AIM: To determine the effect of frequent vacuum cleaning of carpets on Der p 1, the major group one allergen of the house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. METHODS: Nine rooms and three hallways in the resident medical officers quarters at Wellington Hospital were regularly vacuum cleaned (daily, except weekends) over ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether histopathologists with deficient colour vision make more errors in slide interpretation than those with normal colour vision. DESIGN: Examination of projected transparencies of histopathological slides under standardised conditions by subjects whose colour discriminating ability was accurately assessed. SETTING: Departments of histopathology in 45 hospitals in the ...

Since our population is aging, patients will present to our offices with more medications than in the past. Although these medications may benefit their general health, they may adversely affect their dental health. Although most medications discussed increase the risk for caries and periodontal disease, a few may actually decrease ...

Legions of lawyers, consultants and accountants are pulling in the big bucks helping providers stay on the right side of government regulations. Compliance is the trendiest buzzword in healthcare today, and it's creating some lucrative business opportunities. Compliance officers, like Roy Snell (left) of University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, ride ...

A Delphi study was conducted of Army senior Medical Service Corps leaders (O6s) to identify the expected behaviors and competencies needed to ensure that junior officers will achieve successful careers as Medical Service Corps officers in the 21st century. A Delphi mailing was conducted in two phases. In the first ...

Managed care might seem to be putting a damper on healthcare construction, but in fact it's one of several industry changes creating opportunities for architectural and design firms. One example of a trend toward making surroundings as pleasant as possible is the west campus expansion at East Texas Medical Center ...

Seasonal presentation of skin cancers has been previously described, but the seasonal presentation of keratoacanthomas is less well documented. Pathology reports and dermatology clinic visits were examined from the Roger Williams Medical Center, the major dermatopathology service in Rhode Island, U.S.A., from 1990 to 1992. Seasonal presentation was defined as ...

Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine have developed and validated numerical models capable of predicting the extent of physiologic strain and adverse terrain and weather-related medical consequences of military operations in harsh environments. A descriptive historical account is provided that details how physiologic models for hot ...

AIM: With the aim towards better education of junior medical staff on chest tube management, we designed a questionnaire to survey their practice and at the same time to assess their level of understanding of the physical principles of chest tube and its drainage system. METHODS: The questionnaire was distributed ...

A questionnaire study was carried out on 74 British Army patients who were awaiting aeromedical evacuation from the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. The study confirmed previous unpublished reports that 41% of patients were being repatriated for exacerbation of pre-existing disease. Of these, 78% had disease known to their medical officer, ...

Periconceptual dietary folic acid supplementation reduces the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs). Their use has been advocated by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), the Consultant Advisor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology (O&G), the Senior Consultant in O&G British Forces in Germany (BFG) and by Medical Administration & Technical Instruction (MA&TI) ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the outcome of caesarean delivery performed by assistant medical officers and specialists in obstetrics and gynaecology with particular attention to post-operative complications. DESIGN: We performed a nonrandomised analysis of 2071 consecutive caesarean deliveries at Maputo Central Hospital. Of these, 958 (46.3%) were performed by assistant medical officers ...

Overwhelming postsplenectomy infection should be preventable if simple precautions are taken. An ad hoc working party of the British Committee for Standards in Haematology has reviewed recommendations for patients without a spleen and drawn up a consensus. Members of the working party were selected for their personal expertise and to ...

1. One of the roles of the Ophthalmic Medical Assistant (OMA) is to provide the physician with as much clinical information as possible to assist in the diagnosis and management of patients whose chief complaint is "double vision". 2. Because diplopia can be associated with a variety of medical causes, ...

Lieutenant-Commander Colin Harwood was part of a team from the Canadian Forces Medical Service (CFMS) that was sent to Rwanda in the wake of that country's bloody civil war. The Ottawa-based officer says the CFMS personnel helped ease many serious medical problems during the 10 weeks they spent there, although ...

During July 12-16, 1995, Chicago experienced unusually high maximum daily temperatures, ranging from 93 F to 104 F (33.9 C to 40.0 C). On July 13, the heat index peaked at 119 F (48.3 C)--a record high for the city. This report describes the heat-related deaths reported by the Cook ...

