PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

David Elliman

Publications and source records attributed to David Elliman.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Missed opportunities to vaccinate children admitted to a paediatric tertiary hospital.

BACKGROUND: Inequalities in vaccine uptake exist. Studies suggest paediatric inpatients have lower rates of immunisation uptake than the general population. Various UK policies advocate opportunistic immunisation. AIM: To evaluate practice within a paediatric tertiary hospital in identifying and facilitating vaccination of inpatients who were not fully immunised. METHODS: Case notes for 225 inpatients were examined. Thirty staff of various professions and grades were interviewed. Policies, forms and documents used in the hospital were reviewed. RESULTS: Immunisation status was recorded for 71% of children admitted, but for 69% of these immunisations were documented as "up-to-date" without any further information recorded. At least 20% of inpatients were incompletely immunised, but very little was done to facilitate vaccination. There was no training for staff either in giving advice or in administering vaccines and staff views differed regarding the hospital's role in immunisations. While there were guidelines for specific groups of patients, there were no general immunisation policies. Incorrect and out-of-date immunisation schedules were found on documents. CONCLUSIONS: Opportunities to immunise children continue to be missed by all levels of health care service provision. Tertiary centres have a role to play in supporting primary care services to ensure that these vulnerable children are appropriately immunised. Measures are being taken to address the problems identified in this study and we strongly suspect that other hospitals in the UK ought to be confronting these issues as well.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

DISCERN-Genetics: quality criteria for information on genetic testing.

Information currently available to the public is inadequate to support those deciding to consent to a genetic test. As genetic knowledge continues to evolve, more people will be forced to consider the complex issues raised by genetic testing. We developed and tested criteria to guide the production and appraisal of information resources produced for the public on genetic testing. Lay people with and without experience of a genetic condition, and providers and producers of health information appraised and listed the criteria they used to rate the quality of a sample of information on cystic fibrosis, Down's syndrome, familial breast cancer, familial colon cancer, haemochromatosis, Huntington's disease, sickle cell disease, and thalassaemia. These genetic conditions represent different populations, disease pathways, and treatment decisions. The information medium could be written, electronic, CD, audio or video. The quality criteria were tested iteratively (using the weighted kappa statistic) for the level of agreement between users applying successive drafts of the criteria to different samples of information. The final set of criteria consisted of 19 questions plus an overall quality rating. Chance corrected agreement (weighted kappa) among the appraisers for the overall quality rating was 0.61 (0.60-0.62). The criteria cover the scope of the information resources, information on the condition, the test procedure and results, decision making, and the reliability of the information. The DISCERN-Genetics criteria will guide the production and appraisal of information produced for the public, and will facilitate the involvement of the public in decisions around genetic screening and testing.

Female↗
PubMed2005

Measles.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to summarize important papers concerning measles disease and measles-containing vaccines published in 2004. RECENT FINDINGS: Endemic measles has been successfully controlled in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. This has been achieved with a high uptake of two doses of a measles-containing vaccine. Even in industrialized countries, where vaccine uptake is poor, for example Japan, the disease is still a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Vaccine failure is predominantly due to primary vaccine failure, which may, in part, be genetic in origin and related to HLA type. Measles-containing vaccines have been shown to be associated with febrile convulsions, but there is no strong evidence of a link with atopy. There is considerable evidence that there is no causal relationship with autistic disorders. In spite of this, many parents and some professionals have concerns about the safety of the vaccines, which may lead to their underuse. SUMMARY: It is possible to eliminate measles with a high uptake of two doses of measles-containing vaccine, but concerns about safety persist and need to be tackled. More research is required into how to do this effectively and also to elucidate the causes of vaccine failure.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prevention, diagnosis and management of pertussis.

Recent research has indicated that a persistent cough lasting longer than 14 days in children aged 5-16 may indicate whooping cough. Helen Bedford and David Elliman explain what whooping cough is and the role of immunisation.

Adolescent↗