Available information suggests that nonadherence with medication is a common problem in pregnant women. Not taking prescribed drugs may have potentially negative consequences as patients may not achieve their therapeutic goal. In addition to the many factors that may influence medication-taking behaviour in the general population, unique challenges are encountered ...

Medical students were asked regarding knowledge and beliefs on hand hygiene before entering the clinical phase of education. By this, we noticed a lack of knowledge concerning the correct indications for hand disinfection. Regardless of previous experience in hospitals, the medical students expected that the compliance towards hand hygiene would be ...

Medical device reprocessing is extremely important and complex, thus requiring both the operational skills for its implementation and the technical qualification of the professionals involved in the activity. The typical issues of medical device reprocessing involve technical, economical and regulatory aspects when involving either the so-called reusable articles or those ...

The human cerebrum is asymmetrical, consisting of two hemispheres with differing functions. Recent epidemiological and neurobiological research has shed new light on the development of the cerebral lateralization of motor processes, including handedness. In this article, we present these findings from a medical perspective. We selectively searched the PubMed online ...

This study examines social and moral norms towards the intention to comply with hand hygiene among Portuguese medical students from 1st and 6th years (N = 175; 121 from the 1st year, 54 from the 6th year). The study extended the Theory of Planned Behaviour theoretical principles and hypothesised that both subjective ...

Gout is an inflammatory-rheumatic disease characterized by an elevated serum urate concentration and recurrent flares, including painful, hot, red, and swollen joints and surrounding tissue. Untreated gout often develops into a chronic disease with tophi and destruction of joint surfaces. Giant tophi are often resistant to medication and change in ...

Presented is a report on the first female hand allotransplantation performed in the USA. The patient sustained a dominant hand amputation at the level of the wrist as a result of a bomb explosion while on active duty in the United States Air Force. A hand allotransplantation was performed at ...

Abstract Objectives: The present study aimed to determine whether health service advertisements are perceived differently depending on advertising conventional or complementary and alternative medicine clinics. Methods: A total of 42 adults (male=21, female=21) recruited through advertisements in Seoul, South Korea participated in this study. A standardized health service advertisement was ...

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory arthritis that can destroy joint structures, are often on multiple disease-modifying antirheumatic medications to control disease activity. These medications have significant toxicities, most notably immunosuppression leading to increased risk of infection. Furthermore, certain disease-modifying antirheumatic medications have been reported to affect the healing process. ...

Little is known about racial/ethnic differences in preferred methods of disclosing deceased organ donation intentions among persons not previously designating their organ donation preferences publicly or the association of medical mistrust with preferences. We surveyed 307 United States (US) adults who had not yet designated their donation intentions via drivers' ...

Introduction: Infection control and hand hygiene are taught at different points in the undergraduate medical curriculum. We conducted a survey on fifth year medical (M5) students pre- and peri-influenza A (H1N1-2009) pandemic, attempting to ascertain whether the pandemic had affected their knowledge, perception and practice of hand hygiene and other ...

This paper introduces the technical foundations of a system designed to embed a lightweight, faithful and spatially manipulable representation of the user's hand into an otherwise virtual world - Augmented Virtuality (AV). A highly intuitive control during pointing-like near space interaction can be provided to the user, as well as ...

An in vitro evaluation of the anti-microbial activity of medicated soaps was conducted using ditch-plate and hand washing techniques. Strains of reference microbes namely Candida albicans (ATCC90028), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Pseudomonas aureginosa (ATCC27853) and Escherichia coli (ATCC25922) were tested at three different soaps' concentrations (1.0, 4.0 and 8.0 mg/ml). A ...

Breast cancer patients are as a rule in need of a multiple sequential in-patient, day-patient and out-patient permanent treatment. The required care demands a trans-sectoral networking of all multi-professional persons involved in diagnostics, therapies, rehabilitation and aftercare. A method to develop the integration of treatment processes, as well as thereby ...

Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is the only neurodegenerative disorder for which highly effective symptomatic therapy is available. Although levodopa continues to be the gold standard of symptomatic efficacy for treatment of the cardinal motor features, its chronic use is associated with potentially disabling motor complications. This review provides a survey ...

Was this a case of Addison's disease, hemochromatosis, or melanoma? Or did one of the patient's medications have something to do with it?

