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Biomedical subjects

L E Tan

Publications and source records attributed to L E Tan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Reducing the rate of paramedic needlesticks in emergency medical services: the role of self-capping intravenous catheters.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the frequency of unintentional needlesticks can be reduced by replacing conventional i.v. catheters with self-capping ones. METHODS: Retrospective cohort, historically controlled study, conducted in an emergency medical services advanced life support (ALS) service. The ALS service annually transports 12,000 patients, for whom i.v. therapy is attempted in about 65% of cases. The needlestick rate per 1,000 patients receiving attempts at i.v. access was examined during the 2 10-month periods, before and after introduction of a self-capping i.v. catheter. RESULTS: For the 2 periods, the percentage of patients for whom i.v. access was attempted remained constant at 65%. The success rate for i.v. access was statistically unchanged from 88% to 90% (p > 0.5, power = 0.995). During the period prior to use of the new catheter, 44 injuries were reported overall. Of these, 15 were due to unintentional needlesticks, 11 associated with contaminated needles. Following the system-wide introduction of the new catheter, only 1 of 31 reported injuries was due to needlestick (uncontaminated). The extrapolated annual incidence of contaminated needlesticks decreased from 169 (95% CI; 85, 253) to 0 (95% CI; 0, 46) per 100,000 i.v.attempts. The extrapolated incidence for all needlesticks decreased from 231 (95% CI; 132, 330) to 15 (95% CI; 0, 40) per 100,000 i.v. attempts. The absolute number of needlesticks and the proportion of injuries due to needlesticks decreased significantly (p < 0.005). CONCLUSION: The use of i.v. catheters with self-capping needles was associated with a significant reduction in the absolute number of inadvertent needlesticks as well as the proportion of injuries due to needlesticks among ALS providers. The use of self-capping i.v. catheters was feasible and did not appear to be a deterrent to initiating i.v. therapy in the out-of-hospital environment.

Catheterization, Peripheral↗
PubMed1994

Auditory steady-state evoked potential in newborns.

Steady-state evoked potential responses were recorded from 337 normal full-term sleeping newborns to combined amplitude and frequency modulated tones. Responses were automatically detected by statistical analysis of the response phase. Responses were most easily and consistently recorded at carrier frequencies of 500 Hz, 1500 Hz and 4000 Hz when the modulation frequency was between 60 Hz and 100 Hz. In this modulation frequency range, the response latencies were found to be between 11 ms and 15 ms, depending on carrier frequency, and the mean response thresholds for the three carrier frequencies were found to be 41.36 dB HL, 24.41 dB HL and 34.51 dB HL respectively. The results of this study suggest that steady-state evoked potentials at modulation rates in excess of 60 Hz may be useful for frequency specific, automated hearing screening in newborns.

Evoked Potentials↗
PubMed1985

Laterality and motor skills in four-year-olds.

From a population of 512 4-year-olds attending preschools, 41 children were identified as left-handed and 23 as lacking definite hand preference. Using the McCarthy Motor Scales and a fine-motor scale designed by the investigator, these children were compared with right-handers matched for age, sex, and preschool attended. T tests indicated no difference between left-handers and right-handers of either sex, but the children lacking hand preference had lower scores than right-handers. Implications for the education of children lacking handedness and possible sex differences are discussed.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1983

Handedness in two generations.

A 14-item questionnaire was administered to tertiary students and their families. The responses of the 508 subjects in the parental generation were compared with those of the 917 younger subjects. For every item significantly fewer older subjects gave left responses. The questionnaire identified more left-handers among subjects than writing hand did, but as only 5.9% of these were classed as left-handed, compared with 11.8% of the younger generation, it seems unlikely that ascertainment was complete in the parental group. Using data from an additional 69 non-right-handers, item analyses indicated that writing and drawing were unsuitable items for older subjects and that, of the items tested, toothbrush and hammer use and pouring would be the best indicators of left-handedness.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Laterality and directional preferences in preschool children.

Directional preference for horizontal hand movements was investigated in 49 right-handed and 49 left-handed 4-yr.-olds, using three tests: (1) copying a line drawn between two dots, (2) starting to trace around a bilaterally symmetrical angular path, and (3) drawing a line after a demonstration. Both handedness groups showed strong preference for outward movements for simple line drawing, though there was a significant tendency to copy the demonstrated direction. For the tracing task, both handedness groups exhibited directional preference for the right hand only. Conflicting results of earlier studies can be reconciled with each other and with these data by assuming that directionality for more complex perceptual-motor tasks has a different basis from directionality for simple motor tasks and that it is established at a later age but only for the right hand. Differences between the hands may be in specialization of contralateral hemispheres. Footedness, eyedness were not significant.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1980

Left handedness, birth order and birth stress.

The handedness of 942 subjects (305 tertiary students, 591 of their siblings and 46 of their children) was ascertained by a 14-item questionnaire. The mothers of the subjects supplied information about maternal age at birth, birth weight and the presence or absence of twelve conditions likely to be associated with birth stress for each subject. No increase in left handedness was found among fourth or later born children. A significant decrease occurred in first-borns of both sexes, although these had more stressful births than the other subjects. No relationship between maternal age, birth weight or reported birth stress and left handedness was found. Thus the hypothesis that birth stress is a major cause of left handedness in normal subjects was not supported. Acknowledgements. We are particularly grateful to the students from the Institute for Early Childhood Development and their families, who provided the data for this study. We also wish to thank Dr John L. Bradshaw for his very constructive comments during the preparation of this paper.

Adolescent↗