PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Shane Reti

Publications and source records attributed to Shane Reti.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Ventolin to Salamol--a crossover study in New Zealand.

AIMS: To assess asthma stability in adults converted from Ventolin to Salamol. METHODS: Thirty-six general practice adults with documented asthma and using Ventolin at least weekly in the previous 12 months, changed their Ventolin for Salamol for a period of 4 weeks. The validated Asthma Control Questionnaire was applied at the beginning and end of the study period. RESULTS: Of the 36 adults, 6/36 (17%; 95%CI 4-29%) prematurely withdrew mainly due to Salamol ineffectiveness. A further 15/36 (42%; 95%CI 25-58%) could not maintain Salamol alone and returned to Ventolin at some time during the study period with 10/15 (67%; 95% CI 42-91%) citing Salamol ineffectiveness. Of the remaining 15/36 who maintained the study design, nearly all had worse asthma stability 14/15 (93%; 95%CI 80-100%). CONCLUSIONS: Asthma stability was significantly worse with Salamol compared to Ventolin. Psychological features related to changing inhalers, different physical aspects of Salamol inhalers, and pharmacological ineffectiveness are possible explanations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Improving outpatient department efficiency: a randomized controlled trial comparing hospital and general-practice telephone reminders.

AIMS: This study aimed to ascertain whether or not telephone reminders reduce non-attendance at hospital outpatient clinics and whether telephone reminders from general practitioners are more effective than those made from hospitals. METHODS: Outpatient department appointments for three general practitioners (GPs) over a three-month period, were randomized into three groups: 'Hospital', 'GP', and 'Control'. Patients in the Hospital and the GP groups were reminded of their appointment by telephone 24 hours beforehand, by a hospital waiting-list clerk or their general practitioner respectively. Information was recorded on appointment awareness and subsequent attendance history. RESULTS: A total of 109 patients were included in the study. The three study groups had 'no show' rates of 3% (GP), 8% (Hospital), and 27% (Control). The combined 'no show' rate for the groups reminded by telephone was 5%. The combined telephone-reminded group was statistically different from the Control group (p = 0.004). There was no statistical difference between the GP group and the Hospital group (p = 0.764). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, telephone reminders significantly decreased outpatient department 'no show' rates. The source of the telephone reminder made no difference to non-attendance.

Appointments and Schedules↗