Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
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Today's Royal Colleges can be traced to the guilds that arose during the 13th and 14th centuries. They fulfil similar roles: to maintain the highest standards of practice, professional integrity and self-regulation. ⋯ It considers whether these functions are still appropriate for the rapidly changing practice of medicine today. The colleges have unique strengths, but they also have weaknesses and must be prepared to counter threats to their professional function.
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J R Coll Physicians Lond · Jan 1999
Effectiveness of a 'thrombolysis nurse' in shortening delay to thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction.
To determine whether a specialist cardiac nurse would improve delay to thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction (MI). ⋯ A thrombolysis nurse produced a dramatic improvement in median door-to-needle and pain-to-needle times in patients presenting with definite MI. This would lead to an additional 41 lives saved at 30 months per 1,000 patients treated. With 24-hour thrombolysis nurse cover, this would potentially lead to 8 additional lives saved at 30 months at a cost of 12,300 Pounds each. There was also a striking improvement in door-to-needle times for patients presenting with a non-diagnostic first ECG who subsequently qualified for thrombolysis.