Drug prescription has evolved to deal mainly with chronic diseases. Nowadays, repeating prescriptions using computers results in problems if this is not done with adequate control. Steps proposed for appropriate prescription are: defining the problem; specifying the objective; selecting the drug; initiating therapy with appropriate details; giving information; regular evaluation; considering co...

Although patients with advanced pulmonary diseases have significant improvement in exercise ability and functional status following comprehensive out-patient pulmonary rehabilitation (OPR), their long-term prognosis once they have reached this stage of their diseases remains poor. To further evaluate predictors of increased mortality in these patients, we related patient characteristics and sho...

Epilepsy, a common childhood condition, is largely managed by general paediatricians. To assess whether recent management guidelines are being met, we undertook a prospective questionnaire-based survey of children with epilepsy, attending the general paediatric out-patient clinic, at the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Alder Hey. Ninety-one children were identified over seven months-giving...

The introduction of autohsemotherapy in the treatment of carbuncle has given very good results in my hands, much better than the old method of surgical treatment. The technique consists of injection of the patient's own citrated blood, the amount depending on the area affected, usually about 10 to 20 c.cm. each time, starting about half an inch within the extreme margin of induration and inject...

CONTEXT Out-of-pocket costs account for approximately one fifth of health care expenditures and are increasing. Previous research suggests that these costs are associated with medication nonadherence and considerable economic burden among some patients. Little is known about patient-physician communication regarding these costs. OBJECTIVE To identify patients' and physicians' beliefs and prac...

OBJECTIVE To examine the profile and referral pattern of patients attending an out-patient pain management service in Hong Kong. DESIGN Prospective cross-sectional survey. SETTING Regional public hospitals, Hong Kong. PATIENTS All patients attending out-patient pain management clinics in the New Territories East public hospitals between 1 September and 31 December 2002. MAIN OUTCOME MEA...

BACKGROUND There is an expectation in current heath care policy that family carers are involved in service delivery. This is also the case with compulsory outpatient mental health care, Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) that were introduced in England in 2008. No study has systematically investigated family involvement through the CTO process. METHOD We conducted qualitative interviews with 2...

The KVB Data Warehouse enables the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) Physicians to track public health data in a centralised way. In a sophisticated process, healthcare statistics are retrieved and users can perform multidimensional analysis. Given its unmatched breadth and depth of data there is no comparable public health information system in Germany. It contains the d...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Previous studies suggest improved patient outcomes for providers who perform high volumes of complex medical procedures. Out-of-hospital tracheal intubation is a difficult procedure. We seek to determine the association between rescuer procedural experience and patient survival after out-of-hospital tracheal intubation. METHODS We analyzed probabilistically linked Pennsylvania...