BMC research notes
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Comparative Study
Prescribing preferences in rapid tranquillisation: a survey in Belgian psychiatrists and emergency physicians.
The pharmacotherapeutic management of agitation is a common clinical challenge. Pharmacotherapy is frequently used, the use of published guidelines is not known. The purpose of this study was twofold; to describe the prescribing patterns of psychiatrists and emergency physicians and to evaluate to which extent guidelines are used. ⋯ Our results show that prescription practice in Flanders (Belgium) in acute agitation shows a complex relationship with published guidelines. Prescription preferences differ accordingly to medical specialty. These findings should be taken into account in future research.
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Natural latex rubber products have been known to cause severe anaphylactic reactions during surgery. Even 25 years after the first description of anaphylactic reactions in the literature, natural latex rubber products are still used in pediatric surgery. ⋯ Natural latex rubber products have caused severe anaphylactic reactions time and again. Diagnosis is impeded by the highly variable clinical symptoms of anaphylaxis, the non-responsivity of patients, anesthesia-induced changes in blood pressure, surgical drapes, and blood loss. Therefore, use of alternative products and implementation of the right course of action in clinical routine seems to be even more important than raising awareness for allergies to natural latex rubber.
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Epidemiologic studies suggest an association between vitamin D deficiency and atopic diseases, including asthma. The objective of this study was to systematically review the benefits and harms of vitamin D supplementation in children with asthma. ⋯ The available very low to low quality evidence does not confirm or rule out beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation in children with asthma. Large-scale, well-designed and executed randomized controlled trials are needed to better understand the effectiveness and safety of vitamin D in children with asthma.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of pain neurophysiology knowledge among health sciences students: a cross-sectional study.
A key tool for use in approaching chronic pain treatment is educating patients to reconceptualize pain. Thus, health professionals are fundamental to the transmission of pain information to patients. Because their understanding of pain is acquired during the educational process, the aim of this study was to compare the knowledge about pain neurophysiology in first and final-year students from three different health science programs at a single University to determine their gain in knowledge using a well-known questionnaire designed to evaluate the understanding of pain. ⋯ Students in their final years of Medicine and Physiotherapy programs know more about the neurophysiology of pain than students in their first years of these programs, however there are some questions where first years students have better results. Physiotherapy students have greater knowledge of neurophysiology of pain than Medicine students, especially the biopsychosocial aspects. Even so, their understanding may not be sufficient and does not guarantee an approach to chronic pain that will help patients reconceptualize their pain.
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Pain is considered a key symptom associated with possible impairment of oral-health-related quality of life and its assessment is important for the planning and evaluation of preventive and treatment effort. The tools for assessing pain must therefore be valid and consistent. The objective of this study was to assess dental patients' level of pain based on the clinical diagnosis of their dental condition and the correlation between two pain assessment scales, Visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Full Cup Test (FCT), for the assessment of pain among dental patients. ⋯ It can be concluded that patients who presented with either acute or chronic dental conditions may experience moderate to severe level of pain, with patients with multiple diagnoses experiencing more severe pain, and there is a correlation between the VAS and FCT for pain assessment among dental patients.