533 research outputs found
Pharmacy intervention at an intensive care rehabilitation clinic
Introduction: During an intensive care stay, patients often have their
chronic medications withheld for a variety of reasons and new drugs
commenced [1]. As patients are often under the care of a number of
different medical teams during their admission there is potential for
these changes to be inadvertently continued [2]. Intensive Care Syndrome:
Promoting Independence and Return to Employment (InS:PIRE)
is a five week rehabilitation programme for patients and their
caregivers after ICU (Intensive Care Unit) discharge at Glasgow Royal
Infirmary. Within this programme a medication review by the critical
care pharmacist provided an opportunity to identify and resolve any
pharmaceutical care issues and also an opportunity to educate patients
and their caregivers about changes to their medication.
Methods: During the medication review we identified ongoing
pharmaceutical care issues which were communicated to the patientâs
primary care physician (GP) by letter or a telephone call. The patients
were also encouraged to discuss any issues raised with their GP. The
significance of the interventions was classified from those not likely to
be of clinical benefit to the patient, to those which prevented serious
therapeutic failure.
Results: Data was collected from 47 of the 48 patients who attended
the clinic (median age was 52 (IQR, 44-57) median ICU LOS was 15
(IQR 9-25), median APACHE II was 23 (IQR 18-27) and 32 of the patients
were men (67%). The pharmacist made 69 recommendations;
including 20 relating to drugs which had been withheld and not
restarted, dose adjustments were suggested on 13 occasions and
new drug recommendations were made for 10 patients. Duration of treatment for new medications started during hospital admission
was clarified on 12 occasions. Lastly adverse drug effects were reported
on 4 occasions and the incorrect drug was prescribed on 2
occasions. Of the interventions made 58% were considered to be of
moderate to high impact.
Conclusions: The pharmacist identified pharmaceutical care issues
with 18.6% of the prescribed medications. Just over half of the patients
reported that they were not made aware of any alterations to
their prescribed medication on discharge. Therefore a pharmacy
intervention is an essential part of an intensive care rehabilitation
programme to address any medication related problems, provide
education and to ensure patients gain optimal benefit from their
medication
A comparison of three outcome measures of the impact of vasomotor symptoms on womenâs lives
Objective: Measures of the impact of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) have been used as outcomes in clinical trials but have not been compared. This study compares the Hot Flush Rating Scale (HFRS), the Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale (HFRDIS), and the shorter Hot Flash Interference (HFI) scale.Methods: Baseline data were taken from two studies including healthy women (menopause transition or postmenopause) and breast cancer patients experiencing VMS. Participants completed questionnaires on sociodemographics, the HFRS, the HFRDIS, the HFI, the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS), on depression (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7), on anxiety (Patient Health Questionnaire 9), and on use of medical services.Results: A total of 169 women (129 with history of breast cancer and 40 without) aged 54.47 (standard deviation [SD] = 9.11) years took part. They had an average of 66 (SD = 40.94) VMS per week, with a mean HFRS problem-rating of 6.53 (SD = 1.99), HFRDIS score of 5.36 (SD = 2.22), and HFI score of 6.13 (SD = 2.30). The HFRS problem-rating, HFRDIS, and HFI were significantly associated (r = 0.61â0.85), had good internal reliability (Îą = 0.76â0.91), and had significant concurrent validity with mood, the WSAS, and use of medical services. VMS frequency was not associated with mood, the WSAS, or use of medical services.Conclusion: The HFRS problem-rating scale and the HFI are two brief, three-item measures that measure a similar concept of VMS interference/impact, with evidence of reliability and validity.</p
A cohort study of the recovery of health and wellbeing following colorectal cancer (CREW study): protocol paper
Background: the number of people surviving colorectal cancer has doubled in recent years. While much of the literature suggests that most people return to near pre-diagnosis status following surgery for colorectal cancer, this literature has largely focused on physical side effects. Longitudinal studies in colorectal cancer have either been small scale or taken a narrow focus on recovery after surgery. There is a need for a comprehensive, long-term study exploring all aspects of health and wellbeing in colorectal cancer patients. The aim of this study is to establish the natural history of health and wellbeing in people who have been treated for colorectal cancer. People have different dispositions, supports and resources, likely resulting in individual differences in restoration of health and wellbeing. The protocol described in this paper is of a study which will identify who is most at risk of problems, assess how quickly people return to a state of subjective health and wellbeing, and will measure factors which influence the course of recovery. Methods: this is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study following 1000 people with colorectal cancer over a period of two years, recruiting from 30 NHS cancer treatment centres across the UK. Questionnaires will be administered prior to surgery, and 3, 9, 15 and 24 months after surgery, with the potential to return to this cohort to explore on-going issues related to recovery after cancer. Discussion: outcomes will help inform health care providers about what helps or hinders rapid and effective recovery from cancer, and identify areas for intervention development to aid this process. Once established the cohort can be followed up for longer periods and be approached to participate in related projects as appropriate and subject to funding<br/
P4_2 How to fly your dragon
In this paper we calculate the minimum area and length of a dragonâs wing for it to be able to fly. The minimum area was calculated to be 224m^2 and the length was 35.6m
P4_6 Wind swept
This paper discusses the plausibility of the thruster in the Iron Man suit being used as weapons to push a human back. It was determined that the shock-wave produced by the change in temperature due to the thrusters would produce a force of kN on a person it was shot at, this would cause the person to accelerate at ms killing the person
P4_5 Atmospheric ODSTs
In this paper the maximum acceleration on the ODST and the pod was found to be , with a braking thrusters force of N during the last m of descent. This deceleration brings the impact velocity of the pod to below velocity of ms, should the braking thrusters fail to fire the pod will hit the ground with a velocity of ms killing the trooper
Bivariate stochastic modeling of functional response with natural mortality
A correction due to Abbott (1925) is the standard method of dealing with control mortality in insect bioassay to estimate the mortality of an insect conditional on control mortality not having occurred. In this article a bivariate stochastic process for overall mortality is developed in which natural mortality and predation are jointly modeled to take account of the competing-risks associated with prey loss. The total mortality estimate from this model is essentially identical with that from more classical modeling. However, when predation loss is estimated in the absence of control mortality the results are somewhat different, with the estimate from the bivariate model being lower than that from using Abbottâs formula in conjunction with the classical model. It is argued that overdispersion in observed mortality data corresponds to correlated outcomes (death or survival) for the prey initially present, while Abbottâs correction relies implicitly on independence
P4_4 Snorlax used Body Slam
In this paper we consider the maximum strength of Ash's Snorlax, from the Pokemon original TV series, this will occur when the Snorlax jumps as high as it can. The maximum height of the jump was calculated to be 41.8 m, the velocity it impacts the ground with is 28.1 ms^-1 and the momentum of the Snorlax when it hits the ground is 12,900 kgms^-1
P4_3 Light Ordnance
In this paper we consider a weapon system that ďŹres a laser at an interplanetary vessel. We calculate the energy required to melt through a vesselâs armoured hull, of thickness 0.254 m, from a shot from a laser with a calibre of 16 inches. The energy required is found to be E = 34449 J. Using this energy, the recoil of the laser ďŹring was calculated to be Ď = 1.15x10â4 kgmsâ1
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