Orthopaedic review
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This paper presents the highlights of a month invested as a volunteer at St. Jude Hospital in St. Lucia, West Indies, representing Orthopaedics Overseas.
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Patient-controlled analgesia for pain management following orthopaedic surgery was evaluated subjectively by 22 patients and 11 nurses. Half of the patients received morphine and half received meperidine. ⋯ All patients reported a high satisfaction with patient-controlled analgesia and all nurses ranked the technique as good to excellent. Eight-six percent of patients who had previously used another type of pain management ranked patient-controlled analgesia superior.
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A premature infant girl was born at 26 weeks' gestation by normal spontaneous vaginal delivery. After suffering from anemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and respiratory distress syndrome, she developed Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis of the right knee at the age of 68 days. She was treated with daily knee aspirations, antibiotic joint instillation, and intravenous antibiotics, based on culture and sensitivity reports. Although the patient did not respond to this treatment for two weeks, surgical incision and drainage with continued intravenous antibiotics finally resulted in a complete cure of the infection and restoration of full range of motion of the knee joint.