Postgraduate Medical Journal articles from January 2004

Postgraduate Medical Journal archives from January 2004

Intravenous therapy.(Review)
January 1, 2004... Intravenous administration of fluids, drugs, and nutrition is very common in hospitals. Although insertion of peripheral and central cannulae and subsequent intravenous therapy are usually well tolerated, complications that prolong...

How, and when, can I restrain a patient?(Review)
January 1, 2004... The need to restrain service users will vary according to the area of practice within which practitioners are employed. Many of the principles that relate to the issue of restraining service users are, however, applicable to all, or most,...

Drug-eluting stents: new era and new concerns.(Review)
January 1, 2004... At present there is much excitement about drug-eluting stents, which hold promise for the treatment of coronary artery disease. This ingenious therapy involves coating the outside of a standard coronary stent with a thin polymer containing...

Suture granuloma.(Images in Medicine)
January 1, 2004... A 68 year old woman presented with haemoptysis and left upper lobe shadow in 2002. Computed tomography of the thorax revealed a 2 cm soft tissue mass. Bronchoscopy was normal. She had a quadruple coronary artery bypass in 1999. She underwent a...

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.(Cardiology Update)
January 1, 2004... Recent advances in technology have allowed magnetic resonance imaging to be exploited in cardiology. It is capable of giving high definition structural and functional information. The current applications of this technique and how it may...

Resource utilisation, length of hospital stay, and pattern of investigation during acute medical hospital admission.(Original Article)
January 1, 2004... Objectives: To describe the patient demographic characteristics and organisational factors that influence length of stay (LOS) among emergency medical admissions. Also, to describe differences in investigation practice among consultant...

Severe herpes zoster after infliximab infusion.(Filler)
January 1, 2004... This 72 year old man developed an ache in his shoulder after his second infusion of infliximab (3 mg/kg) for his rheumatoid arthritis. By the next day vesicles had developed in the T3 dermatome. He visited his general practitioner who...

How well do we investigate patients with suspected subarachnoid haemorrhage? The continuing need for cerebrospinal fluid investigations.(Original Article)
January 1, 2004... Objective: To demonstrate the extent of compliance with established guidelines for the investigation of suspected subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and the implications of non-compliance. Design: Prospective observational study of practice in...

Attitudes of preclinical medical students towards caring for chronically ill and dying patients: does palliative care teaching make a difference?(Original Article)
January 1, 2004... Introduction: Students entering medical school today will encounter an ageing population and a higher incidence of diseases affecting the elderly--for example, chronic respiratory and cardiac disease and malignancy. Purpose: This study was...

Diabetes in a high secure hospital.(Original Article)
January 1, 2004... Aims: To determine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its possible causes and to assess its control in a high secure hospital. Methods: A cross sectional survey and a prospective cohort study were conducted. The cross sectional survey...

Audit on flexible sigmoidoscopy for rectal bleeding in a district general hospital: are we over-loading the resources?(Audit)
January 1, 2004... Objective: Patients with rectal bleeding are being over investigated because of the fear of missing colorectal cancers. This study aimed to identify the percentage of patients Methods: Patients who underwent flexible sigmoidoscopy for rectal...

Sphenoidal sinus mucocoele presenting as mono-ocular painless loss of vision.(Images in Medicine)
January 1, 2004... A 22 year old man presented with acute onset of loss of vision in the right eye of six hours' duration. There were no associated complaints of pain or redness of eye. There was no associated convulsion or alteration in sensorium. He complained...

The worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London.(History of Medicine)
January 1, 2004... The Society of Apothecaries is both a City livery company and an examining authority for the medical profession. Founded in 1617 by the royal apothecary Gideon de Laune leading a breakaway group from the Grocers' Company, the Society was...

Postcystoscopy confusion.(Confusion)
January 1, 2004... Answers on p 47. A 78 year old man presented to the emergency room with a one day history of haematuria and lower abdominal pain. He denied having fever, dysuria, or dizziness. His past medical history was significant for carcinoma of...

A 67 year old woman with renal failure and sinus bradycardia.(Cardiology)
January 1, 2004... Answers on p 48. A 67 year old diabetic woman presented with a three week history of lethargy, general malaise, and episodes of pre-syncope. Past medical history included hypertension, which had been difficult to control. Three months...