British medical journal (Clinical research ed.)
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The introduction of the new immigration rules will considerably reduce the number of overseas doctors available for junior hospital appointments over the next five years. To offset this sponsorship schemes should be offered by universities and colleges comprising training courses, entry to examinations, and hospital appointments, and training programmes should be adapted to make objectives attainable in the four years available to overseas doctors. Employment of overseas doctors can ease the transition within the staffing structure to fewer juniors and more consultants, but planning is urgently required, and in particular the service and manpower needs of the National Health Service must be considered.
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Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) · Sep 1985
Simple mechanical methods for cardioversion: defence of the precordial thump and cough version.
A prospective study was made of the value of the precordial thump and of cough version in life threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Of about 5000 medical and surgical patients, 68 were treated for persistent ventricular tachycardia and 248 for ventricular fibrillation, 86 of whom had presented outside hospital. Mechanical intervention was successful in 26 incidents occurring in 23 patients. ⋯ Four additional instances were recorded of successful recovery from asystolic or unspecified circulatory arrest after a precordial thump. Fifteen patients survived to be discharged from hospital. The potential benefit of the precordial thump and cough versions greatly outweighs their risks; hence these manoeuvres should probably be reintroduced into schedules for first aid resuscitation.
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Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) · Jul 1985
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialRelief of pain by infusion of morphine after operation: does tolerance develop?
To see whether continuous intravenous infusion of opiates provides more effective postoperative relief of pain than conventional intramuscular injection these regimens were compared in a prospective double blind trial. Thirty patients undergoing elective cholecystectomy were allocated randomly to receive an infusion of morphine or an infusion of placebo (control group) for 24 hours. Both groups were allowed supplementary morphine boluses as requested. ⋯ Nausea and vomiting were more prevalent among the patients given the infusion of morphine. These results suggest that continuous infusion of morphine may be an inferior regimen to intermittent bolus administration in the relief of postoperative pain. This may be explained by the development of tolerance in patients who received the infusion of morphine.