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Biomedical subjects

D Pennington

Publications and source records attributed to D Pennington.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Competency-based learning in traumatology.

BACKGROUND: A multidisciplinary, competency-based trauma teaching program was introduced for final year medical students (n = 67) at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in 1994 to complement the surgical clerkship. METHODS: The method involved small groups rotating through a series of teaching stations each structured to address a predetermined competency. Four 3-hour sessions were held on the subject areas of resuscitation, plastic, orthopedic, and neurotrauma. Performance in the trauma section of a summative Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), 6 months after the teaching, was compared with that of a control group (n = 127) from other campuses where trauma was taught by a series of discipline-based lectures. Three trauma OSCE stations were designed to test psychomotor skills while five addressed aspects of the cognitive domain. Checklists were used to ensure standardization of scoring in a range of questions asked for skills tested at each station. RESULTS: The marks of the RPAH students (mean 78% +/- SD 9%) were significantly higher (P < 0.0005) than the controls (mean 70% +/- SD 9%) in the 8 trauma questions. There was no significant difference (P = 0.8) in marks obtained by the study group (mean 61% +/- SD 8%) and controls (mean 63% +/- SD 7%) in 22 questions sampling a wide spectrum of nontrauma subject areas. The study group performed significantly better in one of the three skills stations and three of the five problem-solving stations when compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: The innovation has the potential to fulfill a need for an integrated trauma program in the undergraduate core curriculum.

Australia↗
PubMed1996

Sensory recovery following free TRAM flap breast reconstruction.

The free TRAM flap is now commonly used in breast reconstruction after mastectomy. A number of our patients reported anecdotally return of some sensation in their reconstructed breasts, despite being told beforehand that this was unlikely. This study measured return of sensation in a series of 21 patients, by studying both patients' subjective reporting of sensory return using a standardised questionnaire and objective evaluation of sensation with standard clinical tests. These included temperature and pain threshold and the use of the Semmes-Weinstein method. The study demonstrates that measurable sensory recovery occurred in 16 of our 21 patients (76%). 18 of the 21 patients (86%) reported a subjective feeling of sensation in the reconstructed breast and 7 (33%) claimed it felt the same as their normal contralateral breast. Sensory recovery usually commences about 6 months postoperatively and progressively improves over time. These findings demonstrate that the free tissue transfer method does not necessarily lead to an insensate reconstruction, as might be supposed.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Subjective assessment of allergy relief following group hypnosis and self-hypnosis: a preliminary study.

Self-hypnosis was taught to 34 self-identified allergy patients who attended two training classes. They practiced on their own and were questioned two months later. Seventy-six percent of the subjects reported they felt an improvement in their symptoms; 86% of those who were medicated decreased their medicines. Practice was clearly related to reported improvement. "Feeling hypnotized" was not related to improvement.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Acute post-traumatic coarctation of the abdominal aorta.

An unusual case of coarctation of the abdominal aorta following trauma in reported. The resultant supratenal aortic constriction was associated with severe hypertension and elevated plasma renin concentration. Gradual aortic dilation at the suture site was accompanied by remission of hypertension and return of plasma renin concentration to normal. Correlation of laboratory and hemodynamic changes resulting from this unusual case of abdominal coarctation is discussed.

Adult↗