P R Health Sci J
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Puerto Rico (PR) has undergone rapid changes during the last decades. Some of these involve the health care system and the delivery of care to the critically ill patient. With this in mind, we investigated how the intensive care units throughout our island's hospitals are organized so that we could establish a profile of the adult intensive care units (ICU) in PR. ⋯ Although only a small percentage of the island's ICUs participated in our project, the study's findings serve as evidence of the need to re-evaluate the delivery of care to the critically ill population.
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Historical Article
University of Puerto Rico - School of Pharmacy: one hundred years of history and service.
The University of Puerto Rico School of Pharmacy was initially established as the Department of Pharmacy at the Río Piedras Campus on September 22, 1913, being the first healthcare program founded in Puerto Rico. The history of the School of Pharmacy reveals a remarkable evolution over a 100 years period in order to respond to the patients' and societal needs. The programs offered by the school have adapted to the wealth of scientific knowledge, emerging technologies, patients' needs and changes in the healthcare system. This historical note highlights the most important milestones of this centennial institution.
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Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially life-threatening systemic allergic reaction. Most cases of anaphylaxis are encountered and managed at Emergency Departments (ED). We aimed to evaluate all cases of anaphylaxis and of acute allergic reactions presenting to the ED of the Veterans Affairs Caribbean Healthcare System (VACHS) to assess each patient's presentation, the possible cause of that individual's allergic reaction or anaphylaxis, and the treatment or treatments that that person received. ⋯ Anaphylaxis is under-diagnosed and under-treated in ED patients receiving care at the VACHS. There is a need to improve anaphylaxis recognition and treatment in the ED setting and, in addition, to better identify barriers to optimal health care.