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Valerie Brown

Publications and source records attributed to Valerie Brown.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Preparing a patient information leaflet.

As a student of operating department practice, I was asked to produce a patient information leaflet that helped to prepare patients for a surgical procedure. In addition, I had to write a paper highlighting the issues involved in effectively communicating with vulnerable patients. The relevance of communication and information giving is vital in all aspects of healthcare but even more so in theatre where the patient must be informed to give consent.

Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic↗
PubMed2005

Eye scanning of multi-element displays: II. Saccade planning.

The properties of saccadic eye movements were studied in a task that required observers to scan through a display consisting of a set of discrete objects. The saccades forming the scanpath showed very high accuracy with almost no undershoot provided no distractor item was located within a critical region around the saccade target. When a distractor item was located in the critical region, saccade accuracy was impaired. This result suggests that the intrinsic spatial selection process for saccadic scanning movements is of low resolution. The initial saccade following display onset showed different properties. The instructions required the observer to look first at a clearly distinct target at the top left of the display. However, the first saccade frequently showed 'oculomotor capture' and was directed either to a different item in the display, or to a midway location between items. The fixation following such erroneous first saccades was generally very short and showed a substantial drift towards the instructed location.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Eye scanning of multi-element displays: I. Scanpath planning.

We recorded oculomotor scanpaths in a task that required individuals to scan through displays consisting of a small number (between 3 and 12) of near-identical items. The task required each item to be fixated at least once and our objective was to explore the principles governing the generation of scanpaths. In general the observers carried out the task efficiently, although omissions occurred quite frequently (about 25% of trials) in the 12-item case. Backtracking occurred rarely except in the case of immediate rescanning back to the previously fixated item. Such immediate backtracking occurred on about 4% of fixations and, in contrast to more distant backtracking, was not associated with increased errors. Evidence was found for both directional (raster-like) scanning strategies and scanning strategies based on the global external contour.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Is object search mediated by object-based or image-based representations?

Recent research suggests that visually specific memory representations for previously fixated objects are maintained during scene perception. Here we investigate the degree of visual specificity by asking whether the memory representations are image-based or object-based. To that end we measured the effects of object orientation on the time to search for a familiar object from amongst a set of 7 familiar distractors arranged in a circular array. Search times were found to depend on the relative orientations of the target object and the probe object for both familiar and novel objects. This effect was found to be partly an image matching effect but there was also an advantage shown for the object's canonical view for familiar objects. Orientation effects were maintained even when the target object was specified as having unique or similar shape properties relative to the distractors. Participants' eye movements were monitored during two of the experiments. Eye movement patterns revealed selection for object shape and object orientation during the search process. Our findings provide evidence for object representations during search that are detailed and share image-based characteristics with more high-level characteristics from object memory.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Outpatient hysteroscopy: an observational study of patient acceptability.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the patient acceptability of outpatient hysteroscopy when Prilocaine is used as analgesia and to determine if our practice of using Prilocaine only if indicated by pain is appropriate. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospective observational study of 100 consecutive patients undergoing outpatient hysteroscopy. RESULTS: One hundred consecutive women attending for outpatient hysteroscopy, completed questionnaires after the procedure, indicating the level of pain experienced on an analogue scale. Prilocaine hydrochloride (40 mg/ml) had been administered as an intracervical block only if a patient experienced pain or if cervical dilatation was required. Patients expressed significantly more pain during hysteroscopy than after hysteroscopy whether Prilocaine was used or not. The median pain score was significantly higher in the group that required local anesthetic. There was a greater desire to have the procedure done under general anesthesia when Prilocaine was used than when it was not used. CONCLUSION: Pain is a determining factor in patient acceptability of outpatient hysteroscopy and is a likely reason for some women to opt to have a hysteroscopy under general anesthesia. The practice of administering Prilocaine only if needed is inappropriate. Future studies should now aim to determine the optimal drug, dose, and timing of administration of analgesia in pre-selected women who are likely to experience pain and hence benefit from analgesia.

Anesthetics, Local↗