Revista médica de Chile
-
Revista médica de Chile · Jun 2020
Review[Unsafe abbreviations in medical prescriptions and their association with medication errors: a review].
The prescription of medications is a weak link in the therapeutic chain of a drug. Medication errors can be associated with the use of so-called unsafe abbreviations in medical prescription. When they are mistakenly interpreted by the person who reads the prescription, error becomes imminent. ⋯ One of the causes for the use of acronyms the limited time that doctors have at the time of prescription. One way to reduce the use of these abbreviations, is to remind constantly about those that may have the greatest risk in each health institution. A list of unsafe abbreviations, to be used by Chilean health services, is proposed.
-
The aim of mechanical ventilation is to substitute physiological respiratory function. The boom of mechanical ventilation came during the XVIII century with the development of Reanimation Societies in Europe, who promoted the use of positive pressure ventilation modes. ⋯ Positive pressure ventilation was relegated to operating rooms until 1952, when it was imposed over negative pressure ventilation during the Copenhagen polio epidemic. Björn Ibsen contributed significantly to this change of ventilation paradigm, which led to the latest ventilation strategies and the development of the actual intensive care units.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Jun 2020
Cytomegalovirus infection in AIDS patients. An illustrative case series.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an opportunistic infection (OI) in immunosuppressed patients. However, there are no clear cut-off values available for quantitative plasmatic CMV measures (viral load [VL]) to discriminate those with CMV illness from those infected suffering a transient viral reactivation. ⋯ The predominant clinical manifestation in our series was gastrointestinal. A CMV VL cutoff level of CMV VL of 3,800 copies / mL is useful to discriminate infected patients from those with CMV related disease.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Jun 2020
[Evaluation of HIV epidemic in Chile. A statement of the Chilean Academy of Medicine].
The Chilean Academy of Medicine convened a commission to evaluate the status of HIV epidemic and the national response to it, regarding its achievements, gaps and challenges, aiming to recommend actions to optimize assessment quality and national response. This publication summarizes the agreed upon opinion of its members. The epidemic is overwhelmingly sexually transmitted, predominant in homo/bisexual men. ⋯ Despite these clear achievements, insufficient, occasionally inadequate public policies and certain rigid regulations thwart optimal effectivity and efficiency of the programs, contributing to the slow and incomplete compliance with international commitments. Shortcomings worth highlighting are: suboptimal educational and preventive programs directed to youngsters, vulnerable and general population; persistent underdiagnosis of infected population; cumbersome requirements to request and inform diagnostic tests, thus discouraging testing; excessive centralization and long latency of diagnosis confirmation and monitoring tests; incomplete epidemiologic analysis and public reporting of findings; non flexibility and slow updating of therapeutic guidelines; insufficient adaptation of care and drug delivery modalities to patients' needs; excessive administrative requirements at care centers and restrictive legislation for outcome and interventional clinical research. Recommendations to deal with these issues were proposed.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Jun 2020
Adherence to levothyroxine prescription in patients with hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism occurs in 1-2% of the general population, is associated with significant morbidity and requires continuous treatment with levothyroxine. ⋯ In a large proportion of these patients, TSH levels were controlled, and most patients were adherent to levothyroxine therapy.