Actual Treatment (actual + treatment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Depression and practice guidelines

HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue 1 2001
John S Mcintyre
Abstract Over the past two decades there have been great advances in the understanding of depression and in the development of pharmacological agents and psychosocial treatments that have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of this common and disabling illness. Unfortunately, this knowledge and evidence is not consistently translated into actual treatment, and depression remains undiagnosed in a large percentage of patients, and when it is accurately diagnosed, it often is suboptimally treated. The frequent failure to properly diagnose depression may be due to the continuing stigma of mental illness, the persistence of the biomedical, rather than the biopsychosocial, paradigm of illness and treatment, educational issues and the time constraints in the typical medical practice. The suboptimal treatment may be due to all of these issues plus the difficulty in changing physician behaviours even when there exists much evidence that would seem to dictate such a change. The development of a criteria-based nomenclature and the subsequent development and dissemination of evidence-based practice guidelines addresses some of these issues. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Outcomes-based trial of an inpatient nurse practitioner service for general medical patients

JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2001
Mathilde H. Pioro MD
Abstract Although teaching hospitals are increasingly using nurse practitioners (NPs) to provide inpatient care, few studies have compared care delivered by NPs and housestaff or the ability of NPs to admit and manage unselected general medical patients. In a Midwest academic teaching hospital 381 patients were randomized to general medical wards staffed either by NPs and a medical director or medical housestaff. Data were obtained from medical records, interviews and hospital databases. Outcomes were compared on both an intention to treat (i.e. wards to which patients were randomized) and actual treatment (i.e. wards to which patients were admitted) basis. At admission, patients assigned randomly to NP-based care (n = 193) and housestaff care (n = 188) were similar with respect to demographics, comorbidity, severity of illness and functional parameters. Outcomes at discharge and at 6 weeks after discharge were similar (P > 0.10) in the two groups, including: length of stay; charges; costs; consultations; complications; transfers to intensive care; 30-day mortality; patient assessments of care; and changes in activities of daily living, SF-36 scores and symptom severity. However, after randomization, 90 of 193 patients (47%) assigned to the NP ward were actually admitted to housestaff wards, largely because of attending physicians and NP requests. None the less, outcomes of patients admitted to NP and housestaff wards were similar (P > 0.1). NP-based care can be implemented successfully in teaching hospitals and, compared to housestaff care, may be associated with similar costs and clinical and functional outcomes. However, there may be important obstacles to increasing the number of patients cared for by NPs, including physician concerns about NPs' capabilities and NPs' limited flexibility in managing varying numbers of patients and accepting off-hours admissions. [source]


Stress and burnout in psychiatric professionals when starting to use dialectical behavioural therapy in the work with young self-harming women showing borderline personality symptoms

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 7 2007
K-I. PERSEIUS phd
The aim of the study was to investigate how starting to use dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) in the work with young self-harming women showing symptoms of borderline personality disorder affected the psychiatric professionals (n = 22) experience of occupational stress and levels of professional burnout. The study was carried out in relation to an 18-month clinical psychiatric development project, and used a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods [a burnout inventory, the Maslach burnout inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), free format questionnaires and group interviews]. The result confirms previous reports that psychiatric health professionals experience treatment of self-harming patients as very stressful. DBT was seen as stressful in terms of learning demands, but decreased the experience of stress in the actual treatment of the patients. The teamwork and supervision were felt to be supportive, as was one particular facet of DBT, namely mindfulness training which some therapists felt also improved their handling of other work stressors not related to DBT. The inventory for professional burnout, the MBI-GS, showed no significant changes over the 18-month period, although there was a tendency for increased burnout levels at the 6-month assessment, which had returned to baseline levels at 18 months. [source]


