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Biomedical subjects

D F Brown

Publications and source records attributed to D F Brown.

191 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Red cabin lights impair air medical crew performance of color-dependent tasks.

INTRODUCTION: Red cabin lighting is often used for nighttime patient transports in helicopters. This study was conducted to determine if red lighting results in impairment of color-dependent tasks. METHODS: An emergency medical services pilot adjusted red lighting in a BO-105 cabin to maximum acceptable intensity. Thirteen emergency room residents were shown positive and negative CO2 detectors and skin-colored and cyan-tinted rubber masks; percentages of correctly identified masks and detectors were noted. Subjects also read drug name and amount from 12 medication labels. Wilcoxon analysis (p = 0.05) was used to compare label reading accuracy between two groups: control (black/white lettering/background) and red (red lettering or background). RESULTS: Percentages of accurately identified masks and detectors in the red light setting were as follows: normal mask 61.5%, cyanotic mask 30.8%, negative and positive CO2 detectors 46.2%. Ability to correctly read medication labeling was significantly (p = 0.003) greater in control (76.9 +/- 10.9%) as compared to red groups (16.3 +/- 13.4%). CONCLUSION: Red cabin lighting appears to impair performance of certain critical tasks requiring color discernment. Consideration of this by medical crews working under red light conditions could reduce risk for patient-care errors.

Air Ambulances↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of the Circadian Type Inventory as a measure of the circadian constructs of vigour and rigidity.

The Circadian Type Inventory (Folkard 1987) was administered to 191 students (150 females and 41 males). Corrected item to total correlations for both the Vigour and Rigidity scales were low to moderate. The internal reliabilities of the scales indicate that Vigour is statistically more homogeneous (0.74) than Rigidity (0.58). In the absence of the original CTI correlation matrix, replication using a 2-factor principal component varimax solution was undertaken. It explained only 26.7% of the variance. Post hoc factor analyses yielded 3 factors which explained 33.4% of the variance. The relatively low amounts of variance explained and the inadequate transfer of the circadian constructs of Rigidity and Vigour into question items does not recommend the use of the CTI to measure circadian rhythm characteristics in order to predict tolerance to shiftwork.

Adolescent↗