The Health Centre at Kirkjubaejarklaustur serves a large rural district with a population a little over 600. Agriculture and various services including tourism are the main occupations. Almost 20% of the population are over 65 years of age, which is an unusually high figure compared to the rest of the country. Ambulance transports are one of the health centre's responsibilities. Most of these are surface transports to hospitals, 200-250 kilometres away. ⋯ Ambulance transport including the preparation of the sick or injured person is an important part of health care in this region. General practitioners need to be well versed in emergency medicine and ambulance attendants in preparing the patient for transport. Therefore continuing education is an important factor in this discussion. Tourism in the summertime may prompt the need for increased staffing in the health care sector. There is no indication that helicopter transport will replace surface transport in the near future except in special cases as it has been. Good primary health care and regular access to physicians in the nursing home setting decrease the need for ambulance transport. Further studies in the area of ambulance transport especially concerning tourists and the elderly are needed in the Icelandic context. Both groups are on increase and will probably be more in demand of emergency medical services such as ambulance transports.
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Due to widespread access to hot water in Iceland it has been suspected that the incidence of burn injury is higher compared to other countries. The epidemiology of severe burn injury needing hospitalization was studied. ⋯ We conclude that it should be possible to reduce the risk of severe burn injuries in Iceland through education campaigns and also by legislating maximum temperature of the tap-water at 52-54 degrees C.
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Delay is common in diagnosis of colon cancer, its prognostic effect, however, is debatable. A retrospective study of patients with colon cancer was carried out at Landspitalinn University Hospital, covering a period of 12 years. Symptoms and survival were noted, as well as delay in diagnosis. ⋯ Symptoms, staging and survival of patients with colon cancer at Landspitalinn during the 12 year time period studied, proved to be similar to reports from our neighbouring countries, though in our study more patients were unfavourably Duke's staged (C or "D"). The delay in diagnosis from the onset of symptoms was also similar to that reported by foreign authors. It is clear that a considerable delay is common, however, it does not seem to bring about less favourable staging or worse survival.
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A country-wide survey of the use and utilization of medical imaging in Iceland was undertaken, by gathering of available information for the year 1993. The aim was primarily to assess the overall consumption of these services, with regard to radiation and the impact of other imaging modalities. Reference was made to earlier studies of the same kind adding a more specified break-down of information regarding age and sex as well as types of examination. ⋯ Comparable figures (1990) were 800 in the U. S. and 465 in the U. K.