Surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) is currently performed in many major hospitals throughout the world. This paper reviews the development of surgical procedures for AF ablation. It is hoped that the paper can provide a foundation for those involved with ablation of AF to improve patient care. AF is triggered by a rapidly firing focus and could be treated with a localized ablation pr...

We propose a probabilistically based incentive payment system for guideline implementation that provides rewards for physicians who follow practice guidelines and additional remuneration for physician leaders who engage in information sharing. All payments are based on observed outcomes of patient treatment. A fixed base payment forms the core of the system with probabilistic offsets calculated...

BACKGROUND The Aboriginal Women's Cancer Care Project used a participatory research model guided by an Aboriginal advisory group. METHODS The researchers attempted to conduct cancer research with 5 culturally and geographically different communities in North America. RESULTS We discuss the challenges of conducting ethical research in keeping with the emergent research principles of communit...

This article has described the key points in the evidence-based practice guideline entitled Nursing Management of Hearing Impairment in Nursing Facility Residents. The guideline outlining the nursing management of nursing facility residents with hearing impairment is supported by 175 articles: 94 research articles (both experimental and descriptive) and 81 nonresearch articles (expert opinion)....

The management of critical trauma disease (CTD) has always trends the trends in military war experiences. These conflicts have historically revolutionized clinical concepts, clinical practice guidelines and medical devices, and have marked future lines of research and aspects of training and learning in severe trauma care. Moreover, in the civil setting, the development of intensive care, techn...

Authors The Canadian Chiropractic Association and the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory Boards, Clinical Practice Guidelines Development Initiative (The CCA•CFCRB-CPG), Guidelines Development Committee (GDC) comprising: Elizabeth Anderson-Peacock, BSc, DC (Barrie, ON); Roland Bryans, BA, DC, Cochair (Clarenville, NL); Normand Danis, DC, Co-chair (Montreal, QC); Andrea Furlan, MD (E...

De-escalation is an important tool for preventing aggression in inpatient settings but definitions vary and there is no clear practice guideline. We aimed to identify how clinical staff define and conceptualize de-escalation, which de-escalation interventions they would use in aggressive scenarios, and their beliefs about the efficacy of de-escalation interventions. A questionnaire survey (n = ...

Humanitarian professionals continue to seek best practice guidelines for famine relief. Many emergency interventions in developing countries draw on recent lessons from the 20 century, but attention has also been paid to historical experiences such as the 19 century evolution of India’s Famine Codes and responses to Ireland’s famine of the 1840s. This article goes further back in time to examin...