Biomedical subjects

Sally Morton

Publications and source records attributed to Sally Morton.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Opportunities for Resuscitation and Citizen Safety (ORCS) defibrillator training programme designed for older school children.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of an automated external defibrillation (AED) training programme on the knowledge, attitudes and application of BLS and AED use in young people of secondary school age in Manchester, United Kingdom. METHOD: Students from two schools who had piloted Opportunities for Resuscitation and Citizen Safety (ORCS) in the academic year 2004/2005 volunteered to partake in the study. This 'ORCS intervention' group was compared against a control group, which consisted of students who had no formal training in resuscitation nor, to our knowledge, any other form of life support training during their time at secondary school. All students were assessed and scored on their knowledge and performance of the BLS algorithm (in accordance with the UK Resuscitation Council ('Resuscitation Guidelines for the Citizen') and the use of a trainer defibrillator on a fictional cardiac arrest scenario. RESULTS: We compared 34 ORCS-trained students with 25 control students, all aged between 13 and 16 years. Approximately, twice as many ORCS-trained students than the control students performed many parts of the algorithm correctly, such as checking for danger, checking for response, opening the airway and checking for breathing. More than three times as many ORCS-trained students than controls correctly performed CPR (50% versus 12% of students). As expected, the use of the AED was the part of the algorithm performed worst, but was performed correctly by six times as many ORCS students as controls (27% versus 4% of students). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that training through the ORCS scheme has a positive influence on the ability of secondary school teenagers to perform emergency life support (ELS), but particularly in their ability to deploy an AED and perform CPR.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Patterns of HIV care for patients with serious mental illness.

Individuals with serious mental illness are at higher risk for HIV than are members of the general population. Although studies have shown that individuals with serious mental illness experience less adequate care and worse physical health outcomes than comparable patients without serious mental illness, little is known about HIV care among individuals with serious mental illness who become infected with HIV. In the present study, we describe patterns of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) use and physician monitoring received by 154 patients with serious mental illness infected with HIV. Participants were recruited from mental health agencies in Los Angeles, California. Data from 762 HIV-only patients from a separate Western U.S. probability sample were used for comparison. High proportions of serious mental illness patients with HIV in our sample appeared to be receiving adequate HIV care. Fifty-one percent of all serious mental illness patients with serious mental illness with HIV were taking HAART, and the majority received close monitoring of their CD4 counts (84%) and viral loads (82%) throughout a 1-year period. HAART use and patterns of CD4 count and viral load monitoring did not differ significantly between patients with both serious mental illness and HIV, and patients with HIV only (all p > 0.05). Specialized programs providing assistance to serious mental illness populations with HIV may be helping to narrow health care disparities as a result of having serious mental illness.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Do NSAIDs cause dyspepsia? A meta-analysis evaluating alternative dyspepsia definitions.

OBJECTIVE: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may be associated with dyspepsia, but the relationship is obscured by variations in the terminology used to report GI symptoms. Using alternative definitions, we assessed the relationship between NSAID use and dyspepsia. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, HEALTHSTAR, and BIOSIS databases (1966-1997) and New Drug Application reviews, identifying randomized, placebo-controlled trials (5 days or more duration) of any NSAID, reporting original data on GI complications. Based upon reported terms describing upper GI symptoms, we derived three definitions: strict, using terms synonymous with epigastric pain/discomfort; loose, (containing the strict definition plus terms for heartburn, nausea, bloating, anorexia, and vomiting); and a loose definition without heartburn terms (the loose-less-heartburn definition). Using each definition, we performed a random-effects model meta-analysis of the relationship between NSAID exposure and dyspepsia. RESULTS: Fifty-five published and 37 unpublished controlled NSAID trials met our inclusion criteria. The mean duration of the trials was 33.2 days (SD 40 days). Application of the strict definition resulted in a pooled risk ratio of dyspepsia for NSAIDs compared with placebo of 1.36 (95% CI = 1.11-1.67). For the loose definition, the pooled risk ratio was 1.13 (95% CI = 0.98-1.32). The loose-less-heartburn definition yielded a pooled risk ratio of 1.19 (95% CI = 1.03-1.39). In the placebo-treated control groups, the percent of patients reporting dyspepsia ranged from 2.3% (strict definition) to 4.2% (loose and loose-less-heartburn definitions). CONCLUSIONS: Using the strict definition, based solely on epigastric pain-related symptoms, NSAIDs increased the risk of dyspepsia by 36% (p < 0.05). These findings may be useful in creating a standardized definition of NSAID-related dyspepsia.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Burn specialty teams.

Natural disasters have always been a threat. human-caused disasters, especially terrorist acts, are increasing in frequency. Burn centers and providers have an important contribution to make in caring for those injured in these incidents. The most effective way to make a contribution is to act in cooperation with the Federal Disaster Response, which is organized by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It appears that this can be most effectively accomplished through participation in the Burn Specialty Team Program, which has been developed to rapidly augment emergency medical teams with burn expertise.

Burn Units↗