Articles: interviews.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate a new modified visual analog scale, called the dolorimeter, together with a verbal rating scale (VRS) and a linear visual scale (VAS), in the measurement of acute postoperative pain. The scales were evaluated with reference to their sensitivity, reliability and validity, and correlation. During the study 200 patients 11-70 years of age (125 men, 75 women) were interviewed after orthopedic surgery to ascertain the intensity of the pain. ⋯ On the other hand, the high sensitivity of the two analog scales which patients can use to determine their individual pain intensity proved to be much more sensitive. All three methods correlated statistically; the highest correlation coefficients were found between the analog scales VAS and the dolorimeter. Because the dolorimeter is clearly preferred to the other methods, especially by elderly patients, we came to the conclusion that the dolorimeter is less abstract than the VAS and more practical to handle.
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An objective structured interview is an integral part of the process of selecting and admitting applicants to study medicine at this university. During the nine years (to the end of 1986) that the interview has been used 1600 candidates were interviewed out of roughly 13,000 applicants, and from these, 584 students were admitted to the course. Analysis of the interview data was carried out based on two aspects of student progress: graduation with honours and failure to complete the course of study. The interview as a whole, and especially some of the subscales, appears to identify students who may fail to complete the course: it may also help to predict which students are likely to graduate with honours.
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Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand · Jan 1988
Comparative StudyEffect of epidural vs. general anesthesia on breastfeeding.
In a prospective interview study, two groups each consisting of 28 sectio caesarea patients were compared concerning the course of breastfeeding. The women in the two groups were delivered under either epidural analgesia or general anesthesia. The two groups were identical with respect to age, parity, participation in antenatal preparatory courses and former breastfeeding. A significantly higher breastfeeding frequency and longer breastfeeding periods were were found after epidural analgesia than after general anesthesia.
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Two hundred and forty-two routine surgical patients who had undergone general anaesthesia, were questioned about postoperative sore throat by one of two methods, either direct or indirect questioning. A significantly higher incidence of sore throat was obtained by direct questioning (p less than 0.001).