JAAPA-Journal of the American Academy of Physicians Assistants articles from April 2006

JAAPA-Journal of the American Academy of Physicians Assistants archives from April 2006

Annual strategic planning meeting: what's next for PAs?(American Academy of Physician Assistants)
April 1, 2006... Given the potential shortage of physicians in the near future, should AAPA do more to promote the value of the PA profession in the delivery of health care? If so, how and to whom? These questions set the stage for a provocative annual...

PA work group wins grant to promote genetics education.(physicians assistants, National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics )
April 1, 2006... A PA work group brought together by AAPA has been chosen to receive a $20,000 grant from the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG) to develop a Web-based program to educate PAs, PA students, and PA educators...

Why patient safety matters.(GUEST EDITORIAL)
April 1, 2006... During the past decade, the ascension of the quality care movement into the national spotlight can be attributed to the publication of two Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports. The first, published in 2000 and entitled To Err Is Human: Building...

A day in the life: how PAs live and work.(physician assistants)(Chronology)
April 1, 2006... I was 42 years old before I returned to college to become a physician assistant. All the years--more than 20--that I worked as a scrub tech, I always wanted to be more involved in the care of orthopedic patients, and I finally went to school in...

The case of Ms. C.(PAQ-PA QUANDARIES: Ethics in everyday practice)(physician assistants)(Column)
April 1, 2006... In previous columns, we presented Jonsen and colleagues' practical, user-friendly paradigm for a case-based approach to ethical questions. The paradigm consists of four topics that are fundamental for analysis in every clinical encounter where...

Community-acquired MRSA infection: an update: infection often begins on the skin--where it may be mistaken for a spider bite--but MRSA can quickly cause deadly systemic illnesses such as toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing pneumonia.(methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus)(Disease/Disorder overview)
April 1, 2006... Antimicrobial resistance has become such a growing global problem that, according to the Institute of Medicine, it may be a "paramount microbial threat of the twenty-first century." (1) Resistance has produced an increased burden of illness,...

Diagnosis and treatment of sarcoidosis: clinicians see pulmonary sarcoidosis most often, but this difficult disease also causes dermatologic, ophthalmologic, cardiac, hepatic, renal, and neuromuscular signs and symptoms.(Disease/Disorder overview)
April 1, 2006... A 40-year-old black man comes to the clinic complaining of fatigue, weight loss, and nonexertional, nonproductive cough with occasional hemoptysis. During the interview, he reveals that he recently had positive findings on a chest radiograph....

CME post-test.
April 1, 2006... EXPIRATION DATE APRIL 2007 AAPA members: Please take this CME post-test online www.aapa.org. Ragan P. Community-acquired MRSA infection: An update. JAAPA. 2006; 19(4):24-29. Shim S. Diagnosis and treatment of sarcoidosis. JAAPA....

Oral health in children overlooked and undertreated: tooth decay is epidemic among young children in this country, yet millions do not receive proper care--or even attention. The authors explain what you can do to help.(Disease/Disorder overview)
April 1, 2006... Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting 5 to 8 times as many children as asthma does. (1) It is also one of the most under-treated conditions in pediatric patients. In fact, dental care has been identified as the...

ACC/AHA 2005 guideline update: chronic heart failure in the adult.(American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association)(Disease/Disorder overview)
April 1, 2006... The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) jointly compose guidelines in the area of cardiovascular disease and update them as understanding of disease processes and treatment strategies evolve. These...

GI symptoms in a 34-year-old woman.(gastrointestinal)(Disease/Disorder overview)
April 1, 2006... CASE The patient is a 34-year-old white woman with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and blood in stool. On physical examination, mild tenderness is present in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. There is no abdominal distention or...

When the treatment becomes the problem.(contact and irritant dermatitis)(Disease/Disorder overview)
April 1, 2006... "Infection" is a very attractive bandwagon onto which many clinicians climb. Take the case of a 62-year-old woman who had been suffering with an "infection" for more than 18 months despite numerous courses of antibiotics carefully prescribed to...

Watchful waiting an acceptable option for inguinal hernia.(Patient-oriented evidence that matters)(Clinical report)
April 1, 2006... Clinical question Is it safe to defer surgical repair (called watchful waiting) in asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic men with inguinal hernias? Bottom line Watchful waiting is a safe and acceptable option for men with asymptomatic or...

Oral rotavirus vaccines are safe and effective.(Patients-oriented evidence that matters)(Clinical report)
April 1, 2006... Clinical question Is an oral vaccine safe and effective for the prevention of a rotavirus infection in young children? Bottom line Oral vaccines have been developed that are safe and effective for the prevention of rotavirus in young...

HPV vaccine prevents CIN.(Patients-oriented evidence that matters)(human papillomavirus-16 vaccination, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
April 1, 2006... Clinical question Does human papillomavirus-16 vaccination prevent cervical intraepithelial neoplasia? Bottom line For young women who have not been previously infected with human papillomavirus-16 (HPV16), vaccination prevents...

Beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc may reduce risk of macular degeneration.(Patients-oriented evidence that matters)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
April 1, 2006... Clinical question Is a high dietary intake of beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc associated with a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD)? Bottom line A high intake of beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc...

CME calendar.(Calendar)
April 1, 2006... DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA July 7-9 Physician Assistant Review Course for PANCE and PANRE. Where: Washington. Provider: George Washington University PA Program. Information: www.paboardreivew.com. FLORIDA July 24-28 31st...

PAs in rheumatology.(physician assistants)
April 1, 2006... PAs in rheumatology may soon benefit from discussions that AAPA and representatives from the Society of PAs in Rheumatology have been having with the American College of Rheumatology to discuss ways to provide more and better CME for PAs in...

PAs in family and general medicine.(physician assistants)
April 1, 2006... PAs in family and general medicine are the largest segment of the PA profession. According to the 2005 AAPA Annual PA Census, more than 28% of all PAs report this as their specialty area. * Each year, AAPA conducts its census survey on...

Case of the month: diagnostic challenges from your case files.(radial styloid fracture with scapholunate ligamentous injury)(Medical condition overview)
April 1, 2006... CASE The patient is a 39-year-old man who presented to the clinic, after evaluation in the emergency department (ED), with pain in the left wrist. He had suffered a blunt injury to the left distal radius while playing hockey; the thumb...