This paper describes medical support to a Croatian Army brigade of 2,100 soldiers in an attack combined with river crossing during the 1991/1992 war in Croatia. Three crossings across the river, 4,000 to 5,000 m apart, were used along a front of a total width of 14 km. The anticipated ...

The clinician wishing to employ a spirometer in the office must be aware of the equipment available and the current standards for validating and maintaining such equipment. Indications for spirometry are fairly frequent in general medical practice for both diagnosis, response to therapy, and for risk assessment prior to surgery. ...

For two decades, Army physical therapists have been granted limited privileges to prescribe certain medications when serving as nonphysician health care providers for the primary evaluation and treatment of patients with neuromusculoskeletal dysfunctions. A brief summary of the events that led to this physician-extender role is presented. This article describes ...

This document amends the section of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Schedule for Rating Disabilities on Gynecological Conditions and Disorders of the Breast. This amendment is based on a General Accounting Office (GAO) study noting that there has been no comprehensive review of the rating schedule since 1945, and ...

Citing data collected between 1987 and 1994 at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, Ramsey Clinic and Ramsey Foundation, Paul A. Sommers, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Ramsey, Michael G. Luxenberg, president of Professional Data Analysts, and Eric. P. Sommers of the River Falls Clinic, write how ...

On the basis of 18 years of experience on the Medical Review Panel of the New Jersey Department of Personnel, the author points out some shortcomings commonly observed in psychological/psychiatric evaluative reports on mental fitness of police officer and fire fighter candidates. Each shortcoming is noted under one of two ...

The doctor/patient relationship is unique. The doctor's surgery/clinic can be likened to the confessional and the duty of confidence to a patient does not end with the patient's death. It is ongoing. It is accepted that in the Armed Forces, a Commanding Officer can request disclosure of all relevant medical ...

From 1980 to 1993, the Danish Radio Medical Advice Service (RMAS) had 1136 contacts from overseas Danish merchant ships and 213 contacts from Danish territorial waters. The diagnoses were almost always of acute conditions. The distribution of the diagnoses in the overseas contacts were; diseases in the digestive and genitourinary ...

A New York City homicide case was investigated at the request of the District Attorney's office. The deceased had been violently beaten about the face, neck, and chest area. The bludgeoning left the victim unrecognizable, and produced blood-spatter patterns at the scene that attained heights over nine feet. The suspect ...

This article reports on theoretical and empirical research that explored the hypothesis that there is a sexual division of leadership in volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) squads. This hypothesis was tested against survey data obtained from 216 current members of nine upstate New York volunteer EMS squads. Despite several mitigating ...

BACKGROUND: The medical review officer is a position established by federal statute in 1988. The role of the medical review officer is to interpret positive urine drug tests in view of the donor's medical history. With more than 4 million workers affected by the Department of Transportation guidelines for workplace ...

Medicine has a dual obligation concerning the environment: (1) to supply laboratory and clinical research to document harmful effects on the environment, and (2) to encourage changes in the environment to reduce or eliminate adverse health effects. This article presents individual and group actions for the improvement of the environment. ...

Following a suggestion that the National Association of Medical Examiners (N.A.M.E.) develop a N.A.M.E. Information Center (NIC), N.A.M.E. conducted a survey to evaluate the current status of medical examiner office automation (computerization) in the United States. Responses were received from 80 unique reporting areas, including 75 medical examiner offices, which ...

During the latter half of the 19th century, the United States Army commissioned medical officers or hired civilian physicians to serve its troops. The civilian physician signed a contract for services, and the candidate for a commission was subjected to rigorous examinations before becoming an officer. The rigorous testing of ...

During 1992-1993, six persons died while diving for sea urchins in Maine waters--two during 1992 and four during August-November 1993. The four 1993 deaths were investigated by the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Maine, and the Occupational Safety ...

Ambulance officers are now highly trained professionals with a detailed knowledge of emergency medical conditions and trauma. The medical practitioner, however, should still be seen as the leader of the medical team, both in the field and in the supervision and development of an effective ambulance service. Patient care will ...

Operations Desert Shield/Storm involved the recall of 9,700 Navy medical reservists. A demographically representative sample of 3,804 medical reservists (39%) responded to a survey between June and September 1991. The purpose was to identify major issues associated with the recall experience. Results indicated that reservists felt well prepared for their ...

