Introduction Physician preference items (PPIs) are high-cost medical devices on which clinicians express firm preferences with respect to a particular manufacturer and specific product. The aim of this research is understand what the most important factors, as well their relative importance, in choice new PPIs (that is, hip or knee prosthesis) adoption behalf orthopaedic Italy. Methods Based li...

the obesity epidemic raises important and complex issues for clinicians and policy-makers, such as what clinical and public health measures will be most effective and most ethically-sound. while nir eyal’s analysis of these issues is very helpful and while he correctly concludes that “conditioning the very aid that patients need in order to become healthier on success in becoming healthier” is ...

Exposure to research early in medical school facilitates the development of physician-scientists and competent clinicians. In the last decade, institutions have established programs and policies to address the physician- scientist shortage. However, student-led initiatives to promote medical student engagement in research remain unexplored. This paper presents the design and results of the thir...

In January of 2011 I, together with my fourth-year medical student colleagues, returned to the University of Western Ontario from our electives to begin four months of preparation for our medical licensing exam. During large group discussions on general clinical scenarios, it was clear that, for most students, specialization was well underway. When listing a differential diagnosis for a headach...

Discussing preferences regarding resuscitation is a challenging and important task for any physician. Understanding patients' wishes at the end of life allows physicians to provide the type of care patients want, to avoid unwanted interventions, and to promote patient autonomy and dignity. Hospitalists face an even greater challenge because they are often meeting a patient for the first time in...

In a recent Motherisk Clinical Practice Update published in Canadian Family Physician, the authors presented the following question from a family physician: “ I have several patients whom I suspect are drinking during pregnancy. How can I find out for sure if they are?” 1 In response, the Motherisk Update advised the use of brief standardised alcohol-use questionnaires that can be used to scree...

Because both computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems and mobile technologies such as handheld devices have the potential to greatly impact the industry's future, IT vendors, hospitals, and clinicians are simply merging them into a logical convergence--"CPOE on a handheld"--with an expectation of full functionality on all platforms: computer workstations, rolling laptops, tablet PCs, a...

Intrapartum electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) is one of the most common procedures in obstetrics. Current consensus statements provide clinicians with a common language for EFM as well as provide a basis for a simplified approach to interpretation and management. This article presents a summary of the content and implementation of a statewide initiative in interdisciplinary EFM education and tr...