Arch Intern Med
-
Comparative Study
Reliability and validity of an objective structured clinical examination for assessing the clinical performance of residents.
Clinical performance of residents should be assessed as reliably and validly as possible. This study investigated the reliability and validity of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for assessing clinical performance of internal medicine residents. Residents were required to take a 17-patient OSCE in their first and second year. ⋯ American Board of Internal Medicine certifying examination scores were consistently positively correlated only with diagnosis. This 17-case OSCE is a feasible method for obtaining moderately reliable, valid data not available from other sources about the clinical performance of residents. More cases should be added to increase its reliability.
-
Comparative Study
The search for an optimized treatment of hypoglycemia. Carbohydrates in tablets, solutin, or gel for the correction of insulin reactions.
Recommendations for the treatment of insulin reactions are based more on habit than data. We investigated the efficacy in correcting blood glucose levels and alleviating clinical symptoms of hypoglycemia of seven orally administered carbohydrates--glucose in solution, tablets, and gel; sucrose in solution and tablets; a hydrolized polysaccharide solution; and orange juice--each of which provided 15 g of carbohydrate. Forty-one type I diabetic patients recently treated with insulin agreed to submit to artificially induced hypoglycemia by an intravenous injection of insulin. ⋯ We conclude that in moderately severe hypoglycemia, ingestion of 15 g of carbohydrate in the form of glucose or sucrose tablets or as a solution provides an effective therapy; both sugars seem equivalent. Even if sucrose lumps are better recommended in terms of cost and availability, they may not be recommendable in terms of palatability. Glucose gel or orange juice cannot be recommended, at least in light of our experimental procedure and at the dosage used therein.
-
We investigated attitudes toward resuscitation by interviewing 97 competent patients classified as do not resuscitate, 60 physicians, 80 family members, and 84 nurses. In addition, 58 family members of incompetent do not resuscitate patients were interviewed. Interview patients were generally elderly, female widows with a diagnosis of malignancy. ⋯ Sixty-four patients (66%) did not think discussing resuscitation was cruel and insensitive. Eighteen physicians (30%) said they were uncomfortable discussing resuscitation with patients. We recommend introducing the topic of resuscitation early in the patient-physician relationship before diminished competency occurs.
-
There are conflicting recommendations regarding the use of intravenous potassium chloride infusions for acute correction of hypokalemia. We examined the effects of 495 sets of potassium chloride infusions administered to a medical intensive care unit population. The infusion sets consisted of one to eight consecutive individual infusions, each containing 20 mEq of potassium chloride in 100 mL of saline administered. ⋯ The mean increment in serum potassium level per 20-mEq infusion was 0.25 mmol/L. No temporally related life-threatening arrhythmias were noted; however, there were 10 instances of mild hyperkalemia. Our data endorse the relative safety of using concentrated (200-mEq/L) potassium chloride infusions at a rate of 20 mEq/h via central or peripheral vein to correct hypokalemia in patients in the intensive care unit.