Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A H Ranhoff

Publications and source records attributed to A H Ranhoff.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Accidental hypothermia in the elderly.

Accidental hypothermia is known to be a hazard to elderly people in temperate and cold climate. This is a review of the literature focusing on risk factors, clinical presentation and treatment of hypothermia in the elderly. The most important risk factors are connected to ageing itself and to the morbidity often found in elderly hypothermia victims. Knowledge about treatment of severe accidental hypothermia in elderly people is based on experience from few cases and some minor prospective studies mainly on rewarming of younger patients. Clinical treatment protocols seems to be based on experience from younger patients. Based on general knowledge in geriatric medicine and experience from three recent cases of hypothermia in the elderly, the use of careful, active external rewarming and a low stress strategy are recommended for elderly patients.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1997

[District geriatrics in Nordmøre].

Many aged Norwegians live in sparsely populated areas where access to geriatric assessment is limited. In 1990 a non-acute, ambulatory service was started in the Nordmøre region. This article gives a description of the project. From 1990 to 1992 19 visits were made to six municipalities by a physician and a nurse from the out-patient clinic for the elderly at the local hospital. 59 patients were referred by general practitioners--mental impairment, general loss of function and assessment of possible rehabilitation being the most common causes for referral. Ten out of 11 GPs, all of whom had referred patients, and the leading district nurses in the municipalities expressed their satisfaction with the project through a postal questionnaire.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Reliability of nursing assistants' observations of functioning and clinical symptoms and signs.

Simple methods for the early detection of function loss and disease in the elderly were evaluated. Such methods might be used by non-professional personnel as case-finding tools for early intervention. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of functional and clinical data collected by non-professional nursing assistants. The study group consisted of sixty elderly short-stay patients in a stable clinical situation, admitted for rehabilitation and aid in a nursing home. Barthel ADL index items and clinical symptoms and signs were scored by nursing assistants and nurses (the reference method). Agreement between scores was assessed by Cohen's kappa statistics and test of marginal homogeneity. All the Barthel items and the clinical symptoms and signs had fair or better agreement (weighted kappa > 0.40). For dressing, chair-to-bed transfer, ambulation, bathing, paresis and edema, the agreement was strong (weighted kappa > 0.75). The reliability of the Barthel sumscores was also acceptable. We concluded that observation of functioning and clinical symptoms and signs by non-professional nursing assistants is reliable.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1995

The Barthel ADL index: factor structure depends upon the category of patient.

The validity and reliability of the Barthel index were studied in 60 geriatric patients, 87 stroke patients, and 102 patients with hip fracture, using a factor analysis methodology which explicitly accounts for the ordinal nature of the scoring on each item. The findings substantiate that the Barthel index is unidimensional among stroke patients, but not among geriatric patients or patients with hip fracture. In the latter two groups, one factor related to mobility, the other to bodily functions. A sum-score to characterize geriatric and hip fracture patients does not take into account the complex structure of the Barthel index.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1993

The Barthel ADL index: scoring by the physician from patient interview is not reliable.

Using the Barthel index, a physician's ADL scoring based upon clinical interviews of 59 elderly nursing-home patients was compared with the scoring by nurses based upon observations over time (the reference method). The scoring by the doctor was higher than that by the nurses (mean score 14.3 vs 12.2), and 11.1). Use of the kappa statistics on each item of the Barthel ADL index showed that, in general, the agreement was poor between physician's scoring and the reference method. However, information collected by the physician on Barthel index items reflecting mobility demonstrated fair to good agreement among patients with a higher score on the Mini-Mental Status.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

[Injuries following a hurricane in Nordmøre].

In this article we describe the efforts of local authorities to detect and treat casualties caused by a hurricane that struck the west coast of Norway January 1st, 1992 and prevent further injuries. Wind velocity exceeded 100 knots (117 mph), the strongest ever recorded in Norway. The damage to buildings, trees and power lines was so devastating that the Nordmøre area, with approximately 50,000 inhabitants, was left without electricity for five days. Altogether 56 casualties were reported by physicians and the local hospital (one death, caused by hypothermia and exhaustion, and six admissions to hospital) in the period 1-5 January. Nine old people suffered injuries by falling in the dark in their houses, and ten men were injured during repair work.

Adult↗