OBJECTIVE To determine the concordance between vaginal fluid Gram stains and pH obtained at speculum exam with similar stains and pH prepared from self-obtained vaginal swabs. METHODS Using vaginal fluid Gram stain, 129 pregnant women were screened for bacterial vaginosis at 24 to 29 weeks' gestation. Two smears were collected from each woman during the same prenatal visit: the first was prep...

BACKGROUND Preventative health services are a pediatric health care cornerstone, which strives to promote health and prevent illness and injury. In Israel, Maternal Child Health Clinics (MCHC) provide these well child services for ages 0-6 years. MCHC care includes physician visits; however, the physician's role is not well defined. The study purpose was to provide a basis for setting policies ...

Background: In the absence of routine death registration, the InterVA model is a new methodology being used as a physician alternative method to interpret verbal autopsy (VA) data in resource-poor settings. However, various studies indicate that there are significant discrepancies between the two approaches in assigning causes of deaths. This study evaluated the role of recall period and charac...

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the agreement between medical physicians in their interpretation of verbal autopsy (VA) interview data for identifying causes of neonatal deaths in rural Bangladesh. METHODS The study was carried out in Matlab, a rural sub-district in eastern Bangladesh. Trained persons conducted the VA interview with the mother or another family member at the home of the decease...

BACKGROUND In the absence of routine death registration, the InterVA model is a new methodology being used as a physician alternative method to interpret verbal autopsy (VA) data in resource-poor settings. However, various studies indicate that there are significant discrepancies between the two approaches in assigning causes of deaths. This study evaluated the role of recall period and charact...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The reliability of diagnostic coding of acute stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) in administrative data is uncertain. The purpose of this study is to determine the agreement between administrative data sources and chart audit for the identification of stroke type, stroke risk factors, and the use of hospital-based diagnostic procedures in patients with stroke or TIA. M...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patients with suspected stroke first assessed by ambulance paramedics require early recognition to facilitate appropriate triage and early treatment. We determined paramedic's accuracy in detecting acute stroke signs by comparing agreement between neurological signs recorded in the Face Arm Speech Test (FAST), a stroke recognition instrument, by paramedics on the scene an...

OBJECTIVE To assess the suitability of referral from primary to secondary care in pediatric Otolaryngology. METHODS The study was performed in the city of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais, from March 2004 to May 2005. A total of 408 pre-school children referred from primary care to secondary care in the department of Otolaryngology presenting with otitis, tonsillitis, sinusitis, a...

Introduction: Bedside lung ultrasound is increasingly performed in the Emergency Department to assess dyspnoeic patients. Quantifying the number of B-lines (a vertical short path reverberation artefact caused by the presence of interstitial fluid) can help clinicians differentiate 'wet lung' - pulmonary oedema, from 'dry lung' - not pulmonary oedema. The aim of this study was to determine inter...

OBJECTIVE To test the interexaminer reliability of abdominal examinations performed by pediatric emergency medicine physicians and surgeons in an emergency department. METHODS A prospective cross-sectional study in which 3 different types of physicians (pediatric emergency department residents, pediatric emergency department attending physicians, and pediatric surgeons in training) independen...