Biomedical subjects

M K Marvel

Publications and source records attributed to M K Marvel.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

A school-based intervention to increase the use of bicycle helmets.

Four family practice resident physicians provided a school-based educational intervention designed to increase the use of bicycle helmets by elementary school children in three of six public schools and to produce more favorable parental attitudes toward bicycle helmets. The effect of the one-week intervention was assessed by two parent surveys and direct observation of children riding bicycles to school. Results indicate that 60 helmets were purchased. Parents reported a change in barriers to helmet purchase, an increase in helmet ownership (13% to 27%), but observed helmet use did not increase. Both helmet ownership and use were reported to be more frequent among families with higher income and educational levels.

Bicycling↗

PubMed1992

Attempting the improbable: offering colorectal cancer screening to all appropriate patients.

Screening tests, to be most effective, must be offered to all eligible patients. The goal of this study was to increase patient compliance with screening flexible sigmoidoscopy and fecal occult blood testing by offering these tests to all eligible patients over age 50 during office visits. During a twelve-week period, 546 patients were seen by 18 family practice resident and faculty physicians who had been randomly assigned to two intervention groups and one control group. During all visits with patients in the intervention groups, reminders were used to prompt physicians to offer the two screening tests. Patients in one of the groups also received a recall letter two weeks after the visit. The screening tests were offered to 58% of the eligible patients. Significantly more patients in the intervention groups completed the sigmoidoscopy (29% vs 2%) and fecal occult blood testing (56% vs 17%) compared with the control group patients.

Aged↗

PubMed1992

Single-subject experimental designs: a practical research alternative for practicing physicians.

Single-subject research designs offer a viable alternative to the more customary group-comparison designs. The flexibility and practicality of these designs make them particularly well suited for practicing family physicians interested in testing their clinical hunches. Three designs are described that are feasible in a practice setting: ABAB (reversal), multiple-baseline, and the alternating treatment design. Either visual inspection or statistical approaches can be used to evaluate these designs. By being aware of their limitations and by following simple practical steps, the practicing physician can use these designs to improve care of individual patients while simultaneously contributing to our general knowledge.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Acupressure wrist bands to relieve nausea and vomiting in hospice patients: do they work?

This study assessed the effects of acupressure wrist bands on the nausea and vomiting of terminally ill patients. Using a single subject experimental design, six hospice patients were exposed to three conditions: An acupressure wrist band; A placebo wrist band; A no wrist band condition. Patients and their caregivers rated nausea and vomiting during the treatment. Despite some difficulty obtaining complete data, the results of this preliminary test indicate that acupressure wrist bands were not effective in reducing nausea and vomiting in this small sample of hospice patients.

Acupuncture Points↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A taxonomy of clinical research methods: comparisons of family practice and general medical journals.

Although an understanding of research methodology has been identified as an important skill for family practice researchers, the available literature contains confusing terminology and lacks agreement about research design classifications. A multidimensional taxonomy is presented to clarify and simplify the understanding of research designs, data collection methods, and research populations for family practice researchers. The taxonomy was used to classify 103 articles from five medical journals. Compared with general medical journals, reports in family practice journals used similar research designs but were more likely to rely on self-report data and to draw subjects from outpatient populations.

Data Collection↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Improving clinical teaching skills using the parallel process model.

Despite a variety of efforts to develop the clinical teaching skills of family practice faculty, objective and reliable evidence of improvement has been lacking. In this study, family practice faculty physicians were videotaped during consultations with residents. Following a brief intervention, specific teaching skills increased, as indicated by follow-up videotapes and resident ratings. In particular, faculty physicians were more likely to verbally reinforce residents' efforts following the intervention. Analysis of 150 videotaped consultations revealed that several teaching behaviors remained at low rates, such as discussion of family issues. These results, when examined from the perspective of the "parallel process," suggest that faculty frequently do not model the interpersonal behaviors expected of residents during patient interviews.

Analysis of Variance↗