Clin Med
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Quality of care in intensive care and surgery has benefited from establishing comparative standards. At present there is no accepted tool to compare outcomes for emergency admissions in internal medicine. ⋯ Three parameters with poor reproducibility were identified. The SCS has several potential applications: identification of patients with low risk of death suitable for early hospital discharge; early identification of patients with a high risk of death, who will require care in critical care areas (or specialist palliative care); and benchmarking of acute medical departments internationally in a similar way to how APACHE II scoring has been used in critical care units worldwide.
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The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) has resulted in large changes in the working patterns of junior doctors in the U. K. All consultant physicians in England and Wales were invited to anonymously submit data on their teams for 11 am and 11 pm on 5 November 2009. ⋯ Trainees were available for training 66-80% of the time. These findings have significant implications for patient safety and quality of medical training in the U. K.
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In the context of professionalism being viewed increasingly as a social contract, a survey was conducted to investigate the importance placed by the general public on doctors' professional attributes. A quota sample of 953 responded to a 55-item online inventory of professional attributes. The quotas closely represented the national census. ⋯ The general public did not equate professionalism with social standing, wealth production, physique or appearance. They recognised doctors as professionals by their good behaviour, high values and positive attitudes as clinicians, workmen and citizens. Although, their preference of professional attributes varied with the setting, eg patient consultation, working with others and behaving in society, they expected doctors to be confident, reliable, dependable, composed, accountable and dedicated across all settings.
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Practice Guideline
Concise guidance: diagnosis and management of giant cell arteritis.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) or temporal arteritis (TA) with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is among the most common reasons for long-term steroid prescription. GCA is a critically ischaemic disease, the most common form of vasculitis and should be treated as a medical emergency. ⋯ The purpose of this concise guidance is to draw attention to the full guidelines to encourage the prompt diagnosis and urgent management of GCA, with emphasis on the prevention of visual loss. They provide a framework for disease assessment, immediate treatment and referral to specialist care for management and monitoring of disease activity, complications and relapse.