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Biomedical subjects

M F Beeler

Publications and source records attributed to M F Beeler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

Medical monitoring. What is it, how can it be improved?

Little has been published about optimizing medical monitoring protocols, although monitoring accounts for over half of all medical laboratory tests. Monitoring is a form of surveillance consisting of repeated testing intended to detect a specified change in a patient indicating a change in his prognosis, need for treatment or need for a change in treatment. The concept of monitoring overlaps with those of screening and diagnosis. One may monitor a physiologic or pathologic process, a therapeutic or noxious agent, comparing results with the patient's previous results or with a group reference range. Pertinent questions include: what are the indications, what is to be monitored, which tests are to be used, when to start, how frequently to test, when to stop. Preliminary improvement of monitoring protocols may be achieved by applying common sense guidelines for medical decision making; using best estimates of test characteristics, of possible risks and benefits of testing, not testing, treating and not treating. Sensitivity analysis may help determine when further clinical research is needed.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1985

First national in-service examination for pathology residents.

To fulfill an identified need in pathology residency program training, in 1983 the American Society of Clinical Pathologists introduced the first national in-service examination for pathology residents. This 175-item objective examination structured with seven subtest categories for various clinical rotations was administered to 1,200 residents-in-training representing 145 training programs, 40 states, and the District of Columbia. Individual norm-referenced results reports returned to each examinee, and program reports to each residency program director, indicated rank of individual examinee performance in each category and in all categories as well as with defined peer groups. Anonymity of individual results was optional to program directors. The data indicate that although performance improves with each subsequent year of residency training, the improvement is not so great as expected and that the level of performance of residents entering training was higher than anticipated. Postexamination evaluation indicated the need for this effort to continue.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Comparison of the conventional lecture method and the self-instruction method for teaching clinical pathology.

Two separate courses in clinical pathology were presented to two groups of second-year medical students. The first (large) group was taught by the conventional lecture method; the other (small) group, by a self-instructional method for roughly half of the course, followed by the conventional lecture method for the second half of the course. The effectivenesses of the two methods were compared, based on performances on the final written examination. It was found that the self-instructional method was as effective as the conventional method in teaching clinical pathology, at least in teaching basic principles and interpretive clinical chemistry, as judged by the performances of the two groups. Surprisingly, the two groups differed significantly in performances on the portion of the course taught by similar methods.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗
PubMed1977

Interpretation of the diagnostic biochemical profile.

Interpretation of the diagnostic biochemical profile has been assisted in some laboratories by simply listing on the chart paper the most common conditions causing increased and decreased concentrations of the substances measured, or by computer print-outs of a list of the most likely conditions causing the observed patterm. These are not always available, and in their absence the pathologist or the clinician or both must attempt interpretation on their own. We have prepared four algorithms (decision trees) as an aid to interpretion of the 12-test profile provided at Charity Hospital (which differs from the more usual ones by the inclusion of both creatinine and urea nitrogen and omission of cholesterol). The algorithms are still in the process of revision and development and thus should be regarded as tentative.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1977

CAP interlaboratory survey of analytic balances.

An interlaboratory survey of analytic balances was performed using aluminum oxide spheres weighing about 525 mg each. Results in 82 of the 83 laboratories completing the survey suggest that for this weight level, the error would not exceed +/-0.3% in 19 of 20 weighings; or +/-0.4% in 997 of 1,000. Discussions concerning components contributing to the variance are included.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1976

Automated assay of ceruloplasmin by kinetic analysis of o-dianisidine oxidation.

Automated procedures for the kinetic assay of serum ceruloplasmin activity using a bichromatic and a centrifugal analyzer are described. The method is based on the oxidase activity of ceruloplasmin at pH 5.0 with o-dianisidine as substrate. Enzyme activity is reported in I.U./l, based on the molar absorption coefficient of o-dianisidine consumed. The substrate is stable and is not subject to non-enzymatic oxidation. Comparison with a manual reference end-point assay using the same substrate indicates good correlation of the bichromatic and centrifugal methods. The analytical precision is comparable to the manual assay for both methods.

Autoanalysis↗
PubMed1975

CAP survey to assess the extent of stray light problems in precision spectrophotometry.

When the absorbance at 240 nm. of a solution of sodium iodide was measured by 159 laboratories using narrow-band-pass spectrophotometers, 15% reported results that suggested a problem caused by stray light. The laboratories were also requested to measure the absorbance at 240 nm. of solutions of acid potassium dichromate and alkaline potassium chromate. The laboratories that had stray-light problems reported absorbance results that were skewed in distribution and showed low mean values and wide instrument-to-instrument variation. The laboratories without stray light problems reported results with less instrument-to-instrument variation, the results followed a symmetrical distribution, and the mean of the results provided an accurate estimate of the absorbance of the solutions.

Clinical Laboratory Techniques↗