Biomedical subjects

L B Mason

Publications and source records attributed to L B Mason.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1977

Complications in surgical patients. A comparison of methods for identifying occurrence.

Because reporting of complications by physicians is not reliable, monitoring of the hospital course of surgical patients by nurses can improve effectiveness of identifying complications. Monitoring the course of only those patients who remain in the hospital more than four postoperative days will disclose 90 per cent of complications expected in all patients undergoing operation. Twenty hours per week of a nurse's time is sufficient to monitor 1,300 such patients annually. Identification of patients with large hospital bills will include most patients with complicated hospital courses but does not discriminate them from the large number of uncomplicated courses which also generate large hospital charges.

Humans↗

PubMed1976

Primary appendectomy.

A review of 403 patients undergoing appendectomy in a community hospital led to the following conclusions. Appendectomy with the finding of a normal appendix and no other condition requiring operation was accompanied by a higher complication rate and longer hospitalization than appendectomy for nonperforated diseased appendix. A high frequency of removal of normal appendices did not result in a lower incidence of appendiceal perforation. An increased diagnostic accuracy in the surgical treatment of "acute appendicitis" was not associated with increased incidence of appendiceal perforation. These findings support the thesis that a more discriminate diagnosis of acute appendicitis will lower the incidence of unnecessary appendectomy without increasing the morbidity from unrecognized appendiceal disease.

Acute Disease↗