Postgraduate medical journal
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Burnout is an increasingly recognised phenomenon in acute healthcare specialities and associated with depersonalisation, ill health and training programme attrition. This study aimed to quantify contributory physiological variables that may indicate stress in newly qualified doctors. ⋯ Stress and burnout stimulus appear to start on day one of induction for susceptible PGY1 doctors, and continues into front-line clinical work irrespective of shift pattern. Short Grit Scale questionnaires appear an effective tool to facilitate targeted stress countermeasures.
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Observational Study
Antithrombotic therapy and the risk of new-onset dementia in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with an increased risk of dementia. Little is known about the relationship of antithrombotic therapy and the risk of dementia in patients with AF without clinical stroke. ⋯ In elderly AF patients, warfarin therapy was associated with a significantly lower risk of new-onset dementia compared those with no therapy or aspirin.
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Characteristics of laboratory findings of COVID-19 patients are of great significance for diagnosis and treatment. Studies that have analysed the variations in hepatic profile in correlation with the inflammatory markers in SARS-CoV-2 are limited. ⋯ More than half of patients admitted to the hospital with SARS-CoV-2 infection had an abnormal liver function which was found to be associated with raised levels of inflammatory markers. Significantly higher proportions of patients with abnormal liver function were elderly and males and were at higher risk of progressing to severe disease.
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While opioid overuse is a public health crisis in the USA, opioid analgesics are used suboptimally in Central and Eastern Europe, causing many pain cases to remain untreated or undertreated. ⋯ Continuous medical education on cancer pain treatment should be provided to all specialists to ensure optimal opioid pharmacotherapy and avoid overprescribing or underprescribing opioids. Administrative restrictions are the main barrier to optimal pain treatment.