Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Jan 2023
Prediction accuracy of commonly used pneumonia severity scores in Aboriginal patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia - a retrospective study.
Severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) is highly prevalent in the Aboriginal population. Few pneumonia severity scores are validated in this population. ⋯ None of the pneumonia severity scores accurately predicted mortality. We recommend SMARTACOP to predict IRVS requirement in Aboriginal patients with SCAP. Given Aboriginal patients are over-represented in Australian intensive care units, a new score is warranted for this understudied population.
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Internal medicine journal · Jan 2023
Glycaemic outcomes in Australasian children and adults with type 1 diabetes: failure to meet targets across the age spectrum.
The goal of therapy in type 1 diabetes (T1D) is to achieve optimal glycaemic targets and reduce complications. Robust data representing glycaemic outcomes across the lifespan are lacking in Australasia. ⋯ Only a minority of children and adults achieve the recommended glycaemic goals despite access to specialist care in major diabetes centres. There is a need to identify factors that improve glycaemic outcomes.
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Internal medicine journal · Jan 2023
High rate of false-positive postoperative venous thromboembolism identified using hospital ICD-10 coding.
The Health Roundtable, a national benchmarking body, identified our institution as an outlier with a high number of postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) events. We performed a retrospective study to determine the accuracy of hospital coding for the incidence and severity of postoperative VTE. ⋯ Approximately one third (n = 68) of all VTE were asymptomatic, diagnosed incidentally. Thus, coding data are inherently flawed with inaccuracy and overrepresent the true number of VTE events, with a substantial proportion of limited clinical relevance.
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Internal medicine journal · Jan 2023
Normocalcaemic Primary Hyperparathyroidism: Is nephrolithiasis more common than osteoporosis?
Normocalcaemic primary hyperparathyroidism (NPHPT) is often under-recognised in clinical practice. ⋯ These findings give further credence to the diagnosis of NPHPT as a clinical entity. Nephrolithiasis may be a greater problem than osteoporosis in NPHPT compared with PHPT. This needs prospective evaluation.
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Internal medicine journal · Jan 2023
Major technological advances will enhance Australian donor-recipient matching and improve transplant outcomes.
In recent times, numerous and significant technological and supportive changes have taken place in Australian transplantation. These changes are often deployed without the wider clinical community having a full understanding of what has brought about these changes and the impacts they have. Here, we aim to clarify the reasoning behind these changes and shed light on potential future endeavours to improve patient outcomes.