Biomedical applications of 10B and 11B NMR

NMR IN BIOMEDICINE, Issue 2 2005
Peter Bendel
Abstract This review focuses mainly on the detection and investigation of molecules used for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) by 10B and 11B NMR. In this binary radiation treatment, boron-containing molecules (also called ,BNCT agents') enriched in the 10B isotope, are targeted to the tumor, and irradiated with thermal or epithermal neutrons. Capture of these neutrons by 10B nuclei generates cell-damaging radiation, confined to single cell dimensions. NMR research efforts have primarily been applied in two directions: first, to investigate the metabolism and pharmaco-kinetics of BNCT agents in-vivo, and second, to use localized NMR spectroscopy and/or MRI for non-invasive mapping of the administered molecules in treated animals or patients. While the first goal can be pursued using 11B NMR for natural-abundance samples (80% 11B / 20% 10B), molecules used in the actual treatment are >,95% enriched in 10B, and must therefore be detected by 10B NMR. Both 10B (spin 3) and 11B (spin 3/2) are quadrupolar nuclei, and their typical relaxation times, in common BNCT agents in biological environments, are rather short. This poses some technical challenges, particularly for MRI, which will be reviewed, along with possible solutions. The first attempts at 11B NMR and MRI detection of BNCT agents in biological tissue were conducted over a decade ago. Since then, results from 11B MRI in laboratory animals and in humans have been reported, and 11B NMR spectroscopy provided interesting and unique information about the metabolism of some BNCT agents in cultured cells. 10B NMR was applied either ,indirectly' (in double-resonance experiments involving coupled protons), but also by direct 10B MRI in mice. However, no results involving the NMR detection of 10B-enriched compounds in treated patients have been reported yet. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Skeletal effects of bite jumping therapy on the mandible , removable vs. fixed functional appliances

ORTHODONTICS & CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2005
G Shen
Structured Abstract Authors , Shen G, Hägg U, Darendeliler MA Objective , Based on an extensive review of the literature, the aim of this study was to explore the mainstream consensus on the controversial topic of whether the bite jumping treatment could enhance mandibular growth. Design , The data for removable and fixed functional appliances were respectively comprehended and analyzed with regard to their attributes in mandibular growth modification. Furthermore, numerous reported findings were assessed by relating them to some important factors influencing the effects of bite jumping, such as treatment timing, treatment duration and post-treatment follow-up, to allow for a more objective and accurate evaluation. Results , The key differences between removable and fixed appliances are working hours (intermittent vs. continuous), length of treatment time (long vs. short), optimal treatment timing (before puberty growth vs. at or after puberty spurt), and mode of bite-jumping (considerable vertical opening vs. limited vertical opening). These different features lead to different treatment effects on mandibular and TMJ growth, such as the intensity of possibly increased growth (clinically less significant vs. significant), the direction of enhanced growth (vertical vs. horizontal), and the stability of treatment changes (unstable vs. stable). The short-term or long-term post-treatment relapse mainly relates to the rebound of dental position. Conclusion , The immediate effects of bite jumping functional appliances on the mandibular growth enhancement are convincing during actual treatment. This extra gain of growth might be sustainable during the short-term and long-term post-treatment period. [source]


Being a psychoanalyst: An everyday audacity,

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Issue 2 2006
DANIELLE QUINODOZ
This paper is the work of fi ve psychoanalysts who came together as a group in order to refl ect on their work as analysts. How are we analysts to identify the unconscious resistances that may sometimes hold us back from offering psychoanalysis to some patients? Do these resistances sometimes hamper the inner freedom that we require in order to maintain a psychoanalytic focus once that process is under way? How do we manage from time to time to overcome these resistances or, better, make use of them in order to develop our understanding of the unconscious dynamics that create the link between analyst and patient? The authors discuss these issues with particular reference to clinical situations taken from classic psychoanalytic treatment cases during which the analyst had to fi nd within him- or herself the audacity to be a psychoanalyst. Each clinical situation is different: preliminary interviews, in the course of the actual treatment, issues that emerge in the training of candidates. One of the signifi cant features of this group lies in the fact that the participants are at different stages in their development as psychoanalysts (student, associate member, full member, training analyst). This means that their experiences complement one another and encourage a discussion of issues such as how psychoanalysis can be passed on, and the relationship between supervisor and supervisee. [source]