Serum albumin level as a risk factor for mortality in burn patients

OBJECTIVE: Hypoalbuminemia is a common clinical deficiency in burn patients and is associated with complications related to increased extravascular fluid, including edema, abnormal healing, and susceptibility to sepsis. Some prognostic scales do not include biochemical parameters, whereas others consider them together with comorbidities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether serum albumin can predict mortality in burn patients. METHODS: We studied burn patients ≥16 years of age who had complete clinical documentation, including the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index, serum albumin, globulin, and lipids. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed to determine the cut-off level of albumin that predicts mortality. RESULTS: In our analysis of 486 patients, we found that mortality was higher for burns caused by flame (p = 0.000), full-thickness burns (p = 0.004), inhalation injuries (p = 0.000), burns affecting >;30% of the body surface area (p = 0.001), and burns associated with infection (p = 0.008). Protein and lipid levels were lower in the patients who died (

Burnout syndrome prevalence during internship in public and private hospitals: a survey study in Mexico

Burnout syndrome is a psychological condition that commonly affects health professionals, medical students, and others in professions with long shifts. It is defined by a high amount of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal job satisfaction. We aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout syndrome in medical interns and establish the relationships between this condition and the time and type of hospital at which students worked during their medical internship. This was a survey study in which we used the Maslach Burnout Inventory, applied to fifth-year medical students on an internship at private and public hospitals in Mexico. The participants were 96 women (54.5%) and 80 men (45.5%), with ages ranging from 21 to 34 years old. We found burnout syndrome in 20% of these medical students 22% of the women and 18.6% of the men in the sample. Second-semester interns suffered burnout at a rate of 29%, in contrast to 15% of first-semester students. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores were higher in second-semester interns who worked in public hospitals. However, the prevalence did not differ between public and private hospitals. Our study reports a higher prevalence of burnout syndrome during the second semester of internship. Students who practiced their internship in a public hospital showed higher scores in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization than those who practiced in a private hospital

End-of-Life Practices in an Intensive Care Unit of a Private Hospital in Mexico

Background: Many factors, such as religion, geography, and customs, influence end-of-life practices. This variability exists even between different physicians. Objective: To observe and describe the end-of-life actions of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and document the variables that might influence decision-making at the end of life. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study performed in the ICU patients of a private hospital from March 2017 to March 2022. We used the Philips Tasy Electronic Medical Record database of clinical records; 298 patients were included in the study during these five years (2017–2022). The data analysis was done with the statistical package SPSS version 23 for Windows. Results: A total of 297 patients were included in this study, of which more than half were men. About 60% of our sample had private health insurance, whereas the remaining paid out of pocket. Most patients had withholding treatment, followed by failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, withdrawal treatment, and brain death, and none of the patients had acceleration of the dying process. The main cause of admission to the ICU in our center was respiratory complications. Most of our samples were Catholics. Conclusions: Decision-making at the end of life is a complex process. Active participation of the patient, when possible, the patient’s family, doctors, and nurses, can give different perspectives and a more compassionate and individualized approach to end-of-life care

Association Between HEXACO Personality Traits and Medical Specialty Preferences in Mexican Medical Students

Abstract Background: Medical specialty is a critical choice in a physician’s life because it determines their professional future and medical practice. Some are motivated to choose a specific specialty based on the monetary gain it can provide; others are inspired by seeing the work performed by a physician or a patient’s recovery. It is not uncommon to stereotype doctors’ personalities by their specialty. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey study in which we administered the 100-item HEXACO-Personality Inventory-R to 292 medical students between September 2018 and March 2019. We evaluated six different domains of personality traits. We also included questions about their medical specialty of choice, their least preferred specialty, and the motivation behind these choices. The participants included 175 women (59.9%) and 117 men (40.1%). Results: When participants were asked about their preferred type of medical specialty, 52.4% indicated a preference for surgical specialties (surgical group) versus 47.6% who preferred clinical specialties (clinical group). We found that the surgical group showed a tendency toward higher scores for the extroversion (p = 0.004) and organization (p = 0.004) scales; while the clinical group presented higher scores in the honesty–humility (p = 0.038), emotionality (p = 0.048), and agreeableness (p = 0.014) scales. We identified critical differences within the overall group of medical students by sex and between medical specialty preference. Conclusions: Some classical stereotypes were confirmed by our results, such as surgical specialists being more prone to being extroverted and organized, while clinical specialists were prone to being more introverted, anxious, and more emotionally attached to their patients.</jats:p

Association between HEXACO personality traits and medical specialty preferences in Mexican medical students: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract Background Medical specialty is a critical choice in a physician’s life because it determines their professional future and medical practice. While some are motivated to choose a specific specialty based on the monetary gain it can provide, others are inspired by seeing the work performed by a physician or by a patient’s recovery. It is common to stereotype doctors’ personalities by their specialty. Methods This was a cross-sectional survey study in which we administered the 100-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised to 292 medical students between September 2018 and March 2019. We evaluated six different domains of personality traits. We also included questions about their medical specialty of choice, their least preferred specialty, and the motivation behind these choices. The participants included 175 women (59.9%) and 117 men (40.1%). Results When the participants were asked about their preferred type of medical specialty, 52.4% indicated a preference for surgical specialties (surgical group) vs 47.6% who preferred clinical specialties (clinical group). We found that the surgical group showed significantly higher scores for Extraversion and Organization domains, while the clinical group showed significantly higher scores on the Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness domains. We identified critical differences within the overall group of medical students by their medical specialty preference. Conclusions Some classical stereotypes were confirmed by our results, such as surgical specialists tending to be more extroverted and organized, whereas clinical specialists were prone to being more introverted, anxious, and more emotionally attached to their patients. </jats:sec

Additional file 1 of Association between HEXACO personality traits and medical specialty preferences in Mexican medical students: a cross-sectional survey

Additional file 1. HEXACO-PI-R factorial analyses. Factor analysis comparing a 6-Factor model and one-factor model of the HEXACO-PI-R domains and the underlying facets, including all items for each facet. The analysis compares the models’ AVE, CR indexes, KMO tests and variance percentage scores

Additional file 2 of Association between HEXACO personality traits and medical specialty preferences in Mexican medical students: a cross-sectional survey

Additional file 2. HEXACO-PI-R factorial analyses (facet scores). Factor analysis comparing a of the 6-Factor model and the one-factor model of the HEXACO-PI-R domains and the underlying facets, including all only the mean scores for each facet. The analysis compares the models’ AVE, CR indexes, KMO tests and variance percentage scores