Surgical blood loss of more than 1000 mL or blood loss that requires a blood transfusion usually defines intraoperative hemorrhage. Intraoperative hemorrhage has been reported in 1% to 2% of hysterectomy studies. Preoperative evaluation of the patient can aid surgical planning to help prevent intraoperative hemorrhage or prepare for the ...

Medical toxicology is a subspecialty focusing on the diagnosis, management and prevention of poisoning effects due to medications, occupational and environmental toxins and xenobiotics, radiological and biological agents. This subspecialty provides an array of opportunities for physicians to care for patients in different settings: medication overdoses, substance abuse management, adverse ...

Prospective randomized clinical trials that support operative correction of atherosclerotic renovascular disease or catheter-based intervention compared with optimal medical management are lacking. Despite various limitations in study design, each of the five randomized trials reported to date had demonstrated no apparent benefit for renal artery intervention compared with medical management. ...

This review discusses the medical management of pediatric refractory status epilepticus, defined here as persistent seizures of any type after the administration of 2 appropriate anticonvulsants. The use of both nonanesthetic and anesthetic anticonvulsants is discussed along with the relative strengths and weaknesses of each agent. Appropriate treatment goals and ...

To explore factors that influence how informal caregivers manage medications as part of caring for hospice patients. Semistructured, open-ended interviews were conducted with 23 informal caregivers and 22 hospice providers from 4 hospice programs in the Chicago metropolitan areas. Qualitative analysis was conducted consistent with the grounded theory approach. In ...

Antiplatelet medications are drugs that decrease platelet aggregation and inhibit thrombus (clot) formation. They are widely used in primary and secondary prevention of thrombotic cerebrovascular or cardiovascular disease. The most common antiplatelet medications are the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors (aspirin) and the adenosine disphosphate (ADP) receptor inhibitors clopidogrel (Plavix) and ticlopidine (Ticlid). ...

The immunomodulators (6-mercaptopurine, azathioprine and methotrexate) and biologics (infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab and natalizumab) are medications essential in the management of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. If properly utilized, these medications can control active disease, reduce corticosteroid exposure, induce remission, and promote normal growth and development. However, these medications also have significant ...

BACKGROUND: Less than 75% of people prescribed antihypertensive medication are still using treatment after 6 months. Physicians determine treatment, educate patients, manage side effects, and influence patient knowledge and motivation. Although physician communication ability likely influences persistence, little is known about the importance of medical management skills, even though these ...

Major advances in the fields of medical science and physiology, molecular genetics, biomedical engineering, and computer science have provided individuals with muscular dystrophy (MD) with more functional equipment, allowing better strategies for improvement of quality of life. These advances have also allowed a significant number of these patients to live ...

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a disabling preoccupation with a slight or an imagined defect in appearance. It is recognised in some patients who present to the plastic surgeon requesting multiple cosmetic procedures. Very rarely, BDD patients may wish for amputation of a healthy limb and may even mutilate themselves ...

BACKGROUND: Medication management is an integral part of chronic pain management. Prompted by an increase in the role of medication management in anesthesia chronic pain liability, we investigated the characteristics of malpractice claims collected from 2005 to 2008. METHODS: After Institutional Review Board approval, we compared medication management claims with ...

The prevention and management of medical complications are important for improving outcomes after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Fever, anemia requiring transfusion, hyperglycemia, hyponatremia, pneumonia, hypertension, and neurogenic cardiopulmonary dysfunction occur frequently after SAH. There is increasing evidence that acute hypoxia and extremes of blood pressure can exacerbate brain injury during the ...

Acute laminitis is a serious complication of many primary conditions in the horse. This article summarizes the most appropriate approach to management of the horse with acute laminitis, based on current information.

Chronic ITP (immune thrombocytopenic purpura; now defined as duration of more than 12 months) is not always associated with significant bleeding problems so that most children and adults can be managed expectantly with no medication unless surgery, accidents or other pathology mandate it. A cut-off platelet count of 30 x ...

The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association 2005 Guidelines for the Management of Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) emphasize the importance of cardiovascular risk reduction in all patients with PAD as a result of the high likelihood of coexisting atherosclerotic disease of the peripheral, coronary, and cerebral circulations. The ...

Poisoning is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with several million episodes reported annually. Acute medication poisonings account for nearly one half of all poisonings reported in the United States and should be considered in persons with an acute change in mental status. The initial ...

