Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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To identify patient groups at risk for unplanned hospital re-admissions and risk factors for re-admission. ⋯ Actions to reduce re-admissions can be targeted to patient groups at risk, and should be aimed at the caring for chronic cardiovascular or pulmonary diseases, preventing complications and multiple ED visits, and ensuring continuity of care after discharge, especially for patients discharged on Friday.
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Pharmacists are expected to play an important role in applying pharmacogenomics discoveries to patient care. Despite the increased attention to genetic research in Qatar, clinicians' attitudes towards the application of pharmacogenomics are not yet explored. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and attitude of pharmacists compared with doctors towards pharmacogenomics and its implications by submitting an electronic-based survey to all pharmacists and doctors currently working in a large medical corporation in Qatar. ⋯ Despite doctors' and pharmacists' low level of awareness towards pharmacogenomics, they both have positive attitudes towards the clinical implications of pharmacogenomics. Pharmacists are more motivated to learn about pharmacogenomics and are more willing to take initiatives in its clinical application and patient education.
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To critically evaluate the causes of preventable adverse drug events during the nurse medication administration process in inpatient units with computerized prescription order entry and profiled automated dispensing cabinets in order to prioritize interventions that need to be implemented and to evaluate the impact of specific interventions on the criticality index. ⋯ FMECA is a useful approach that can improve the medication administration process.
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This article reviews the ethics of rhetoric in critical care. Rational appeals in critical care fail to move patients or surrogates to a better course of action. Appeals to their emotions are considered illegitimate because they may preclude autonomous choice. ⋯ This definition helps to distinguish instances of persuasion from cases of manipulation, coercion and deception. Considering the fact that patients and families often make irrational decisions and the fact that doctors inadvertently influence their choices, the article suggested that persuasion can be a positive tool in medical communication. When patients or families clearly do not understand the risks or make decisions that contradict their long-term goals, persuasion can be used as a positive influence.
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Last year saw the 20th anniversary edition of JECP, and in the introduction to the philosophy section of that landmark edition, we posed the question: apart from ethics, what is the role of philosophy 'at the bedside'? The purpose of this question was not to downplay the significance of ethics to clinical practice. Rather, we raised it as part of a broader argument to the effect that ethical questions - about what we should do in any given situation - are embedded within whole understandings of the situation, inseparable from our beliefs about what is the case (metaphysics), what it is that we feel we can claim to know (epistemology), as well as the meaning we ascribe to different aspects of the situation or to our perception of it. ⋯ Any credible attempt to analyse clinical reasoning will require us to think carefully about these types of question and the relationships between them, as they influence our thinking about specific situations and problems. So, the answers to the question we posed, about the role of philosophy at the bedside, are numerous and diverse, and that diversity is illustrated in the contributions to this thematic edition.