Articles: patients.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Sep 2013
ICU personnel have inaccurate perceptions of their patients' experiences.
Intensive care unit (ICU) patient care bases - among others - upon the staff's assumptions about each patient's subjective preferences and experiences. However, these assumptions may be skewed and thus result in client-professional gaps (cp-gaps), which occur in two subtypes, hyperattention and blind spots to certain burdens. cp-gaps typically reduce quality of care. We investigated whether cp-gaps of either subtype exist in a 36-bed ICU of a university hospital. ⋯ cp-gaps in ICUs can be identified using analogue questionnaires for patients and staff. Both subtypes of cp-gap occur. cp-gaps are substantially influenced by self-attributional bias.
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We conducted the current study to analyze the clinical, immunologic, and neurophysiologic features of primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS)-associated sensory small fiber neuropathies (SFNs). Forty consecutive pSS patients with SFN were included. SFN was defined by the presence of suggestive sensory painful symptoms with normal nerve conduction studies and abnormal neurophysiologic tests for small nerve fibers or a low intraepidermal nerve fiber density at skin biopsy. ⋯ Immunologically, they were characterized by a lower prevalence of serum B-cell activation markers, that is, antinuclear antibodies (65% vs. 85%; p = 0.01), anti-SSA (42.5% vs. 71%; p = 0.002), and anti-SSB (17.5% vs. 39%; p = 0.017); rheumatoid factor (32.5% vs. 66%; p = 0.0005); and hypergammaglobulinemia (35% vs. 62%; p = 0.005). In conclusion, we report the main features of SFN in patients with pSS, the first such study to our knowledge. Our results show that patients with pSS-associated SFN are characterized by an older age at pSS diagnosis and a distinctive immunologic profile hallmarked by a lower frequency of serum B-cell activation markers.
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Advanced cancer is likely to be perceived as a non-controllable source of stress for the individual. The patient distress at this stage of the illness and the strategies he uses to cope with it need to be explored so as physical symptoms, since they are correlated with quality of life at the end-of-life. But very few recent studies have considered patient coping and quality of life in the palliative stage of cancer. ⋯ For relatives, get medical information is a key point since uncertainty is often perceived as frightening. Patient coping strategies interact with those of the physician, who has to cope with different sources of stress. Taking into account these strategies among patients with advanced cancer could facilitate a medical communication respectful of the patient's mental state, under the complex context of palliative care in oncology.
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Sarcoidosis Vasc Dif · Sep 2013
Long-term management of IPF with pirfenidone - a clinical case study with 5 years follow-up.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressively fibrotic interstitial lung disease that is associated with a median survival of 2-5 years from initial diagnosis. To date, the search for an effective treatment has involved numerous clinical trials of investigational agents but without significant success. Nevertheless, research over the past 10 years has provided us with a wealth of information on its histopathology, diagnostic work-up, and a greater understanding of its pathophysiology. ⋯ Emerging clinical data from recently published and ongoing trials investigating new potential pharmacological agents should be considered in the routine clinical management of these patients. Based upon encouraging results from randomised-controlled trials showing a positive effect in slowing decline in pulmonary function and reducing disease progression, pirfenidone was approved in 2011 as the first treatment in patients with IPF. This case study describes the clinical course of a patient enrolled into the Phase III and open-label extension studies of pirfenidone.
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Obtaining in-depth information from both patient and physician perspectives about what happens after a request for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (EAS) is refused. ⋯ Follow up appointments after refusal could give patients the opportunity to discuss their feelings and physicians to support them.