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Biomedical subjects

A V Abbott

Publications and source records attributed to A V Abbott.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Risk of needlesticks and occupational exposures among residents and medical students.

PROBLEM: Occupational exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease is a problem of concern to all health care workers, especially those in large urban teaching hospitals with large numbers of HIV-positive patients. METHOD: The self-reported incidence of needlesticks and other exposures to patients' blood and body fluids in 550 medical students and residents at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center during the 1989 through 1990 training year was studied by means of an anonymous survey. RESULTS: Seventy-one percent of respondents reported one or more needlesticks or other exposures during the training year. Surgical residents had a sixfold greater rate of occupational exposure compared with medicine residents and were significantly more likely to experience suture needlesticks, cuts, open wound contamination, and mucous membrane exposure. Medical students generally were at somewhat lower risk compared with residents, but had greater rates of hollow-needle puncture accidents. No trend was found for accidental exposure by level of residency training. The known HIV-positive exposure rate for students and residents was 9.5% per person per year. Only 9% of exposures were actually reported to the health center. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the rate of exposures reported, numbers of known and estimated HIV-positive patients, and previously published HIV seroconversion rates, we would expect an annual rate of HIV seroconversion rates, we would expect an annual rate of HIV seroconversion as a result of occupational exposures of between 27 and 46 per 100,000. This rate is similar to the leading cause of death in this age group--motor vehicle accidents--and is equivalent to one student or resident in this medical center seroconverting every 2 to 3 years. Although only a portion of accidental exposures are regarded as preventable, these data emphasize the importance of increased efforts toward improved education, prevention, and accessibility of protective equipment.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1990

Type A behavior and exercise: a follow-up study of coronary patients.

Several previous studies have reported decreased Type A behavior pattern (TABP) after initiation of an exercise program. To determine if changes in TABP could be linked to exercise patterns in a cardiac rehabilitation program, both physical activity and TABP were measured in 81 male cardiac patients over a period of one year after hospitalization for an initial cardiac event. Changes in TABP scores were not associated with differences in activity patterns as measured by kilocalories per week of exercise, self-ratings of both job and leisure-time physical activity levels, or participation in a cardiac rehabilitation program. However, in Type A subjects there was a discrepancy between simple self-ratings of activity and more objective measures of exercise: subjects who had high TABP scores perceived themselves to be significantly more physically active than did subjects with lower TABP scores, even though the more objective estimates of physical activity were not associated with TABP scores.

Coronary Artery Bypass↗
PubMed1989

Medical student education in ambulatory care.

New forms of health care delivery and reimbursement trends have increased interest in the ambulatory care setting as a site for medical student education. It is estimated that from 50% to 60% of all medical students receive some portion of their medical training in a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility. However, only about 5% of the total student ambulatory care educational experience is taking place at VA facilities. The problems in implementing and maintaining ambulatory care teaching programs for medical students encompass a variety of areas, such as lack of faculty incentive, time, expertise, and commitment; student resistance to training in this less attractive arena, and economic obstacles. Medical schools and VA medical centers will have to work in a mutually supportive relationship to develop joint goals and objectives for medical student teaching. Commitment of resources is essential, as is the need to reward ambulatory teaching through academic advancement and salary incentives. Faculty recruitment and development will be necessary, and research to identify the most successful of the VA ambulatory care teaching settings should be undertaken. The time has come for improved medical student education in VA ambulatory care settings, and there is now a need for collaborative planning between the medical schools and the VA.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1988

Type A behavior and coronary heart disease: an update.

In the 1970s, Type A behavior became a popular topic of discussion after it was identified as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Although recent articles have left many physicians wondering whether Type A behavior is truly unhealthy, much evidence still supports this association. Recognition of overt Type A behavior in clinical practice is usually possible without formal testing if the physician is alert to the motor behavior, speech behavior, hostile attitude and physiologic markers that characterize Type A individuals.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Temporal stability and overlap of behavioral and questionnaire assessments of type A behavior in coronary patients.

To examine the temporal stability of the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) after a cardiac event, both a Videotaped Clinical Interview (VCI) (formerly known as the Videotaped Structured Interview) and the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) were administered to 81 male and 19 female patients three times during the first year after hospitalization for an initial myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, or both. There was no intervention other than the usual treatment provided by the medical care system. The test-retest reliability coefficients were moderately high for all measures of TABP. The JAS provided the most reliable scores in both sexes. The Hard Driving and Competitive component of the JAS decreased significantly throughout the year in both men (p less than 0.001) and women (p less than 0.01), but in men all three overall indices of TABP and their components (other than Hard Driving and Competitive) decreased spontaneously between 1 and 3 months, and then increased again by 1 year to nearly the original levels. In women, there were no consistent changes over time among the indices other than that for the Hard Driving and Competitive component of the JAS. Intercorrelations among the indices demonstrate the failure of the JAS to assess the Hostility component of the TABP and the possibility that the Speed and Impatience subscale of the JAS measures different things in men and women. The newest method of scoring the VCI appeared to provide the best index for measuring TABP in male coronary patients, while the original scoring was more reliable for women.

Adult↗