Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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An acute burn wound is a complex and evolving injury. Extensive burns produce, in addition to local tissue damage, systemic consequences. Treatment of partial thickness burn wounds is directed towards promoting healing, and a wide variety of dressings is currently available. Improvements in technology and advances in understanding of wound healing have driven the development of new dressings. Dressing selection should be based on their effects of healing, but ease of application and removal, dressing change requirements, cost and patient comfort should also be considered. ⋯ There is a paucity of high quality RCTs on dressings for superficial and partial thickness burn injury. The studies summarised in this review evaluated a variety of interventions, comparators and clinical endpoints. Despite some potentially positive findings, the evidence, which largely derives from trials with methodological shortcomings, is of limited usefulness in aiding clinicians in choosing suitable treatments.
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Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) (bleeding from the genital tract after childbirth) is a major cause of maternal mortality and disability, particularly in under-resourced areas. In these settings, poor nutrition, malaria and anaemia may aggravate the effects of PPH. In addition to the standard known strategies to prevent and treat PPH, there is a need for simple, non-expensive techniques which can be applied in low-resourced settings to prevent or treat PPH. ⋯ The present review adds support to the 2004 joint statement of the International Confederation of Midwives and the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians on the management of the third stage of labour, that uterine massage after delivery of the placenta is advised to prevent PPH. However, due to the limitations of the one trial reviewed, trials with sufficient numbers to estimate the effects of sustained uterine massage with great precision, both with and in the absence of uterotonics, are needed.
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The use of games as an educational strategy has the potential to improve health professionals' performance (e.g. adherence to standards of care) through improving their knowledge, skills and attitudes. ⋯ The findings of this systematic review do not confirm nor refute the utility of games as a teaching strategy for health professionals. There is a need for additional high-quality research to explore the impact of educational games on patient and performance outcomes.
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Vitamin B is frequently used for treating peripheral neuropathy but its efficacy is not clear. ⋯ There are only limited data in randomised trials testing the efficacy of vitamin B for treating peripheral neuropathy and the evidence is insufficient to determine whether vitamin B is beneficial or harmful. One small trial in alcoholic peripheral neuropathy reported slightly greater improvement in vibration perception threshold with oral benfotiamine for eight weeks than placebo. In another small study, a higher dose of oral vitamin B complex for four weeks was more efficacious than a lower dose in reducing symptoms and signs. Vitamin B administered by various routes for two to eight weeks was less efficacious than alpha-lipoic acid, cilostazol or cytidine triphosphate in short-term improvement of clinical and nerve conduction study outcomes. Vitamin B is generally well-tolerated.
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Noisy breathing (death rattle) occurs in 23 to 92% of people who are dying. The cause of death rattle remains unproven but is presumed to be due to an accumulation of secretions in the airways. It is therefore managed physically (repositioning and clearing the upper airways of fluid with a mechanical sucker) or pharmacologically (with anticholinergic drugs). ⋯ There is currently no evidence to show that any intervention, be it pharmacological or non-pharmacological, is superior to placebo in the treatment of death rattle. We acknowledge that in the face of heightened emotions when death is imminent, it is difficult for staff not to intervene. It is therefore likely that the current therapeutic options will continue to be used. However, patients need to be closely monitored for lack of therapeutic benefit and adverse effects while relatives need time, explanation and reassurance to relieve their fears and concerns. There is a need for more well-designed multi-centre studies with objective outcome measures and the ability to recruit sufficient numbers.