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Medical Tasks (medical + task)
Selected AbstractsContemporary referral of patients from community care to cardiology lack diagnostic and clinical detailINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 5 2006S. Bodek Summary The quantity of referrals to secondary care is increasing. That the quality of medical referrals is decreasing is a common allegation yet has rarely been assessed. We report a time-limited, cross-sectional survey evaluating cardiological referral information quality. Referral letters (n = 218, excluding direct access pro formas) from GPs to the Cardiology Department at City Hospital, Birmingham, were collated and analysed over 2 months. A subset (n = 49) of these patients completed questionnaires assessing their knowledge and patient communication of the referral. Information quality was poor (length, diagnosis, expectation, prior treatment and investigation) with almost half of all letters containing only outline symptomatic complaints without diagnosis. The majority of patients referred had not been investigated or treated in any way before referral. Despite lack of understanding of the reason for referral, typically the majority of patients expressed themselves as satisfied with the process. Given most referrals are seen as appropriate, information exchange between secondary and primary care is crucial. By contrast, the standard of even basic clinical assessment communicated between primary care and secondary care was severely limited. The reason(s) why medical assessment is lacking are unclear but must be explored to give more support to primary care to complete basic medical task particularly if investment is to flow into this source. [source] Rural hospital generalist and emergency medicine training in Papua New GuineaEMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 2 2007David Symmons Abstract The present paper describes the role of the hospital generalist in rural Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the contribution of emergency medicine training to that practice. Generalist practice in Tinsley District Hospital in Western Highlands Province is described, with emphasis on emergency surgery and anaesthesia. The potential of the PNG emergency medicine training programme for preparing generalists is discussed. Tinsley Hospital served a population of 40 000 people, with 4000 admissions and 300,400 operations performed annually. Two doctors and 50 nurses and community health workers provided care with minimal resources. The doctors provided supervision and teaching for nurses, community health workers, hospital administrators and primary health carers, including on long range medical patrols. Over 16 months, doctors performed 243 emergency surgical procedures including orthopaedics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology. The generalist in rural hospitals is required to perform a wide variety of medical tasks in isolated settings yet there is no active postgraduate training programme. The Master of Medicine, Emergency Medicine programme includes rotations through the major disciplines of surgery, anaesthesia, internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology. It has the potential to train doctors in PNG for a generalist role as graduates will learn the foundations of the required skills. [source] Swedish student nurses' knowledge of health statutes: a descriptive surveyINTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 2 2009I.D. Kapborg rnt Background:, The nurse's function, no matter the working area, is guided by ethical approaches, grounded in science and well-tried experiences, and has to be conducted according to national laws, statutes and instructions. Aim:, To survey newly graduated Swedish nurses' knowledge about current statutes and laws that govern their healthcare system. Method:, A questionnaire was developed from facts in relevant statutes and laws presented and used in the nursing education programmes. Following a pilot study testing the items, a 20-item questionnaire, with mostly open-ended questions, was distributed to student nurses in the last semester of their nursing education programme before graduation. Results:, One hundred and seventy-eight participants answered the questionnaire (response rate 59%). Only 29% of responses on all questions showed correct knowledge about the different statutes and laws that regulate their work as nurses. The best knowledge was found in the area of documentation (range 35,86%) and in the area of information (range 16,54%) on group scores. Conclusion:, This survey concerning novice nurses' knowledge about statutes and laws showed great deficiencies. It was surprising to find that, on existing demands regarding nurses delegating medical tasks, not a single respondent presented a correct answer. Evidence-based knowledge was difficult to recognize. Nurses will be more conscious of their own limitations and more prepared to meet the reality of practice if there is emphasis on relevant statutes and laws during their education. [source] Review: the legal duty of care for nurses and other health professionalsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 22 2009Andy Young Aims and objectives., To explore the nature and extent of the legal duty of care in relation to contemporary healthcare practice. Background., The paper seeks to re-frame and update the legal duty of care for clinical nursing practice in the 21st century, taking into account collaborative and partnership working in healthcare practice. Design., Doctrinal legal ,approach'. Method., ,Black letter' legal research methodology used for data collection and analysis. Literature search using Westlaw and LexisNexis database(s) to identify recent common law decisions. Results., There has been a perceptible doctrinal shift away from paternalism and toward patient empowerment and autonomy in the last decade. This has implications for nurses and other healthcare professionals in terms of consenting patients and acting reasonably to ensure quality patient care. Conclusions., A number of experienced nurses are currently assuming extended roles and some are completing medical tasks, traditionally allocated to doctors. These specialist practitioners must remember that additional responsibility invariably means increased professional risk and accountability. Therefore, it is essential that those engaging in advanced nursing practice, fully understand the nature and reach of their professional duty of care and the significance of statutory and common law developments. Relevance to clinical practice., Nurses and other healthcare professionals must update their clinical skills and practice within a legal framework and to certain standards. The cases cited and discussed are relevant to all branches of nursing and indeed to all health professions. [source] Exploring the potential of video technologies for collaboration in emergency medical care: Part II.JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 14 2008Task performance We conducted an experiment with a posttest, between-subjects design to evaluate the potential of emerging 3D telepresence technology to support collaboration in emergency health care. 3D telepresence technology has the potential to provide richer visual information than do current 2D video conferencing techniques. This may be of benefit in diagnosing and treating patients in emergency situations where specialized medical expertise is not locally available. The experimental design and results concerning information behavior are presented in the article "Exploring the Potential of Video Technologies for Collaboration in Emergency Medical Care: Part I. Information Sharing" (Sonnenwald et al., this issue). In this article, we explore paramedics' task performance during the experiment as they diagnosed and treated a trauma victim while working alone or in collaboration with a physician via 2D videoconferencing or via a 3D proxy. Analysis of paramedics' task performance shows that paramedics working with a physician via a 3D proxy performed the fewest harmful interventions and showed the least variation in task performance time. Paramedics in the 3D proxy condition also reported the highest levels of self-efficacy. Interview data confirm these statistical results. Overall, the results indicate that 3D telepresence technology has the potential to improve paramedics' performance of complex medical tasks and improve emergency trauma health care if designed and implemented appropriately. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||