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At least 1,405 records · Page 78Linked to original sources

PubMed1990

Tumor markers and screening tools in cancer detection.

The ideal cancer screening tool would be one that is sufficiently sensitive to detect early malignancy, specific to only cancer and not a host of other conditions, specific for the type of cancer, specific for the location of the cancer, commensurate to the tumor bulk, cost-effective, easy to use, safe, acceptable to the general population, and acceptable to the medical community. No one laboratory test or radiograph meets all of the preceding criteria. Great strides have been made, however, in the early diagnosis of cancer. For example, breast cancer is being diagnosed at much earlier stages because of mammography. Just a few years ago, safety was a major issue because of the high level of radiation exposure connected with mammography. Today, radiation exposure is minimal, and the benefits far outweigh the potential harm. Research must continue to perfect the existing screening tools and develop new tools that will enable the early detection of malignant disease.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

A standardized data collection tool.

To successfully integrate data collection into the staff's responsibilities, the process must be simple, concise, and easy to use. The data collection tool described in this article includes all the important information at a glance, permits easy comparison with projected and actual thresholds, and analysis of data with follow-up action. It reduces the volumes of paperwork required in many systems. Since the indicators are written on only one paper, there is a reduction in transcription time. Additionally, one paper that contains a sample of twenty should be adequate for a unit-based indicator. Use of this tool reduces the number of papers that must be handled by the QA coordinator as well. Finally, the tool is flexible enough to use in a variety of settings.

Data Collection↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Authoring systems. Finding the right tool for your courseware development project.

Many factors must be considered when selecting an appropriate tool for courseware development. An overview of development tools is provided. Based on the authors' experience in selecting an authoring system for a recent courseware development project, a practical process for selecting the appropriate tool is described. Considerations when determining the general needs for an authoring system and evaluating specific authoring systems' features are outlined. Selection considerations are also discussed.

Curriculum↗

PubMed1990

Preparing for inspection: a tool to maximize quality and minimize risk.

Self-assessment of a dialysis unit can provide an effective means of improving or assuring the level of quality the unit provides in delivering safe and effective care. A tool for use by facility personnel was developed and is being used in 12 dialysis units within one dialysis company. This tool has been useful in identifying areas of risk and in assisting units in developing and maintaining survey readiness. This article presents the facility tool and describes how it may be used to assist other dialysis facilities in risk management and quality assurance activities.

Hemodialysis Units, Hospital↗

PubMed1990

[Present-day metal-cutting tools and working conditions].

Polyfunctional machine-tools of a processing centre type are characterized by a set of hygienic advantages as compared to universal machine-tools. But low degree of mechanization and automation of some auxiliary processes, and constructional defects which decrease the ergonomic characteristics of the tools, involve labour intensity in multi-machine processing. The article specifies techniques of allowable noise level assessment, and proposes hygienic recommendations, some of which have been introduced into practice.

Engineering↗

PubMed1990

Evaluating elderly patients: a critique of comprehensive functional assessment tools.

The need for long-term planning and efficient usage of resources in the health care field necessitates approaching the elderly patient from a biopsychosocial point of view, facilitating a more complete approach to patient care. This article critiques tools available for the comprehensive functional evaluation of older patients, and identifies their effectiveness in improving specific aspects of patient outcomes. The Comprehensive Older Persons' Evaluation tool is described and compared with two other tools that evaluate a patient's functional and instrumental activities of daily living, as well as the medical, social and psychological aspects of the patient.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1990

Fatal hand tool injuries in construction.

Past research on occupational hand tool injuries has generally focused on nonfatal injuries. Most such injuries occur at the point where energy is transferred to the material being worked, eg, at the edge of a saw blade or the point of a drill. Assuming that hand tool injuries that are fatal will differ from nonfatal injuries, 62 Occupation Safety and Health Administration reports were analyzed. Four patterns emerged when the type of contact with energy was used to classify incidents. Fatal injuries occurred when (1) contact was made with energy that supplies power to the hand tool, (2) energy normally transferred to the material being worked is transferred to the worker, (3) workers or materials fall, and (4) potential energy is encountered in the work environment. Analysis showed that almost all such injuries could be prevented by application of existing safe work practices.

