Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2012
What do patients know about their low back pain? An analysis of the quality of information available on the Internet.
Previous surveys showed a poor quality of the web sites providing health information about low back pain. However, the rapid and continuous evolution of the Internet content may question the current validity of those investigations. The present study is aimed to quantitatively assess the quality of the Internet information about low back pain retrieved with the most commonly employed search engines. ⋯ News web sites were well designed and easy to use, but lacked in validity. The average quality of the hits retrieved by the most commonly employed search engines could be defined as satisfactory and favorably comparable with previous investigations. Awareness of the user about checking the quality of the information remains of concern.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2012
ReviewPrevention and diagnosis of retained foreign bodies through the years: past, present, and future technologies.
Post operative retained foreign bodies are a rare but recalcitrant problem. We detail reports of interventions over the last two centuries and review the most current interventions using automated data identity capture and computer aided detection. This was one of earliest areas in which multidisciplinary collaboration was achieved in patient safety. This multidisciplinary collaboration was unique because most other initiatives had been internal: among the disciplines working in the OR i.e. surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists; this collaboration, to achieve optimal patient safety at that point in time was between surgeons and radiologists to ensure a lack of post operative retained foreign bodies.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2012
Comparative StudyComparison of helicopter and ground emergency medical service: a retrospective analysis of a German rescue helicopter base.
In consideration of rising cost pressure in the German health care system, the usefulness of helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) in terms of time- and cost-effectiveness is controversially discussed. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether HEMS is associated with significantly decreased arrival and transportation times compared to ground EMS. ⋯ The results of the present study indicate the time-effectiveness of German air ambulance services with significantly decreased transportation times.
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Rotational malalignment following intramedullary nailing is a well-recognised problem. The threshold for clinically relevant malrotation has been established to be in the region of 15° whereas the incidence of significant malrotation following femoral nailing ranges from 22 to 43 percent. Many studies have been performed to address this issue with the major challenge acknowledged to be intraoperative control of femoral anteversion. ⋯ Statistically, there is no significant difference between the mean results for femoral antetorsion. The advantage of the method proposed in the current study, is the opportunity to enter the ventral femoral cortex during the surgical procedure without disturbing the process of femoral nailing. Thus, the surgeon can avail of continuous control of femoral rotation intra-operatively.