When the Family Demands Antibiotics

When Antibiotics Appear to Fail

he patient was a 17-year-old unmarried, primi-gravida who delivered via vacuum-assisted vaginal extraction two days previously. In the course of the delivery, a significant midline and extensive right lateral wall vaginal tear occurred. The patient was discharged on the first postpartum day; however, she represented herself to the clinic 24 h later with shaking chills, a temperature of 103.3F, ...

When Do Antibiotics Induce “Resistance”?

When your child does not need antibiotics.

Bacteria Bacteriacancauseear infections, sinus infections, somesore throats, and pneumonia. Antibiotics are strongmedicines that are designed tokillbacteria,buttheyhavenosalutaryeffectonaviral infection.Duringavisit toyourpediatrician,heor shewillwant toknowthehistory of your child’s symptoms, todoaphysical examinationof your child, and to evaluatewhether or not the infection is viral or bacter...

TOP Docs: family physicians with competing demands and the right priorities--individual, family, and community health.

A number of studies have examined the effects of competing demands during an office visit on family physician care. Some studies conclude that competing demands drive out top-quality care. In fact, there are so many studies that suggest family physicians provide less care than what is recommended by some set of guidelines that I would hate to enumerate them. Usually these studies examine a smal...

Anticipating Computational Demands when Solving Time-Critical Decision-Making Problems

An agent embedded in a dynamic environment may need to respond in a timely manner to sequences of events outside the agent's control. By anticipating computational demands and allocating processing time accordingly the agent can avoid costly delays often arising from trying to respond to a dynamic environment with high-complexity decision procedures. Deliberation scheduling, the process of allo...