All house officers perform male urethral catheterisation and although complications may occur awareness of the potential problems varies considerably. 43 house officers from 12 different medical schools were interviewed to determine the amount of training that they received regarding this procedure as students and during their first pre-registration post. The ...

We examined the effect of computerized physician order entry on housestaff time use patterns, using time motion techniques. For both medical and surgical house officers, writing orders on the computer took about twice as long (p < 0.001), or 44 minutes for medical and 73 minutes for surgical house officers. ...

An interdisciplinary process action team developed policies and procedures for implementation of the Patient Self-Determination Act. Specific roles were defined for all involved in the process: Admissions Office, Unit Nurse, Social Worker, Attending Physician, Medical Records, Public Affairs, Patient Administration, Legal Office, Medical Library, Medical Law and Chaplain. An educational ...

We examined how house officers coped with serious medical mistakes to gain insight into how medical educators should handle these situations. An anonymous questionnaire was mailed to 254 house officers in internal medicine asking them to describe their most important mistake and their response to it; 45% (N = 114) ...

Civil war prisoners of war fared badly. But there was one extraordinary wartime development that promoted the humane treatment of captive enemy soldiers. Beginning in June 1862, Union and Confederate authorities regarded medical officers as non-combatants. Largely attributable to the initiative of Hunter Holmes McGuire, Stonewall Jackson's medical director, this ...

A survey of inhaler technique using a placebo metered dose inhaler was performed among 41 house and medical officers from the Medical and Outpatient departments, Hospital USM. The majority (76%) of them had been taught at one time or another regarding inhaler technique. However, only 18 of them (48.9%) used ...

Physician forgetfulness, patient refusal, and practice logistical difficulties are among the major reasons that physicians perform cancer prevention activities less frequently than recommended by established guidelines. To improve delivery of prevention services, office system interventions of several types have been developed and tested. These include approaches aimed at patients during ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has amended VA regulations to increase the settlement and waiver authority delegated to officials within the Office of the General Counsel and District Counsels. This change follows increased authority delegated by the Department of Justice to heads of departments and agencies of the United ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the ability of clinicians to recognise deaths which require referral to the coroner. DESIGN: Postal questionnaire consisting of 16 fictitious case histories, 14 of which contained a clear indication for referral to the coroner. SETTING: Large teaching hospital. Coroner's office. SUBJECTS: 200 clinicians from general medical and ...

General information and principles regarding the automation of medical examiner and coroner offices are presented. Topics discussed include the importance of using available resource groups, questions that should be answered to determine the need for automation, the importance of specifically defining office needs and goals prior to automation, the value ...

The responsibility for the regulation of pharmaceuticals is situated within the Pharmaceutical Affairs Bureau (PAB) of the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare. The scientific evaluation of the application is undertaken by a series of committees consisting of independent senior members of the medical and scientific community whereas all communication ...

It is becoming commonplace that physicians are not just working in hospitals but are helping run them as well. This means that chief executive officers are working side by side with chief medical officers. What are the factors that influence the working relationship between these roles? The author presents data ...

Tumescent injection of tissues in preparation for suction lipectomy appears to be safe and effective. It allows lipoplasty of a wide range of volumes and areas in an office setting under oral sedation and without the need for fluid replacement. Few plastic surgeons believe this or have experience with the ...

Hospitals considering the development of on-campus medical office complexes may find the process challenging and costly. But when developed and leased appropriately, medical office complexes can provide significant benefits to hospitals. Leasing on-campus medical office space to physicians serves to improve relationships with the physician community, and thereby can increase ...

The financing and ownership of medical office buildings have changed along with their design and function. Once merely a convenience for the medical staff, medical office buildings are becoming an increasingly important part of a hospital's marketing and financial strategies. Understanding the economic evolution of these buildings will help hospital ...

Samuel Preston Moore was trained as a military surgeon in the US Army but resigned his commission and was appointed Surgeon-General of the Confederate States Army Medical Department at the beginning of the American Civil War. He reformed the mediocre medical corps by raising recruiting standards and improving treatment protocols ...

A fifteen year old healthy, male patient contacted our office stating that whilst eating a bread roll he had swallowed a piece of orthodontic archwire. He complained of stomach pain and was advised to contact his local medical practitioner who had the area radiographed. The radiographic examination revealed the piece ...