Accidental Falls↗

PubMed1989

Cognitive assessment parameters and tools for the critically injured adult.

No one parameter or tool is the best. The AACN standards for practice currently recommend various assessment criteria. Initial assessments must be done to establish a baseline, and follow-up data collection will then reveal any trend. What criteria, test or tool the nurse chooses is often dictated by the patient's level of consciousness, stability, the equipment available, the nurse's expertise, and the other personnel involved in the patient's care. The key to successful patient outcome is to appreciate what clinical parameters, diagnostic tests, and pencil and paper tools are available and to select the most appropriate. The nurse must recognize the strengths and limitations of all assessment devices and choose knowledgeably among them.

Brain↗

PubMed1985

A performance appraisal tool for nurse practitioners.

Performance appraisal can be an emotionally charged experience for both the supervisor and the employee. The accuracy of the appraisal is dependent not only upon the evaluator, but also upon the appropriateness of the tool being used for the task. An employee's career advancement, professional development, monetary remuneration and self-esteem often may depend upon the final outcome of the process. A group of nurse practitioners practicing in a wide variety of clinical and administrative roles at the Johns Hopkins Hospital formed a task force to develop a performance appraisal tool that would adequately reflect the nurse practitioner role and that could be individualized according to the work setting. A general overview of the development process, the tool, its scoring system and instructions for implementation are presented.

Employee Performance Appraisal↗

PubMed1983

New techniques and tools for clinical chemistry.

In this paper are described and evaluated several new tools of potential use in clinical chemistry. The first, intended to minimize required sample volumes, is a device with which a total sample volume of 1 microL can be dispensed in the form of 1000 identical aliquots. Any number of such nanoliter aliquots can be taken if larger samples are needed. The second new tool is one for detecting anions or cations separated by ion chromatography. Unlike conventional conductometric detectors used in ion chromatography, the new system offers potential sensitivities in the sub-microgram per liter range and useful operating ranges up to 100 mg/L. The third tool is a scheme for background correction in atomic absorption spectrometry; the new technique requires no special auxiliary sources or double-beam optics. Finally, fluorescence time-decay curves and fluorescence lifetimes are shown to be able to overcome the effects of diffusional quenching and scattering resulting from turbidity of solutions in clinical fluorometry.

Chemistry, Clinical↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A psychosocial screening tool for ambulatory health care clients: a pilot study of validity.

This study tested the concurrent validity of a psychosocial screening tool, the Assessment of Life Conditions Scale (ALC), a brief checklist developed at Kaiser Permanente Health Maintenance Organization. It was found to be a significant predictor of a client's score on two longer valid and reliable psychosocial screening tools, the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and the Heimler Scale of Social Functioning. Clients' ALC scores were significantly correlated with their perception of their current and usual health status. Their ALC score was also associated with their perception of how they felt a nurse could be most helpful to them during their clinic visit. This brief screening tool has potential usefulness for guiding mental health referrals for ambulatory health care clients and for planning nursing care.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed1995

Reliability and validity of a new preadmission acuity tool for long-term care.

The purpose of this project was to develop a new tool designed to assess the acuity of applicants to long-term facilities. Using a known groups method, residents of long-term care facilities were categorized as independent (n = 68), assist (n = 71), and dependent (n = 65) and assessed using the Preadmission Acuity Inquiry Tool (PAI) to generate the data base for examining its psychometric properties. The progression of the mean scores from independent to assist to dependent demonstrates the ability of the tool to differentiate across varying levels of functional independence. Using discriminant analysis, the degree of accuracy in predicting group membership for the independent group was 88%, for the dependent group 75%, and for the assist group 17% with the overall agreement between PAI scores and a priori classifications at 60%. Kappa coefficients for interrater reliability ranged from .54 to 1.0 with a mean of .90. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .81. The PAI has demonstrated sufficient reliability and validity to warrant further refinement and testing. This new instrument may enable health care professionals to provide the appropriate level of care in a cost-effective manner.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1995

Computer tool FUNSITE for analysis of eukaryotic regulatory genomic sequences.

