Biomedical subjects

Anne L Mounsey

Publications and source records attributed to Anne L Mounsey.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Diagnosis and management of endometriosis.

Signs and symptoms of endometriosis are nonspecific, and an acceptably accurate noninvasive diagnostic test has yet to be reported. Serum markers do not provide adequate diagnostic accuracy. The preferred method for diagnosis of endometriosis is surgical visual inspection of pelvic organs with histologic confirmation. Such diagnosis requires an experienced surgeon because the varied appearance of the disease allows less-obvious lesions to be overlooked. Empiric use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or acetaminophen is a reasonable symptomatic treatment, but the effectiveness of these agents has not been well-studied. Oral contraceptive pills, medroxyprogesterone acetate, and intrauterine levonorgestrel are relatively effective for pain relief. Danazol and various gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues also are effective but may have significant side effects. There is limited evidence that surgical ablation of endometriotic deposits may decrease pain and increase fertility rates in women with endometriosis. Presacral neurectomy is particularly beneficial in women with midline pelvic pain. Hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy definitively treat pain from endometriosis at 10 years in 90 percent of patients.

CA-125 Antigen↗

PubMed2006

Do students develop better motivational interviewing skills through role-play with standardised patients or with student colleagues?

OBJECTIVE: Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the USA and reducing the number of smokers by 50% is among the goals of the Healthy People 2010 initiative. Despite its importance, few medical students receive formal training in smoking cessation counselling. Motivational interviewing is a patient-centred, but directive, method of counselling that has been found to be more effective than giving brief advice for motivating smokers to quit. We wanted to determine whether using standardised patients to teach this skill to Year 3 medical students would be more effective than using student role-plays. METHODS: We conducted a randomised, controlled trial of 93 Year 3 family medicine clerkship students at our medical school between July 2003 and July 2004. The control group (n=46) practised motivational interviewing with one another and the intervention group (n=47) practised with standardised patients trained in motivational interviewing for smoking cessation. At the end of the study all the students conducted an interview with a different standardised patient that was videotaped. The primary outcome was analysis by a trained masked evaluator of the quality of a final videotaped interview using the motivational interviewing treatment integrity code (MITI), which assesses the quality of the interview according to 6 different criteria. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the control and intervention groups in the final analyses of the interviews. CONCLUSIONS: According to MITI scores, standardised patient role-plays are similar in effectiveness to student role-plays when teaching basic motivational interviewing skills for smoking cessation to Year 3 medical students.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia: prevention and management.

The recognizable appearance and the dermatomal distribution of herpes zoster lesions usually enable a clinical diagnosis to be made easily. Herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia occur mainly in older patients. The role of the varicella vaccine in preventing herpes zoster is uncertain, but is being studied. There is evidence to support using antiviral therapy and possibly low-dose tricyclic antidepressants to prevent postherpetic neuralgia. There is good evidence that treating herpes zoster with antiviral medication is beneficial, particularly in patients older than 50 years with severe outbreaks. The use of steroids has an unfavorable risk-benefit ratio. In patients who develop postherpetic neuralgia, there is good evidence to support treatment with gabapentin and tricyclic antidepressants. More evidence for treatment with capsaicin cream, lidocaine patch, and opioids is needed. Intrathecal methylprednisolone is an option for patients with persistent pain.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Lansoprazole ineffective for functional dyspepsia.

Patients with functional dyspepsia, which involves no organic disease and no reflux, do not benefit from lansoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor. Any improvement seen is probably related to a placebo effect. Prescribing proton pump inhibitors for these patients just for their placebo effect is going to further raise health care costs. Antacids and H2 blockers are less expensive alternatives.

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