Biomedical subjects

Benjamin W Berg

Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin W Berg.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Self-reporting of internal medicine house staff work hours.

INTRODUCTION: The 80-hour workweek became a reality for residency programs nationwide on July 1, 2003. In this review of administrative data, we examine the self-reporting of work hours by a cohort of Internal Medicine residents. METHODS: Data was collected from 27 residents in training at Tripler Army Medical Center over a 4 month period from September 1 to December 31 2002. House staff reported their hours on a daily basis by responding to an email message, as well as on a monthly basis utilizing the Army's UCAPERs (Uniform Chart of Account Personnel System) mandatory monthly workload tracking system. Data from the two separate reporting systems was compared for accuracy, completeness and internal consistency. RESULTS: Compliance with daily reporting was variable (67-97% with overall compliance rate of 86%) but lower when compared with the mandatory military monthly reporting system (95-100%). There were large differences in reporting of average weekly work hours among individual residents when monthly reporting was compared to daily reporting of data with higher averages with monthly data reporting. Weekly totals averaged nearly 12 hours higher when reported monthly compared to reporting on a daily basis (p < 0.0001). A total of 18 residents reported that they worked more than 80 hours per week during one month using monthly data, while only 7 reported that they averaged more than 80 hours with the daily reporting data. When average weekly hours reported on a daily basis were compared with the total number of inpatient days worked over the four month period using a simple regression model, there was a significant relationship with average hours increasing with increasing number of inpatient days worked (adjusted R square = 0. 19, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Little internal consistency was found in the comparison of daily versus monthly work hour reporting, indicating that self-reporting may not provide accurate data. Complying with the 80-hour workweek is crucial for residency programs to maintain accreditation, and thus programs will need a way to accurately capture consistent resident work hour data. Further studies are indicated to determine the most accurate way of assessing house staff work hours.

Cohort Studies↗

PubMed2004

An international landmine telehealth symposium between Hawaii and Thailand using an Internet2 and multi-protocol videoconferencing bridge.

An international telehealth symposium was conducted between healthcare institutions in Hawaii and Thailand using a combination of Asynchronous Transfer Mode, and Internet2 connectivity. Military and civilian experts exchanged information on the acute and rehabilitative care of landmine victims in Southeast Asia. Videoconferencing can promote civil-military cooperation in healthcare fields that have multiple international stakeholders.

Blast Injuries↗

PubMed2003

Clinical features of non-Hodgkins lymphoma presenting with acute liver failure: a report of five cases and review of published experience.

Hematological malignancies frequently affect the liver, but typically do not result in hepatic dysfunction and rarely present with advanced hepatic involvement. We report five patients who presented with advanced hepatic involvement and were found to have a high-grade lymphoma infiltrating the liver. Despite early diagnosis and initiation of therapy, all five patients deteriorated rapidly and died shortly after the onset of liver failure. Several similar cases have been reported. They share common clinical features, including hepatomegaly, lactic acidosis, and death shortly after the onset of symptoms. Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is a common malignancy, which is increasing in incidence. Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is not commonly entertained as an etiology of advanced liver failure and is likely underrecognized. In cases of acute advanced liver failure without an apparent etiology, especially if associated with hepatomegaly and lactic acidosis, lymphoma should be considered because of its poor prognosis and potential for treatment if recognized early. Liver biopsy is an invaluable tool that provides an early diagnosis while excluding other potential etiologies for acute advanced liver failure.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2003

Remote critical care consultation: telehealth projection of clinical specialty expertise.

Remote critical care consultations have been employed between the Naval Hospital in Guam and the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, a distance of 5300 km. During a 10-week study period there were physician-physician daily consultation rounds for patients in the intensive care unit at the Naval Hospital. Physiological data, video-images and sound were transmitted via a 768 kbit/s frame relay connection, albeit with a 1-3 s delay. During the study there were 87 consultations concerning 25 patients. Preliminary results showed that a broad range of critical care patients could be managed effectively through daily remote critical care consultation. Broader implementation of this strategy may represent a method of making critical care expertise available to front-line military health-care facilities and to remote civilian facilities with limited critical care expertise.

Critical Care↗

PubMed2003

Interactive nursing skills training using advanced networked technology.

We have developed a Web-based e-learning tool for teaching nursing skills, using educational material from a hospital-based nursing skills 'fair'. Management software was used to track skill certification and continuing education contact hours. The content could be delivered over the Internet and through firewalls using Windows Media Player version 9. The content was structured in a manner that made it adaptable to an e-learning system that used the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), a set of specifications for delivering educational materials through technology-based methods.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

PubMed2003

International medical education between Hawaii and Thailand over Internet2.

International medical education sessions have been successfully conducted by videoconferencing using Internet2. The sessions were between two tertiary care medical centres, in Honolulu and Bangkok. However, video quality was lower than for similar sessions using ISDN and audience satisfaction was less. The main reasons for the lower quality were network congestion and bandwidth allocation by the videoconferencing equipment. Software to ensure quality of service is available, but is not easy to implement. There were also network security problems and the costs were high. Our international videoconferences averaged 40-50 hours per year, an activity level at which connection costs were lower for ISDN than for Internet2. It appears that Internet2 videoconferencing for medical education is best reserved for academic institutions that have other high-bandwidth network requirements.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2002

Asymptomatic cystic fibrosis diagnosed in an adult evaluated for hematuria.

We report a case of cystic fibrosis in an asymptomatic man evaluated for hematuria with infertility. The ever-broadening spectrum of atypical adult presentations of cystic fibrosis should prompt physicians to have a lower threshold for ordering genetic screening for cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene mutations.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

International distance education and the transition from ISDN to high-bandwidth Internet connectivity.

The Thailand Hawaii Assessment of Interactive Healthcare Initiative (THAI-HI) is an international distance-education project between two teaching hospitals in Honolulu and Bangkok that uses videoconferencing over three ISDN lines. A 'morning report' format is used to discuss clinical cases primarily covering infectious disease and critical-care topics. An audience response system is used at both sites to add interactivity. From July 2001 to May 2002, 816 health-care providers attended 20 clinical conferences. Audiences rated the conferences as highly relevant and as having high training value. Since the ISDN connection is expensive, we plan to convert the telecommunications to a high-bandwidth Internet connection. The Honolulu site will use a 45 Mbit/s commercial connection to the Hawaii Intranetwork Consortium, which links to the Abilene Network on the US mainland. The Bangkok hospital will use a 155 Mbit/s wireless optical connection to UNINET Thailand, which has a 45 Mbit/s circuit to Abilene.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

International distance education and the transition from ISDN to high-bandwidth Internet connectivity.

The Thailand-Hawaii Assessment of Interactive Healthcare Initiative (THAI-HI) is an international distance-education project between two teaching hospitals in Honolulu and Bangkok that uses videoconferencing over three ISDN lines. A 'morning report' format is used to discuss clinical cases primarily covering infectious disease and critical-care topics. An audience response system is used at both sites to add interactivity. From July 2001 to May 2002, 816 health-care providers attended 20 clinical conferences. Audiences rated the conferences as highly relevant and as having high training value. Since the ISDN connection is expensive, we plan to convert the telecommunications to a high-bandwidth Internet connection. The Honolulu site will use a 45 Mbit/s commercial connection to the Hawaii Intranetwork Consortium, which links to the Abilene Network on the US mainland. The Bangkok hospital will use a 155 Mbit/s wireless optical connection to UNINET Thailand, which has a 45 Mbit/s circuit to Abilene.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