We present the computer tool FUNSITE for description and analysis of regulatory sequences of eukaryotic genomes. The tool consists of the following main parts: 1) An integrated database for genomic regulatory sequences. The integrated database was designed on the basis of the databases TRANSFAC (Wingender 1994) and TRRD (Kel et al. 1995) that are currently under development. The following functions are performed: i) linkage to the EMBL database; ii) preparing samples of definite types of functional sites with their flanking sequences; iii) preparing samples of promoter sequences; iv) preparing samples of transcription factors classified with regard to structural and functional features of DNA binding and activating domains, functional families of the factors, their tissue specificity and other functional features; v) access to data on mutual disposition of cis-elements within the regulatory regions. 2) The second component of FUNSITE tool is the set of programs for analysis of the structural organization of regulatory sequences: i) Program for revealing of potential transcription factors binding sites based on their consensi; ii) program for revealing of the potential binding sites using homology search with nucleotide sequences of real binding sites; iii) program for analysis of oligonucleotide context features which are characteristic of flank sequences of the binding sites; iv) program for design of recognition method for the functional sites based on generalized weight matrix; v) program for revealing potential composite elements. The results of analysis of the promoter sequences of eukaryotic genes with the FUNSITE are presented, too.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1995

Clinical tools for success in managing care.

Managing care effectively requires a coalition of services that are sensitive to individual needs, promote effective resource use, support physician practice, and ensure coordination of services across the continuum. Several clinical tools exist to establish structures, systems, and processes that integrate management of expected and unexpected patient and family needs across the life span and throughout the health care continuum. System evaluation; unrelenting communication; continuous improvement; case management; empowerment; standards-based clinical practice; and satisfaction of the patient, family, and care provider are some of the tools available to develop systems that effectively manage health and illness. This article provides some examples of several of these "tools," the process of development and implementation, and evaluation strategies.

Communication↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Pediatric resuscitation: development of a mock code program and evaluation tool.

Effective and efficient resuscitation skills are especially significant for pediatric care providers because of the increased neurologic morbidity and mortality associated with pediatric arrests. A mock code system was initiated to assess and enhance the competency of the medical and nursing staff who respond to pediatric arrests in all areas of an acute care general hospital. Two mock codes are conducted each month using a data collection tool. All of the critical skills involved in a pediatric resuscitation are listed in the tool and each skill is evaluated as met or not met. The tool identifies areas for further education and quantifies improvement in skills over a period of time. In addition, the Pediatric CPR Committee uses the data from the mock codes to initiate systems and equipment improvements.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation↗

PubMed1995

Using assessment tools to help patients in pain.

Pain is a subjective experience; assessment tools allow some objective indication of the effectiveness of care. Assessment tools can be time-consuming to complete and are not a substitute for one-to-one communication and a thorough nursing assessment. Assessment tools increase the options available when pain is a serious problem.

Humans↗

PubMed1995

[A computerized nursing care and services management tool].

The Quebec government has initiated a project to review the funding of health care establishments by determining the average cost of a hospital stay. A committee of nursing directors studied existing nursing care measurement tools and decided to develop a new tool better suited to computerized care plans. The new tool is called MESSII, after the French acronym "Mesure des soins et des services infirmiers informatisée," meaning computerized measurement of nursing care and services. This article presents the development and validation stages of MESSII.

Humans↗

PubMed1995

A critique of 'at risk' pressure sore assessment tools.

This paper critiques pressure sore risk assessment tools. No attempt is made to describe individual tools in detail as this literature is available elsewhere. The economic case for risk assessment is presented along with the criteria for an effective risk assessment instrument. Reliability and validity studies are reviewed in relation to three risk assessment tools: Norton, Waterlow and Braden. Finally a number of issues related to threshold scores, research design and the need to view pressure sores as a clinical problem rather than a nursing problem are discussed.

Humans↗