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is the major risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) disease such as myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. This risk is well known to extend into the perioperative period. Although most perioperative hypertension can be managed with the patient's outpatient regimen, there are situations in which oral medications cannot be ...

The symposium successfully brought together key military medical and personnel managers with civilian experts in hearing disorders and charities to help streamline our knowledge of the aetiology, investigation, prevention and management of NIHL. A requirement for seamless medical care for veterans with NIHL was recognised and collaborative work has commenced.

Medical software management represents one of the biggest future challenge in healthcare. Technology level is actually waiting for appropriate normative and regulatory support by including maintenance, assistance and safety. This paper aims to highlight the critical aspects in medical software management and specifically to provide a methodology in order to ...

Cardiac tamponade is a rare extraintestinal manifestation of ulcerative colitis. We present a case report of tamponade occurring four years after curative proctocolectomy and in the absence of any medical therapy for ulcerative colitis. Options for medical management of this condition are also discussed.

Urinary retention is a true urologic emergency. First-line treatment with a transurethral catheter can and will fail. SOF medics need a reliable and durable method to resolve this problem using a minimal amount of resources and time. Current SOF Medical Handbook guidance for the management of unsuccessful urethral catheterization is ...

Non-technical skills are seen as an important contributor to reducing adverse events and improving medical management in healthcare teams. Previous research on the effectiveness of teams has suggested that shared mental models facilitate coordination and team performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether demonstrated teamwork skills and ...

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of occlusive peripheral vascular disease in the superficial femoral artery approaches 20% in patients over the age of 60. Symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (intermittent claudication) is present in 3% to 7% of patients over the age of 60. The attraction of minimally invasive, percutaneous endovascular angioplasty (PTA) ...

Healthcare services are complex and life-critical. One mistake in any procedure may lead to irremediable consequences; numerous researchers, thus, introduce information and communication technology to improve quality of services and enhance patient safety by reducing the medical errors. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is considered as one of the emerging tool ...

The management of acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) by medical therapy with anticoagulation has long been supported by evidence-based clinical practice guidelines outlined in the American College of Chest Physicians supplement. Early thrombus removal in patients with iliofemoral DVT has been reported to lead to improved venous valve function, improved ...

Explore the merits of this concept for improved medication management.

An extensive medication history, including the use of nonprescription agents and herbal products, is the foundation of effective perioperative medication management. Decisions about stopping or continuing medications perioperatively should be based on withdrawal potential, the potential for disease progression if therapy is interrupted, the potential for drug interactions with anesthesia, ...

Benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) and its associated lower urinary-tract symptoms (LUTS) commonly result in a significant decrease in the quality of life (QOL) of aging men. Although several safe and effective medications are currently available for the management of this disease, newly emerging research has focused on the exploration of ...

Psychotropic medications are used regularly to manage problem behaviours among people with intellectual disabilities. This causes concern because often these medications are used out of their licensed indications in this context. The WPA Section on Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability has recently developed an evidence and consensus-based international guide for practitioners ...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition characterised by a persistent pattern of inattention or hyperactivity. The condition impacts on multiple aspects of an individual's life, as it can affect motor skills, social relationships, self-esteem and educational success. The diagnosis and management of this condition is of concern to ...

A comprehensive primer on the threat posed by radiological dispersion devices, or "dirty bombs," and the management challenges for first responders is presented. The discussion is scenario-driven, presenting guidance for medical responders as to triage and treatment priorities in the face of radiation risk. Key questions are posed that present ...

The consensus conference on intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) identifies principles of management, and research priorities in various aspects upon which leading experts can agree (using "Delphi" method). ICAD is more prevalent in Asian, Hispanic, and African-American populations. Patients who have had a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) attributed to ...

BACKGROUND: Management of acute type A intramural hematoma (IMH) remains controversial, varying from immediate surgery to medical management only. Conversion to typical dissection remains a concern. We analyzed our experience managing acute type A IMH. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between October 1999 and May 2008, 251 patients with acute type A ...

OBJECTIVE: To focus on the challenges and problems of medication management in everyday life experienced by people with chronic conditions, giving special attention to chronic illness trajectories. METHODS: Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth and follow-up interviews with 27 chronically ill people were conducted and analysed. RESULTS: From the perspective ...