Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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J Clin Monit Comput · Dec 1999
Comparative Study Clinical TrialA comparison of pulse oximetry and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in the detection of hypoxaemia occurring with pauses in nasal airflow in neonates.
The aim of this study was to compare the ability of NIRS and pulse oximetry to detect changes in cerebral oxygenation occurring in response to a pause in nasal airflow (PNA). ⋯ We conclude that both techniques are sensitive to changes in oxygenation during PNA. Small changes in cerebral Hbdiff and arterial SpO2 do not always correlate for physiological reasons. A change in Hbdiff of >0.3 micromol 100 g brain(-1) is likely to be physiologically significant and is associated with a change in SpO2 of 12%.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Dec 1999
Comparative StudyA comparison of the Internet and the standard textbook in preparing for the professional anaesthetic examination.
The Internet is increasingly being recognised as a source of information in different fields, and medicine is no exception. We investigated the use of the Internet as an aid in preparing for the professional medical examinations. The Internet was compared to a standard textbook in answering a randomly selected past examination paper. ⋯ In contrast, the textbook provided adequate information in only 73.3% of the questions. The time required to search for information on the Internet was more than that required for a single textbook. (approximately 2 hours per question compared to 30 minutes per question respectively). However, with the rapid development of computer technology and the cyberspace, the Internet may prove to be a viable alternative or a good supplement to the standard textbook when trainee anaesthetists are preparing for their professional medical examinations.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Dec 1999
Patient's perceptions of an anesthesia preoperative computerized patient interview.
Our desire to elicit a more complete medical history from our patients led to the implementation of a preoperative computerized interview. We previously demonstrated the effectiveness of the interview by computing its mean completion time for the overall patient population (n = 120), and further examined the effects of age, gender, and educational level. In this study, we investigated patient perception of the interview itself. ⋯ The Stuart-Maxwell test was used to determine statistically significant differences in answers before and after the interview. Initial questionnaire responses reflected a positive attitude toward computer usage which became even stronger after the interview. The only negative responses elicited were really more "doctor positive" than "computer negative." We conclude that patients looked favorably upon participating in a computerized medical interview provided that physician-patient contact is maintained.
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The Verbal Numerical Scale (VNS) for rating pain is bounded between 0 (= no pain) and 10 (= worst pain imaginable). We hypothesized that the limitations inherent to this boundary when rating extremely painful stimuli may be identified by integrating the VNS with an unbounded score such as magnitude estimation of relative change. ⋯ The combined use of VNS and magnitude estimation confirmed that the ceiling of the bounded pain scale may significantly limit a patient's ability to describe a new pain stimulus. VNSext may provide a means of overcoming this limitation.