Journal of general internal medicine
-
To explore the experience of violent injury among young African-American men with gunshot or stab wounds to better understand violent injury. ⋯ This study reveals an important perception among these young male victims of violence that if they fail to respond violently to injury or the threat of injury, they will be at risk of further victimization. The social environment in which young male victims of violence live and the meaning of being a sucker must be considered in efforts to decrease recurrent interpersonal violence. Providers who care for young men who are victims of or at risk of violence should understand the implications of the social context on individual behaviors.
-
To elucidate the effect of physician participation in physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia on the physician-patient relationship. ⋯ Participating in physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia does not markedly adversely affect the physician-patient relationship.
-
To measure the accuracy, reliability, and discrimination of physicians' predictions of the outcome of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), using a large series of detailed clinical vignettes of patients with known outcomes. ⋯ Physicians were no better at identifying patients who would survive resuscitation than would be expected by chance alone. Further work is needed to establish which variables are used by physicians in the decision-making process, and to design educational interventions that will make physicians more accurate prognosticators.
-
Internists frequently evaluate preoperative cardiopulmonary risk and co-manage cardiac and pulmonary complications, but the comparative incidence and clinical importance of these complications are not clearly delineated. This study evaluated incidence and length of stay for both cardiac and pulmonary complications after elective laparotomy. ⋯ For noncardiac surgery, previous research has focused on cardiac risk. In this study, pulmonary complications were more frequent, were associated with longer hospital stay, and occurred in combination with cardiac complications in a substantial proportion of cases. These results suggest that further research is needed to fully characterize the clinical epidemiology of postoperative cardiac and pulmonary complications and better guide preoperative risk assessment.